I'm keen to avoid becoming unwitting prey in an idiocracy, especially when it comes to photos.
An awful lot of what is presented as canonical today, or 'celebrated' wildly because of the nature of the author of the picture, rather than the intrinsic value of the picture itself, seems very flimsy to me when it's shorn of ideological stabilisers. I am looking forward to your reading.
I live down the road from Lacock Abbey, where Fox Talbot worked, which is an unexpected but happy juncture in life.
Thank you, Christopher. And thanks for the Alice Gribbin link. I am fascinated by how people can take an unaesthetic view of art and put ideology above feeling. What a sad existence. Currently rereading Wolfe’s The Painted Word, which is illuminating on this score. That said, I do enjoy thinking about motivations and obviously politics is an obsession for many people.
Thanks Neil. I do agree that there's a lot of politics in art and the making of it, of course, but like you, I am also keen to tell anyone who'll listen that art is larger than politics, and often warped and deformed by it.
My MA (abandoned) in photojournalism and documentary photography was subsumed by the mania among lecturers for finding a power relationship in every shot we looked at. Sure, a Foucault-style analysis of things has its place. It can shed some light some of the time on some photos. It can't illuminate others at all, and misrepresents others entirely. It's a procrustean instrument that seems to be wielded by the ideologically fashion-conscious. Many of them, posing as critics of the establishment, have simply themselves become the establishment now.
I wanted to learn more about technique and composition, and share a delight in beauty, reportage, poetic insight offered in visual form, and the ideas of great men and women who were excited about what photography can do, and weren't complacent about it. I didn't think I was the cleverest person in the room, but I didn't think I'd have to kowtow to confected articles of the new faith.
Instead, there was a supercilious sense that we were all now far cleverer than the masters of the medium, and that the canon was suspect, or outright damaging to society. The language in lectures felt policed, self-censorship was normal, and ideas that didn't fit the rubric were ignored or scorned. It was pretty dismal and rather Soviet - I lived in Moscow for a decade and know how the 'formalist' epithet was spray painted on those who wouldn't sign up to Stalin's socialist realist ideology. I can't help feeling a lot of pictures lauded today will be viewed in future like the busty peasant women on shiny Soviet tractors are understood now.
Astonishingly, this was the most highly-regarded such course in town, and was bloody expensive for a guy who packed in his job and was risking everything for a mid-career change of horses. Perhaps the political fetishism at the university has toned down a bit since then.
Thanks Manuela! Apologies, I haven’t been sending them out as emails. More than one email week seems like a lot! I will be getting better at linking to them in the newsletter.
For some reason I don't get your photo journal newsletters. I just tried turning them off then back on again (classic). I'll see if that makes the difference.
Apologies, I haven’t been sending them out as emails. More than one email week seems like a lot! I should be better at linking to them in the newsletter.
Most informative 👍
I'm keen to avoid becoming unwitting prey in an idiocracy, especially when it comes to photos.
An awful lot of what is presented as canonical today, or 'celebrated' wildly because of the nature of the author of the picture, rather than the intrinsic value of the picture itself, seems very flimsy to me when it's shorn of ideological stabilisers. I am looking forward to your reading.
I live down the road from Lacock Abbey, where Fox Talbot worked, which is an unexpected but happy juncture in life.
Thank you, Christopher. And thanks for the Alice Gribbin link. I am fascinated by how people can take an unaesthetic view of art and put ideology above feeling. What a sad existence. Currently rereading Wolfe’s The Painted Word, which is illuminating on this score. That said, I do enjoy thinking about motivations and obviously politics is an obsession for many people.
Thanks Neil. I do agree that there's a lot of politics in art and the making of it, of course, but like you, I am also keen to tell anyone who'll listen that art is larger than politics, and often warped and deformed by it.
My MA (abandoned) in photojournalism and documentary photography was subsumed by the mania among lecturers for finding a power relationship in every shot we looked at. Sure, a Foucault-style analysis of things has its place. It can shed some light some of the time on some photos. It can't illuminate others at all, and misrepresents others entirely. It's a procrustean instrument that seems to be wielded by the ideologically fashion-conscious. Many of them, posing as critics of the establishment, have simply themselves become the establishment now.
I wanted to learn more about technique and composition, and share a delight in beauty, reportage, poetic insight offered in visual form, and the ideas of great men and women who were excited about what photography can do, and weren't complacent about it. I didn't think I was the cleverest person in the room, but I didn't think I'd have to kowtow to confected articles of the new faith.
Instead, there was a supercilious sense that we were all now far cleverer than the masters of the medium, and that the canon was suspect, or outright damaging to society. The language in lectures felt policed, self-censorship was normal, and ideas that didn't fit the rubric were ignored or scorned. It was pretty dismal and rather Soviet - I lived in Moscow for a decade and know how the 'formalist' epithet was spray painted on those who wouldn't sign up to Stalin's socialist realist ideology. I can't help feeling a lot of pictures lauded today will be viewed in future like the busty peasant women on shiny Soviet tractors are understood now.
Astonishingly, this was the most highly-regarded such course in town, and was bloody expensive for a guy who packed in his job and was risking everything for a mid-career change of horses. Perhaps the political fetishism at the university has toned down a bit since then.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/good-politics-bad-art
looking forward to the lessons of history of photography
It is going to be fun, I think, and hopefully unpredictable.
Also, the cave paintings are stunning!
Great project! I am looking forward to going back in time and read what you discover.
I don’t get your photo journal. Where can I get it?
Thanks Manuela! Apologies, I haven’t been sending them out as emails. More than one email week seems like a lot! I will be getting better at linking to them in the newsletter.
Here's the archive: https://neilscott.substack.com/s/wip
From hieroglyphs to emojis - I enjoyed the journey, thank U 😁
How did I miss the A to Z aspect?! I've really enjoyed your series. And this was fascinating, thank you!
Thank you! The A to Z was extremely arbitrary, but useful for serendipitous discoveries.
For some reason I don't get your photo journal newsletters. I just tried turning them off then back on again (classic). I'll see if that makes the difference.
Apologies, I haven’t been sending them out as emails. More than one email week seems like a lot! I should be better at linking to them in the newsletter.
Ah okay that makes more sense. All good. I will seek them out.
Sounds great. Looking forward to it!
Thank you for all your support!