Genius in a frame

What is it about a painting? One image in two dimensions, a snapshot in this age of streamers – how can it compete for our attention? One answer could be the simple fact of genius compressed into a frame.

The quote above, from a newsletter from The Observer, has me thinking about the photographic task, of facing a three-dimensional image and compressing it, reinterpreting it, into two dimensions through a variety of output media. In my youth we had color prints and slides. I also spent a lot of time working in black and white (monochrome) which I still enjoy. With the advent of digital photography more options are available such as rough work in-camera, post capture editing via an almost infinite number of modifications available electronically. And now AI adds to the creative (or misrepresentational) mix.

Technique and technology aside, the photographer’s task remains the same, that of placing (or reducing) a setting into two dimensions, on a single plane, for brief or extended viewing and consideration. Photography therefore remains an art, though few practice it in this way. Most photography fits into a category of snapshot. This is great; as people read and write less, photographs, if retained and stored accessibly, will become the story future generations will study and enjoy.

 I don’t want to devalue the power of the frame however. Ansel Adams used to take his students into nature with a small picture frame in hand. He would have them hold up the frame between nature and their eyes. I tried it myself and was amazed how I saw things differently. The same can be said of a portrait or journalistic reportage. We all frame events, personalities, landscapes, action shots in a unique way. I really enjoyed my days with the Kamloops Photo Arts Club, when a group of a dozen photographers would photograph similar objects of spaces. The variety of interpretations and realizations was entertaining, and sometimes inspiring.

The Observer quote rightly names “competition” — a striving for attention, for publication, for space on gallery walls, for online followers — as a real force facing photographers. Sure we shoot for ourselves don’t we? Well every musician enjoys an audience; every preacher likes folks to stay awake during the sermon; every artist appreciates an admirer, and maybe, hopefully, a sale of an artwork and payment of some kind.

Photographers are social creatures. Otherwise they would never leave home. Some like to photograph from a distance. Brave souled street photographers invade privacy. Still, apart from studio work, the practice is in public. And for some . . . the genius is in the frame.

Afghan Girl – Steve McCurry // Paris 1932 – Henri Cartier Bresson

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