When is creativity something to do to make something that looks cool and when is it something that has deep meaning...when is it both.? There has long been arguments about what is art and what is illustration. Sometimes these lines cross, but it there seems more often than not a distinction made by Fine artists between 'art' and 'illustration'. (I'm not sure illustrators give a damn about making a distinction.) I don't think too much about it, though I bet I think about it more than most folk. I make personal distinctions between my work as a journalist, my work as a commercial photographer and designer and my personal 'art' work. I know that they all connect in some way, but I do have rules sort of for each that I won't cross. Especially journalism. There is the idea of craft and the idea of what to do with the craft. A camera is an instrument that ready makes an image for you(as opposed to drawing and painting) But what you do with it--well thats what determines whether it becomes art or not. Same with a brush and canvas--simply applying the craft of it does not make an art work. I experiment all the time with visual story telling whether it is with a brush or camera or words or movements. All of my experimentations help me understand how to better use my craft(s). Sometimes it is experimenting purely with design, texture, shape or combinations of things to see what I get. No preconceived notions, just throw things together and see what happens. Sometimes I get something that looks cool but has no real meaning for me, other times I get something that is the start of something else. Sometimes I get terrible failures. But I seldom ever think it is really a failure...its really something that helps influence what I need to do next. Lately I've been somewhat fascinated with fashion and peoples perceptions looking at pictures of people. I posted a self portrait that got a lot of reaction and I found this funny. The perception of the image of me suddenly became something different than the perceptions already had of me. I got me thinking about the 'glamour shots' people go to get. Is this really who we are? And was that portrait of me really who I am? I've had this idea of a container or containers that contain who we are inside them and recently I thought about how we pour ourselves into these containers--sometimes by saving trinkets or snapshots, an old t-shirt, silver...etc.... stuff. And I began thinking about this work that we do--eventually it isn't ours anymore. When we die it becomes some elses to deal with...and they'll find all the things we didn't really want to show, but kept only because it was important to us. Sorta makes me want to throw everything away. Maybe I think too much. Photography by Richard Sayer.
0 Comments
Awhile ago we made a big display board for SayerMatter Photography with several examples of our work from our up-start business. I decided one day to pull this out and try to use it in a photoshoot with Angela. This was last fall or winter I think. I wasn't sure how I was going about it but after shooting a few pictures straight on I began trying all sorts of angles--even ones that seemed uncomfortable to look at and tried--I like to take pictures sometimes even if I don't think it looks right to me--this is how I discover a different visual vocabulary--through things that don't work or I think they don't until I look at them later and realize that maybe I was near something and then try to figure it out. Always trying to get better. SayerMotter Photography by Richard Sayer.
|