When I was in school in the 1970s, studying photography, one of the endless arguments we had was over socially-conscious photography versus everything else. There were some for whom any sort of photo-making other than a strictly documentary style was inconceivable. When Avedon's book In the American West came out, that particularly enraged the social-documentarians as they felt Avedon was disparaging his subjects--or perhaps was making fun of them. I recall some saying that was a betrayal of the people whose portraits he had taken.
My argument, and I still believe it to be true, is that In the American West, is more akin to fiction than to fact--as Avedon said, Accurate but hardly the truth. He directed all the photos and some sprung forth entirely of his imagination. It was an East Coast, native-New Yorker vision of the West. From that angle, I think it's a brilliant story--fiction, as I said--a harrowing, hay-ride through sun-scorched untamed...nothingness.
2 comments:
Great quote by Avedon which I have read before transcends time. He does look like Doc out of Back to Future!
http://teachyourselfphotography.blogspot.com/
When I was in school in the 1970s, studying photography, one of the endless arguments we had was over socially-conscious photography versus everything else. There were some for whom any sort of photo-making other than a strictly documentary style was inconceivable. When Avedon's book In the American West came out, that particularly enraged the social-documentarians as they felt Avedon was disparaging his subjects--or perhaps was making fun of them. I recall some saying that was a betrayal of the people whose portraits he had taken.
My argument, and I still believe it to be true, is that In the American West, is more akin to fiction than to fact--as Avedon said, Accurate but hardly the truth. He directed all the photos and some sprung forth entirely of his imagination. It was an East Coast, native-New Yorker vision of the West. From that angle, I think it's a brilliant story--fiction, as I said--a harrowing, hay-ride through sun-scorched untamed...nothingness.
Post a Comment