twitter thoughts too long for twitter
A conversation today on twitter got me to thinking about photography, and culture and style and art and society. There was a photographer, who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent, who’s work really demonstrates all that’s wrong with the world right now. <br /><br />The photographer that brought up all these questions is a very successful commercial photographer. Very polished, styled images. There are a lot of things that I don’t like about them. A lot of his images are super low contrast, with no blacks (tonality, not people) at all, while also cropping off body parts willy-nilly. His lighting also bothers me- the photos strike me as the kind you need an army of assistants (well, at least two or three) to maintain-complex and unnatural. Not every shot should be into the light, all of them can’t be at golden hour, and sweat is never that perfectly placed. It’s a distinctive look, but it’s a plastic look, it’s one I’ve seen a thousand times before. <br /><br />We live in a dissafected, disenfranchised society. There are the indebted, and there are the people we owe money to. The rich are few and far between, something like 5% of the population at any given time, depending on your definition of rich. Money as we think of it now has no basis in the real world, but is merely some numbers in digital domains. <br /><br />Given that, where is art? It’s all gold and glam and crazy hair and tight pants. It’s abstract and disconnected and complex. It’s thin, insubstantial. It’s going to fall apart. <br /><br />It’s the lack of substance that I keep coming back to in my thinking; those photographs, even of somewhat interesting subjects, were plastic and boring, stamped out of a mill of complicated lights and staged action-peaks that only look like decisive moments. They are the shiny object, to be consumed and tossed away without thought. <br /><br />Where are the real photographs, the photographers of the world as it is? I’m not talking about people wandering to far flung regions to uncover the the worst of the worst, I’m talking about the local people, the ones doing projects and reporting on local things? Where are these photographers? They’re out there, I’m sure it’s not just me laboring under a delusion. I know because I’m one of ‘em.
<br /><br />So, throwing yourself at the mercy of the universe occasionally does work out. I’m on a couch here in Austin, TX, mere miles from downtown and the famous and ever popular SXSW music fest. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/in_austin._on_a_couch./1221/0002.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><br />The whole journey started this morning, when Sarah twittered about going to SXSW today, to catch some band. So I called her and asked if she could delay an extra half hour, to give me time to get my shit together ( I thought we were leaving tomorrow). She told me she didn’t really have shit together either, and so I had time, meet at her house, and everything would be cool. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/in_austin._on_a_couch./1221/0003.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><br />It took for-ev-er to get out of OKC though- one thing after another kept going wrong, or errands that should have taken just a few minutes took an hour, and on and on. It was like the karmic forces of the city didn’t want to let us go. Finally, after something like 2 hours of running around, we were ready to go. <br /><br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/in_austin._on_a_couch./1221/0004.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><br />The drive down was good- there was a nice sunset, some McD’s, a little nap, and not a few pictures. I drove the last 40 minutes, and after a couple tries, parallel parked the car on an off street east of downtown. We got on our bikes, and not two minutes later were yelled at by some cops. Nice job austin PD, making people new in town feel welcome. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/in_austin._on_a_couch./1221/0005.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><br />So, jetting away from that situation (nice thing about bikes in a city- there’s little chance for someone in a car to catch you), we found ourselves right in the middle of the maddness, on the mainline, we hit the central nerve, etc, etc. Only to be greeted by a sign outside all the official venues: no photography without a press pass. Bullshit I say. The good news is that for the most part we’re going to be frequenting unofficial parties and venues; apparently that’s where the best parts are. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/in_austin._on_a_couch./1221/0006.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/in_austin._on_a_couch./1221/0007.jpg” alt=”Photos”/><br /><br />Went from there to the long branch, which was a cool little joint. Nice atmos, good music, interesting clientele (if you could call them that). I had a couple beers, and that (and a short ride back to the car, and a short car ride) brings me to the present tense. Oh yeah, and there’s a crazy jumpy dog in the house we’re staying at. <br /><br /><img src=”https://images.matt.pictures/in_austin._on_a_couch./1221/0008.jpg” alt=”Photos”/>
