i am just a mess sometimes…but, i think most of you have probably already figured that out by now…you should see my apartment…or rather, you should not!! nightmare!! anybody who walked in here right now would imagine that here is a man in turmoil and they would not be far from wrong…i swear, for me it is a winter thing…this time of year is not my time of year…got my eyeballs on spring…
but, somehow i also get stuff done this time of year…i can’t ride my bike, so i get work done instead…one of the things "done" in the last few days was to secure your work some kind of presence at the Festival of the Photograph this june…either a projection or small print show of your work….i think also we will have a presence at Visa Pour L’Image (Perpignan, France) in september…
i may award one or two "assignment stipends" this spring, funding up front, just to make sure we are looking fine…very soon i will list a selected "jury of peers" for the Emerging Photographer Fund…respected peers who will help me to think about our Fund and how best to make it work….we have already gotten some good notice online from PDN (Photo District News), there will be soon something in American Photo magazine, and Magnum will issue an international press release about our project soonest…
some of you have received private e-mail critiques from me…and some of those same people have never returned to comment or communicate with me in any way either!!! i guess my analysis of work is usually on the tough side for some…but, that is just how i do it…that is always how it has been in the world in which i live…critical but constructive….maybe it is somehow "softer" in person, as in my workshops…words on a page can be like a hot engraving in steel…..well, my only intent is to give you something to help you move forward….and i only sent critiques to those who asked….please let me know through blogquestions@gmail.com whether or not you want a review…it is time intensive to give even a short review, so i will only do it upon request…
michael says he can post all of the remaining essays and singles on our new link within the week…he and i will be operating by "remote control" and with an 11 hour time difference since i fly to India today, so please have your usual patience…the website is still not exactly what i want and you may see changes from one hour to the next…we will not go "live" with this new site until we have it pretty much perfected…
http://www.davidalanharvey.com.temp.livebooks.com/
please be of good cheer…..and i will be "on" again from India by the weekend….
Marie, what would David do without you!!!!!! Thanks for watching after his belongings…. What a mess! Eric
Absolutely great work from david’s trusted friends in NY. What a bum out, really!
Dear Bob, I never said the why was not important, but by the time, or when, you are out shooting people less privileged than you, I think the answer to “why” only matters to you, not to them. Then, the answer to the “what”, this may have a positive effect on them. That was my point.
Mike: How does one determine the intention of a photograph, and is the photographer’s intention an intrinsic part of the photograph? What does the viewer bring to the photograph, and can a viewer’s intention circumvent the photographer’s?
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By its results, I’d say. If something has failed with that, maybe he can get back to square one (at least for that very project he was on), and…asks himelf why he did it :-).
No, I do not think that one photograph has to show the intention. Witness Parr’s parking spots series, for ex. . One just does not make it. In other cases, it might very well, as in the “afghan Girl” (though it had to be shot in the context Mc Curry shot it. same shot in Rajasthan is just a damned nice psychological portrait only).
Yes, I think that the viewer’s intention can circumvent the P.s intention. It happens all the time. Photograph’s meaning (or no meaning, no intention) can easily be co-opted by the viewer, or the public, or the market (Burri’s Che). Bob mentionned Nachtwey being “attacked” on LS. So here we go. But I think Nachtwey’s results do beat babbling about his work and intentions on LS.
Bob thanks very much for the thoughtful and thought provoking response. I totally agree about the shifting between image and experience and understanding (more so with moving images?) And with the Other, it seems increasingly more complicated the more I think about it…. not just between photographer/subject, but between photographer/subject/viewer, then between photographer/subject/viewer/culture (or say, social context of the work…) It seems to me there is a web of meanings woven between these nodes (and many more!) which can either support or obscure the work.
I read something related today, a filmmaker said “documentaries are defined by what’s left out. they aren’t intended to provide information” rather an emotional experience of history, using emblematic stories.
Levinas… very curious about him, will have to find something, any suggestions where to start? I ready a lot of Bataille, Masson, etc. a long while back, but Levinas never got on my radar…
Herve, thanks as well… I think you make a great correlation between intention and context (either by other photographs, or by the instant cultural context a guy like McCurry provides…) Also, your point that intention is mobile is so true… can friction between opposing intentions heat up a photograph, I wonder.
Sorry for the late response. I don’t think quick enough for the internet.
Hey David, I’ll see you in Oslo you legend! Can’t wait! Just gotta book those Ryan Air flights for 10 bucks or whatever it is…dublin. Norway not far from here!!!!!!
David, your website is wonderful. Thanks for putting those huge photos of yours up. Utterly delightful!