Non-photography

26 03 2004

Interesting street images and a developed philosophy of vernacular creativity at this website. As I develop a kind of relational taxonomy of the new ‘amateurism’, I’ve been struck by the pervasiveness of this kind of neo-punk, militant DIY, determinedly lo-fi ethic and aesthetic. Example:

While making street photos, non-photography was formed. non-p is the concept of taking energy as far as possible, and with no regards to excellency. it is about making pictures while being free of the photographer’s extra cargo of filters, stylish lenses and other expensive equipment. the non-photographer’s main tools are enthusiasm, an open mind and hopefully some creativity. more so, non-p has no use for books (too boring) or calculations (too calculated). for the most part, I make street photos, which is about recording the natural pace of the street life “as is”, without any interference on my part. No pre-planning is involved. I have my cameras (Minolta SRT 101 and an un-sophisticated digital camera) along with me at all times

The lomography movement adds to this a fetish for cheap, retro plastic…

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3 responses to “Non-photography”

29 03 2004
Chris (08:34:06) :

I found out about LOMO a few years ago and whilst I loved the principles it was difficult to escape the fact that this was a marketing campaign for a camera company. Besides which, it seems that lomography is limited to a certain acceptable aesthetic and for a photo-philosophy so free they have ten golden ‘rules’. A contradiction?

I don’t really care, Lomo cameras are fantastic, but I didn’t realise that there are people out there who are making up their own ideology where action led photography is concerned.

‘Cool’ is the first word that comes to mind. But it’s not the right one.

::::chris::::

30 03 2004
Jean (08:22:59) :

Chris, I agree - it is a bit of a contradiction. Like you, I’m a bit disturbed by the prescriptive way lomography.com frames what is supposed to be unstructured, without reference to the canon etc. etc.

30 03 2004
this Public Address 3.0 (09:16:18) :

Street (non)photography

San Antonio Riverwalk Street (non)photography Jean Burgess has an interesting post/thread going about vernacular creativity. I’ve been thinking about a…