"Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph" Matt Hardy The Snapshot Aesthetic Nothing can better introduce us to the snapshot aesthetic discussion at todays f8 meeting than the front page cover picture of the New York Times showing Pope Francis moving in his "popemobile" through the streets of New York. Just look at the onlookers and what they almost to the person are trying to do...take a picture...a snapshot...of the Pope mostly with their iPhone. We started our discussion with a PowerPoint presentation outlining some definitions and historical points of the snapshot aesthetic...including key technical changes promoting snapshots and important photographers, books and exhibits focusing on snapshots. The presentation was too large and could not be embedded into this blog and is enclosed with my weekly email Scott talked about the history and rise of selfies and photo booths The first selfies were done with mirrors and within the last decade or so popularized with the front facing cameras of the iPhone. Also influencing selfie mystique was the rise of image hosting websites. In 2013 "selfie" was the word of the year by the OED. Celebrity and political selfies together with group selfies ("usies") are just some of the variations within this genre of snapshots. He also reviewed the history and significance of Photobooths in snapshot photography. Invented by Anatol Josepho, a Russian immigrant who eventually landed in NYC and founded a wildly successful photobooth franchise and sold it for $1M in 1927 dollars. Photo booths were used by famous artists e.g. Andy Warhol. Besides the artistic and fun aspects, photo booths were used to produce passport photos. They can be found around most cities around the world and in private collections. Kathy discussed the role of snapshots in memory...family and historical. She pointed out how snapshots can foster memories not even related to the visual subject of the picture. It was noted that the Nazis destroyed all the pictures of their Jewish captives so as to remove their memories. People fleeing natural disasters almost universally will save their photo albums before other material things. Travel snapshots help foster memories of places and experiences. In the example below...directly related to Kathy's life....a picture taken of Yosemite recently prompted her to remember camping trips to Yosemite as a child with her family. As always, there is no way to capture the richness and diversity of the conversation of f8 participants at the meeting regarding selfies, photo booths or snapshot memory. Other areas of the snapshot aesthetic we touched on included: The importance of two books, The Americans and Family of Man and the exhibits they prompted. The movement of snapshots from private to public The rise of pictures on the internet...eg Facebook, Instagram The influence of Andy Warhol Impact of the iPhone Vernacular photography Distinction between snapshots and fine art photography The snapshots by Sally Mann and Nan Goldin How snapshots can inform and prosecute The effect of the internet pictures on photography as fine art Most brought some snapshots to share...when we listened to their narrative regarding why they thought these were snapshots...we tried to see some universal message in the snapshots as opposed to just seeing them at face value. You really had to be there...so here is an example from each...without the universal message. Partial review on importance of snapshots
Major source of vernacular photography Most naturalistic and unencumbered photography Now a source of fine art...destruction / reconstruction / appropriation Focuses and re-focuses memory Allows for maximal interpretation Expression of normalcy Limitless in scope Has no rules ...and with that, I'll stop this discourse and watch some Sunday Football What a great f8 session...great participation...discussions...ideas and comments. This is what we do best Thanks to all...see you next week
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