Thursday a.m. Idea Post 09/17

While in my public library today I noticed in the photography section the only books to choose from were the over published now cliché’ “Photography for Idiots” books and the entire collection of Anne Geddes photographic history. A bit disappointed, I selected a book published in the 80’s titled “How to Compose Great Photographs: Learning to see creatively”. The first line said “Photography is a way to bring your imagination to life on film…” After a thorough 45 page explanation of lenses the section titled “Elements of Design” dug right in and stated “…powerful compositions stand in sharp contrast to most pictures taken by amateur photographers. In their haste to record the image, many end up with pictures that have too many points of interest. The resulting confusion alienates the restless eye, motivating it to see visual satisfaction elsewhere.” Instead of having too many points of interest in my images, I am struggling with having too many confusing parts to my concept therefore weakening my final product. The text’s solution to solidify the many pieces is to pay close attention to line, shape, form, texture, pattern, and color. My performances are known to be with clean lines in the subject and the background. Occasionally the object is what is off and constantly in transition. The shape and form depend on the act of the performer is doing. For example a performance from last semester started out with most of the weight in the top portion of the image (while the clothing was still on me). By the end of the performance the balance had shifted and now most of the weight was in the lower half of the frame creating a thorough transition from top to middle to bottom. When thinking of texture, pattern, and color I have a hard time responding because usually the garments on the subject are not what is important.
Knowing all of this I am still having struggles with the amount of confusion that is present in my new work. In my meeting blog I spoke a lot about the anxiety I am feeling about just creating and producing. I listened to a mini lecture by Jeff Koons and he explained that when he was young he used to feel that “art was a vehicle that created anxiety…it was about performance in a way. Once you start becoming aware of other artists and how you can relate to them…” breaking down those anxieties becomes more accessible. In Mike Figgis’ book Digital Filmmaking, he explains the struggles and frustrations he had when he moved from the stage to behind the camera. “Before I came to film, my background was performance and music, so I was reared on the idea that whatever I did creatively, I would have a direct relationship with my audience… Then I started making films and I realized that your role as director put you many steps removed from this possibility of an instance response. You do a lot more planning, you set it all up, but then you kind of watch from an angle. And the main relationship from that point takes place between the camera person and the actors.” This is exactly how I feel. I feel completely detached from what I am doing that sometimes I think that maybe my presence is not even necessary. And because I feel that way, the streams of ideas have come to a screeching hault and I am becoming bitter and ambivalent towards my work. I have a small obsession with having things be straightforward and resolved before I part with them for the night. I have not been able to resolve much with my work yet, so I guess I will be sleeping with it tonight.