Regarding Time and the Photographic Process
I have just started listening to a very good podcast produced by photographer Jeff Curto called Camera Position. In the show, Jeff discusses the very important non-technical aspects of photography that are so frequently neglected in the magazines with some notable exceptions. Camera Position is a wonderful rest stop on the highway of tiresome technical publications.
Below is an e-mail I wrote to Jeff regarding a recent episode that hits close to home.
Jeff,
I’ve only recently discovered your excellent podcast. The podcast world is replete with technically oriented material but very little creative, emotional, and philosophical discussion of photography. Yours is a welcome addition to my playlists. I particularly enjoyed your recent show, “It’s About Time.” The contrast of Sato and Winogrand was insightful.
There’s another condition of time that you didn’t hit on in this analysis: longevity. One can easily discuss longevity in terms of physical properties of the medium (archival fastness, etc.) which are, of course, important but one should also analyze the potential effects of the image on generations to come.
Ours is a race that struggles to think beyond its own mortality - a range of about 100 years. In order to create a window into a 10,000 year future, I use similar technical methods to Sato, or Fokos to slow down the exposure on my daguerreotypes. I find that the intellectual exercise of removing our race from my images to be simultaneously chilling and inspirational. By showing imagery of a bleak future today, perhaps we can elevate the desire in people to plan for and work towards a better distant future. The medium is just a little bit of irony.
Please continue the show, I love it!
Sincerely,
Jonathan Danforth
