Going To Work...

Photography is not about the thing photographed. It is about how that thing looks photographed.

I photograph to find out what something will look like photographed.

In the end, maybe the correct language would be how the fact of putting four edges around a collection of information or facts transforms it. A photograph is not what was photographed, it’s something else.

I don’t have anything to say in any picture. My only interest in photography is to see what something looks like as a photograph. I have no preconceptions.

 

All pretty much the same thing, and yet, one of the most crucial aspects of photography that is often not fully understood or even acknowledged. It influences how we see, process and ultimately perceive and understand. And yet, unless we are consciously cognizant of said process from start to finish, we are at a distinct disadvantage at what we set out to create, and ultimately achieve. The lens, camera, format, exposure, composition, sensor or film all play their distinct role in altering and transforming reality into a two dimensional image. Even a purely documentary photograph meant to depict reality is by its very nature a document directly divorced from reality. Yet, play the game we must....

Sometimes, I'm fairly cognizant, and confident, of what I'm seeing, doing and ultimately capturing; other times, I'm out on a limb, playing the possible fool. The latter is a scary place and time where we are most open to: failure, learning and possible insight.

The photograph should be more interesting or more beautiful than what was photographed. – Garry Winogrand

 

Photos: © Stan Banos

I passed this alley many times, thinking it held possibility; this time, I actually stopped. The rectangle up front kinda balances with those behind, and the dominating blue and grey tones balance nicely with the earthier hues. What's it about? Beats me.

Initially, was interested by the graffiti, but disappointed it was just... gibberish. But the tree's presence came through Big Time- much more so than when I was standing before it!

 

I was looking at the gorgeous light bouncing off the artificial turf which looked like CGI perfection, not a blade of delineated, pixelated grass out of sync, but still... nothing. Then I turned the corner and saw this now ubiquitous poster which I find annoyingly too cute for its own sake, but this time it supplied the necessary anchor buttressed by the dramatic shadows that made it greater than the sum of its parts. Life is Weird.

 

Dead center minimalism accentuated by the subtle monotones.
Then there's the content- front, center and hidden from sight all the same...

Not saying any of these are all that, just keepers (walking on the way to work), everyday keepsakes that define and compromise most our waking days between those more memorable instances we plan for, live for and sometimes pay justice to.