Wednesday, May 22, 2024

Jacob Holdt- The Photographic Anomaly

Jacob Holdt is a rather curious asterisk in the history of photography, even within the realm of what has come to be known as "concerned photographers." He came to photography with neither a trained eye, nor a clear purpose of intent. It merely became a way to document a rather extraordinary life, not in a selfie look at me style, but in a... I can't believe this world exists and I am actively interacting with it. And interact with it he did- Holdt was anything but the objective journalist. He purposely thrust himself into a foreign land within lifestyles that could be said were foreign to most of its own natives! And it was not a lifestyle without considerable danger(s) to navigate and endure. 

Somewhere along the line, he decided to start photographing his experiences, as well as those around him, as best he could; and to do just that, he began selling his plasma to help buy film for his point and shoot camera. Now, that's a certain level of... commitment! The resulting American Pictures will not fare well in the hallowed halls of art gallery walls, but they do serve as potent documentation of those places, people and lives that many of that era had already long dismissed as either no longer relevant, or not even in existence. 

And that after all is photography's number one raison d'etre.

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