we can only know what we have seen 3/365

08 march 08. went on date with husband to tod papageorge lecture at v&a museum last night. papageorge (how could he not achieve fame with a name like that...?!) was a contemporary of diane arbus, gerry winogrand, etc, etc. and initially inspired by cartier-bresson, i came away with my mind reeling from three of the points he made:

 

i) we can only see what we have known

 

ii) when photographing people, we should endeavour the arrest a moment in the narrative, giving the viewer a sense of what may have come before, and what may succeed...

 

iii) the picture is not the reality. it is a bringing together of elements as viewed through the photographer's eye. sounds trite, but to me this is important. the wildlife illustrator charles harper always said,' i am not painting a bird, i am painting my view of the essence of a bird'. which, i think, roughly speaking is saying the same thing as papageorge.

 

and i go and illustrate all the these big thoughts with a photo of a ticket. ho hum.