What is it about photography for you that make it so compelling?
Everything! I like the discipline it imposes on me to pay attention – to stay awake and observe the world around me. I like the challenge in trying to capture an image – a fleeting moment before it evaporates right before my eyes. I like the evolving aesthetics that come with composition – viewing an appropriate arrangement that constitutes a visual representation that pleases me. There are so many different creative layers to this venture and I’m still learning…
What’s the secret of good photography?
There is no real secret, you just buy a camera that’s suitable for your needs then go out and start shooting, not worrying too much about the results – whether they are deemed ‘good‘ or ‘bad.‘ Then with constant engagement in this process something will eventually emerge, but not until its ready. What I’m saying is you hone the craft, you polish the art in the process of taking photographs – there is no other way. Critical judgement will come in time, providing you persevere and commit to producing a lot of work. Another relevant point to make here is that concerning perfectionism. Don’t try to adopt a perfectionist stance when it comes to your work. There are no final benchmarks for aesthetic judgement, no objective, measureable templates. Just see your work as a constantly evolving portfolio where you are refining your vision. Let go of all concerns about photographic ‘significance’ and take plenty of shots. Just surrender to the creative process and allow it to take you to the right place and don’t allow anyone or anything to impede that journey because of criteria of what is considered acceptable or not. As a tutor once told me: “ You must give yourself permission to do bad work.” Then through this personal authorization process the ‘bad‘ work – if we are steadfast in our endeavours – will reveal what we need to do in order to improve. Finally, I would just like to say that treating photography as a form of play – where there are no rigid perimeters within which we are constrained to work – can produce very liberating and creative outcomes. Exploring, without inhibitions, to find our very own creative authority – that’s a good thought to finish on.
I’ve never thought of it in that way – photography as play. In other words you are saying enjoy the medium without the constraints of control, discipline, etc – the things we normally concern ourselves with – and just have fun?
Yes, just have fun, push the medium as much as you can, explore as many ideas as you can in a process of non-judgement and non-attachment and see what results come in. It’s no good ‘copying’ others, repeating their work, their style, their way of ‘looking,’ find your own vision through rigorous experimentation.
What are your views on success in photography?
Well, success is largely based on validation and for me there are at least two dimensions to this. Firstly, there is external validation from collectors, curators, gallery owners, editors, etc – ‘significant’ others who have the power to promote photographers and their work, making it wider known in society and giving it a certain significance and value. Secondly, there is internal validation which I think is the most important dimension. We should engage with photography because it’s of merit to us, because we value the medium, regardless of external validation. I remember once seeing a Martin Scorsese film about an abstract expressionist painter played by the actor Nick Nolte. In it he said something very interesting to his disillusioned young assistant who wanted to pack up painting. He said words to the effect that: “ You make art because you have to, you just do it. It’s about having no choice but to do it…. If you give up you were no artist in the first place.” This really resonates with me; we do it because we have to and for no other reason. Obviously if we receive some critical acclaim then that’s a bonus but it’s the doing of the work that’s really important. I once spoke to a painter at his solo exhibition and he said something very interesting. He said: “ To be an artist is to be successful.” I never forgot this.
Do you see photography as an art or a craft?
Many perhaps see photography as a craft and I’m OK with this as I’ve always thought there was nobility in craft, something of real lasting value. But there is much more to it than this. It would be wrong to see photography solely in this rather technical sense, in a purely functional utilitarian way because on another level completely photography is a fine art, competing and complimenting other modes of artistic expression. I think John Szarkowski was one of the first to see the real value and merits of its potential, but there were others. I think. Photography takes us deeper into life, opens up our vision, gives us insight on the world around us. Picasso was once asked: “ What is fine art? “ He replied: “ What isn’t? “ To Picasso everything could, in some way, constitute fine art. Duchamp felt the same – art being that which the artist defines as art, pure and simple. But on a philosophical level these terms are just concepts, quasi-arbitrary labels that have no real existence outside of our thought processes.
Finally, what way do you see photography going?
I have no idea, which is rather good! The medium will evolve in unsuspecting ways beyond anything I could imagine. Who could have foreseen digital cameras, photo editing like Photoshop or uploading images from your camera to your laptop via Wi-Fi? We are in technologically driven, post modernity and it all seem rather exciting and challenging. We have come a very long way since Niepce, Daguerre and Fox Talbot so who can predict what will happen in the future?