I realise I have not written much or perhaps even anything under the heading of reflection on this learning blog during assignment 2. This is not because I have not been reflecting: I have been but rather than witter on as I usually do I have needed and wanted to allow my thoughts to swim around in the cluttered place that is my mind for a little while if that makes any sense whatsoever.
I have in the past spent quite a lot of my time looking at photographs by other photographers on Flickr and sharing some of mine there too, although not as much as I used to. Now I also read and look at books and sites about other photographers which is of course a very good thing. Nevertheless I have found Flickr educational and enjoyable, and during a stressful time last year distracting, perhaps even therapeutic. (For anyone who isn’t aware Flickr is a community of people at all stages of their photography education, and from any different style and genre you can think of.)
One of the ways Flickrites identify themselves and their work is by joining different groups. Recently I was invited by someone whose work I have followed, commented on and liked for about a year and half now. William Keckler, a poet and arty kinda guy, invited me to join a group he set up called I was Alive Today. I have to admit I was pretty flattered to find myself associated with these tricky and rather ‘edgy’ on screen photographers (shallow of me perhaps??). But what was more satisfying was that I also became aware of photographers whose work I hadn’t stumbled upon before, some of it incredibly interesting indeed. (I might add that William Keckler has generously also pointed me in the direction of websites and photographers that I really should know about, so thank you!)
This is how I came across Bill Dane, amongst others. I didn’t know who Bill Dane is – this is not surprising and says more about me than Bill Dane! I don’t really know very much to be honest and find myself learning now in the same way I do everything - in snatched, brief, hiccups of activity in between the never ending task of loading and unloading the dishwasher, shovelling sheets that have been on our beds for too long into the washing machine, making sandwiches for school lunches and changing dirty nappies.
I was pretty thrilled then and surprised when the other day Bill Dane invited little me to join a group he started on Flickr. Not to begin with, because remember, I didn’t know who he was but when I read some of the commentary another group member had added there I realised his background is impressive in it’s own right, and this super accomplished artist has worked with Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand and Lee Friedlander too amongst others. I have to admit that they are all names that have only begun to settle into my consciousness over the last two or three years. I am sometimes overwhelmed by how very much there is to learn - in amongst the dirty laundry I must deal with daily. But now I have another name to add to the list – as well as beginning to understand what informs his way of working and broadening my appreciation of what's out there.
Bill Dane has been taking photographs since the early 60s and has collated an enormous body of work all of which he makes available to everyone now online at his site billdane.com. Up until 2007 he chose to make postcards and sent them to a mailing list of people, which he did in an exercise of democratisation and de-sanctification of art. By sending the postcards out he made his art available in a way that art isn’t usually; he demands no hushed reverence in a stuffy art gallery for people who might want to appreciate the way he sees and renders his world for us. He has though had plenty of shows and one of his first I think was at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art, New York). I thought his approach was really interesting especially after reading the argument for removing Rothko from the Tate Modern for being too populist a location by Jonathan Jones in The Guardian the other day, which I re-tweeted. (Listen to me; I was one of the last few people in the world who insisted tweeting was something only birds did until roughly two weeks ago! But ‘branding my online presence' for commercial purposes was something I read about recently, so signed up and will discuss here a little further down.)
The point about Jonathon Jones’ argument and Bill Dane’s approach to his art is that I suspect there is more than enough space in this world for both those philosophies. Hushed reverence as well democratic sharing. What both these positions bring up for me though is a question about elitism and art. Photography is a tricky art form (as is Rothko's work) – and I think possibly one of the most difficult to understand and appreciate hence the continuing rhetorical question, is photography art? This potentially makes it inherently elitist because in some or many examples there needs to be at least a basic level of education to appreciate it in any meaningful way unless the viewer is one of those lucky human beings who simply responds instinctively in an unadulterated way to life. I’m not one of those people, and have found that as my own immersion into this photography world I am discovering continues, I can begin to appreciate work I look at more and more deeply, but feel there is great distance yet to travel before I will really begin to get to grips with some of the work out I'm interested in. There is of course some work, which is instantly impactful in a way that is accessible for most of us and some which is harder to tackle. I think Bill Dane’s work falls into the more difficult category along with work by Lee Friedlander and Diane Arbus (who is fast becoming a hero of mine). There is a level of sophistication to this work which makes it difficult to understand. And so the democratic way in which Bill Dane shares his work and always has done is countered by the very nature of the work. But I like that he refuses to patronise anyone – it appeals to something in me.
The point about me feeling flattered and
excited that I was invited to join the group is that I have no idea where I’m
going as a photographer and feel daunted sometimes by the endless amount still
to learn about every aspect of it, but it was a bit of nice external validation
even if I was only invited because I happen to like, comment and copy some
other people’s pretty cool work on Flickr – work that, to quote the Bill Dane
Flickr group's headline, is ‘edgy and poignant’. I have not added anything to the group and I
am a little tentative about doing so to be honest, but perhaps in time the
confidence to do so will come.
As far as my own photography is going: I had a little hiatus in April ‘work’ wise. I say work in speech marks because work is something that makes you a living I think and I am far from that point just yet. Hang on, I work really hard at the job of being a mum and that is unpaid altogether (although there may be someone who disagrees!) so maybe the meaning of work is rather ambiguous in relation to my photography, and is difficult to define for now.
Nevertheless I am driven by the need to reach a point where I am making a living of some description in the future if at all possible because I have three children, and the complications of post-divorce fiscal responsibility loom large in my life. So I take risks which may seem tiny to some but are huge to me putting myself and the ‘work’ I do out there in order to try and generate some kind of career path that I might follow. Having taken a useful albeit worrying and not exactly planned breather in April I was beginning to wonder what the next step would be and how to continue the momentum, building contacts and ultimately getting work that pays. I stumbled across an article which talked about how important it is to build an online presence in today’s world, and that that doesn’t entail simply popping examples of your work on the internet but requires a conversation with the world about who you are and what you’re doing. So I started using Twitter to do this and have sort of semi-consciously decided to be upfront about my learning process and interests and see where that takes me. I also read the actor, Stephen Mangan’s comments, who when asked what one of the most important things he has learnt was, said, ‘the realisation that everybody is just making it up as they go along’. This made me think, oh, thank goodness, because that is what I have begun to grasp – you have to just make it up as you go along. I have no idea what I’m doing with the whole thing and am sure I will screw up at times leaving me feeling like I have a metaphorical train of loo roll hanging from my metaphorical knickers as I stride across the internet dance floor but so be it. It seems to be working though because I posted something online and received over 50 responses which was pretty exciting given that I often feel like I’m posting things just for the benefit of my mum – who dutifully likes pretty much everything I chuck up there! Thanks, mum!
Right - that's enough photography for now. I'm off to tackle the laundry basket although no doubt will be thinking about photographing people at an event and the technical requirements I need to consider in order to ensure I get it done as best I can.
Links:
William Keckler
Bill Dane
Diane Arbus
Garry Winogrand
Lee Freidlander
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