Because we can.
You know, fine art photography's a lot like Everest. Why climb it? Because we can.
Once upon a time an amateur fine-art photographer lacked the budget to do much creative color work. It was not just expensive, it was tedious. And with the fumes, the process was even a tad dangerous. It was always unpredictable and it ended in unreproducible results. Today full jacket chrome is ordinary as a mini-skirt in Spring. No, that's even too rare... It's ordinary as boy with lust in his heart when he spots a mini-skirt in Spring, right?
So we're challenged with the emotional goo that chrome pours all over every image. The challenge is multiplied by a zillion. Hence the allure of B&W image making. Here, look at this 1949 Ford Anglia Bristol van that a Killarney shop's got in the middle of its floorspace. It glows with colored feeling.
OK, and now, instead of finding ways to add chrome to our B&W darkroom-world, we can perform radical chromectomy. Like this...
Okay, have I added by subtracting? Or have I subtracted by adding the chromectomy? How much emotion is ripped away in B&W? Or... are these dramatically different messages, each as complex? But how can something be made differently complex by taking a scalpel to it? Hmmmm...
Gotta' think on this :-) Should the age of mono-chrome be over? Or is mono really a surrender to the complex challenge of the colors of life? A retreat?
Thoughts?
2 comments:
I never was very good about expressing myself with an opinion on art. Maybe it's good, maybe it's bad. Who am I to judge. But I do know what interests me and if anyone has any respect for my opinion I'll gladly share it with them. That's the big caveat, respect. Since you asked, I like both versions but I actually prefer the monochrome over the color. Don't ask why.
That's the thing about art isn't it? It's an engagement thing and exists in whatever place that feelings reside. Or in whoever considers it. It's impact is never up to its creator, right? Makes me wonder if the artist is the creator or the receiver? Hmmmmmm.... :-)
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