Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum
Home Active Topics Newest Pictures Search Login Register
For Your Consideration
Monthly Masters' Critique - April 2018 - Gordon Parks' "Water Fountains"
Page <prev 2 of 2
Apr 2, 2018 14:20:40   #
Cany143 Loc: SE Utah
 
minniev wrote:
Thanks for sharing! (and you're welcome to call me Paula, several folks here do, I am not a secret, but just using an old nickname. That said, I have a hard time thinking of you as Cany too). Of course I know right where you took this and just about when, but am still unsure of the message. I see the entirety of Monhegan as an endangered environment at risk of extermination by the forces of modernity. The "manhole covers" in the foreground remind me of their eternal battle to keep enough water. Tourists like me, while adding a bit to the economy when I visit, also place more demands on the tiny island that tries so fiercely to hold onto a way of life that is utterly foreign to most of us. My "political" assessment may miss your message though.
Thanks for sharing! (and you're welcome to call me... (show quote)


More socio-economic than straight-up political, but 'politics' is more than just gubmint contentions. Island visitors sipping lattes at the 'cafe' -vs- the Island lobstermen brown paper bagging it, chowing down lunch on the bed of the truck. Compositionally, on the thirds, locals 'above' visitors. Now write that 'large' in terms of the US (or almost anywhere, for that matter). Remember when this was, exactly, and what was upcoming on the political calendar. No, its not 'in your face' like Parks' shot of the woman drinking from the coloreds only fountain, but this isn't the 50's or the 60's either.

Reply
Apr 2, 2018 14:27:43   #
minniev Loc: MIssissippi
 
Cany143 wrote:
More socio-economic than straight-up political, but 'politics' is more than just gubmint contentions. Island visitors sipping lattes at the 'cafe' -vs- the Island lobstermen brown paper bagging it, chowing down lunch on the bed of the truck. Compositionally, on the thirds, locals 'above' visitors. Now write that 'large' in terms of the US (or almost anywhere, for that matter). Remember when this was, exactly, and what was upcoming on the political calendar. No, its not 'in your face' like Parks' shot of the woman drinking from the coloreds only fountain, but this isn't the 50's or the 60's either.
More socio-economic than straight-up political, bu... (show quote)


Thanks!

Reply
Apr 2, 2018 15:13:39   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
Cany143 wrote:
More socio-economic than straight-up political, but 'politics' is more than just gubmint contentions. Island visitors sipping lattes at the 'cafe' -vs- the Island lobstermen brown paper bagging it, chowing down lunch on the bed of the truck. Compositionally, on the thirds, locals 'above' visitors. Now write that 'large' in terms of the US (or almost anywhere, for that matter). Remember when this was, exactly, and what was upcoming on the political calendar. No, its not 'in your face' like Parks' shot of the woman drinking from the coloreds only fountain, but this isn't the 50's or the 60's either.
More socio-economic than straight-up political, bu... (show quote)

Perhaps I am even more neutral than you. Or something. Your photo is a good example for me of we see what we want to see. Without an effort to visually "oppose" the two groups, according to Marxism, I see this as a simple order of things. Various human beings try to make decent lives from their birth circumstances. Both groups could be wonderful, serene people, or disenchanted, angry people. We are responsible for our lives.

Reply
 
 
Apr 2, 2018 15:28:40   #
Cany143 Loc: SE Utah
 
artBob wrote:
Perhaps I am even more neutral than you. Or something. Your photo is a good example for me of we see what we want to see. Without an effort to visually "oppose" the two groups, according to Marxism, I see this as a simple order of things. Various human beings try to make decent lives from their birth circumstances. Both groups could be wonderful, serene people, or disenchanted, angry people. We are responsible for our lives.


Marxist dialectic notwithstanding, maybe Oscar Wilde said it best: "Do not concern yourself with social questions. What is the matter with the poor is poverty; what is the matter with the rich is uselessness." Of course, those are just lines from a comedy, and unless I'm mistaken, there's been quite a lot of discussion/debate about the not so "simple order of things" involved in 'income inequality' in recent years. Also, too, I know that pair lobstermen personally, and we've talked about a few things at different times. I do agree with you, though: we do see what we want to see. Hmmm. Quickly becoming the stuff of 'The Attic.'

Reply
Apr 2, 2018 15:40:02   #
artBob Loc: Near Chicago
 
In my half century plus of unusual access to all classes, first as a monk, then as an artist, I have come to learn that good and evil are present in all classes in about the same percentages. I have learned that the tapestry of humanity contains everything, as it should (see Walt Whitman). I sense the truth of the Quaker hymn, "'Tis a gift to come up where you ought to be." I hope we progress and improve society in those attitudes.

Reply
Apr 2, 2018 15:48:45   #
minniev Loc: MIssissippi
 
Cany143 wrote:
Marxist dialectic notwithstanding, maybe Oscar Wilde said it best: "Do not concern yourself with social questions. What is the matter with the poor is poverty; what is the matter with the rich is uselessness." Of course, those are just lines from a comedy, and unless I'm mistaken, there's been quite a lot of discussion/debate about the not so "simple order of things" involved in 'income inequality' in recent years. Also, too, I know that pair lobstermen personally, and we've talked about a few things at different times. I do agree with you, though: we do see what we want to see. Hmmm. Quickly becoming the stuff of 'The Attic.'
Marxist dialectic notwithstanding, maybe Oscar Wil... (show quote)


Definitely not the Attic, which is where the folks line up on sides and fight about it. Here we typically can discuss things without all the drama. I'm not very controversial by nature, and can get along with most anyone, feeling little need to force people to accept my opinions as their own, so a lack of drama suits me fine. There is far more middle grays than pure black/pure white, in photography and in life.

Reply
Apr 2, 2018 15:50:00   #
minniev Loc: MIssissippi
 
artBob wrote:
In my half century plus of unusual access to all classes, first as a monk, then as an artist, I have come to learn that good and evil are present in all classes in about the same percentages. I have learned that the tapestry of humanity contains everything, as it should (see Walt Whitman). I sense the truth of the Quaker hymn, "'Tis a gift to come up where you ought to be." I hope we progress and improve society in those attitudes.


Like that quote. Reminds me a bit of the one my grandmother instilled in me: "Bloom Where You're Planted".

Reply
 
 
Apr 3, 2018 17:01:31   #
minniev Loc: MIssissippi
 
Since I talked Cany into posting a photo of his own, I have to make good on my own promise. This photo, that I posted when FYC was brand new, created more controversy than any I've posted before or since. If you want to know what issues it raised for people, here's a link, I won't recount them here.http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-334497-1.html. I posted it in hopes of bringing forth a discussion about the ethics of street photography, which had come up in other threads.But the discussion of the photography ethics sort of migrated into a discussion of homelessness and other societal ills, and how we as humans, not just photographers, deal with those dilemmas.


(Download)

Reply
Apr 3, 2018 19:44:59   #
Cany143 Loc: SE Utah
 
On the objective side: your street shot shows the direct gaze of the subject; his affect (and likewise, the position and obvious lack of concern on the part of his cat) suggests approval and open assent to your request to photograph him. Ethically, there is neither harm nor foul.

On the subjective side: the viewer knows absolutely nothing of the subject beyond whatever their stereotypes tell them. And no matter what he may have told you, you really didn't either. He could be an axe murderer trying with a smile and a cat to lure you around a corner to do you in, or he could have just returned from 40 days in the wilderness, having attained Realization. He could be destitute by circumstance, or he could be a trust funder play acting some role du jour. He could be me, fifty years ago, having just gotten off work from the night shift, and on my way home. I only know he's not because I didn't have a cat then.

Reading the comments of your earlier post fortified something all of us see --and many of us do-- all too often. Not only do we make assumptions and presumptions, we overlay those judgments with our own super-subjective findings, and bring to the subject --the young man-- and the object --your image-- assessments that simply do not apply to the matter at hand. We describe our own experiences or outlooks, and lose sight of what it is that being discussed. I'll now do the same:

I worked in a private psychiatric hospital for a dozen years. I saw portraits that even I could not believe might be possible. Of course, I could never photograph them, so I'm glad you did, in a way, in my stead. And this is not to suggest anything whatsoever, pro, con, or otherwise, about the person in your photograph.

Jim

Reply
Jan 17, 2022 12:21:58   #
cactuspic Loc: Dallas, TX
 
There was a recent thread in the main discussion that referenced this thread, so I popped over.

When I view this image, particularly the vantage point of the image, I see a conscious choice to include the car door frame as an important part of the commentary. It is as if this is a scene that some people drive by and don't see because it's a scene those people chose not to see...an invisible world hiding in plain sight inhabited by nameless, faceless blacks. It's seems to me that Mr. Parks was using the window as a metaphorical device...but perhaps that's just me. We all look at the world through our personal windows.

Irwin

Reply
Jan 17, 2022 12:35:00   #
R.G. Loc: Scotland
 
cactuspic wrote:
......I see a conscious choice to include the car door frame as an important part of the commentary.....


Whatever the reason for including the door is, I think we can assume that since he was an obviously talented photographer, especially in the area of storytelling, that element of the picture was deliberate, showing us that it was a drive-by shooting (of sorts ).

Reply
Page <prev 2 of 2
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
For Your Consideration
UglyHedgehog.com - Forum
Copyright 2011-2024 Ugly Hedgehog, Inc.