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"What kind of photography do you do?"

I was having lunch with some people at work, and I mentioned that I liked photography. "Oh, what kind of photography do you do," came the question. I've never had a good answer for this. Maybe I take it too seriously! The most honest answer would be a simple "oh, I'm an amateur." This time, I said something like "well, I don't do anything with fancy lighting. I try to carry a camera with me and take pictures when I'm traveling, or just walking down the street."

If I call to mind some of my favorite photographers - William Eggleston, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Daido Moriyama - I can't group them all together neatly. I'm bringing this up because I try to emulate them. The most fitting category for all of them would probably be "fine art," but this doesn't help because it seems to me that people like Eggleston and Moriyama (less so Sugimoto) forced the term "fine art" to apply to their work. They went out and shot stuff, and it was later interpreted as "fine" art. Aspiring to make "fine art" sounds very humanist (sick) to me, in any case.

Next time I get asked, I'll probably just say "abstract stuff" and be done with it. Having a Moo card for further explanation would also help, I'm sure.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I always say "beautiful women and dead bodies" as two of my specialties as a photo journalist are fashion shows and natural disasters. It tends to be an attention getter. ;-)