Pictures help me travel the world. I traveled to Abu Dhabi today through the images of Ken Duncan, then thought to myself, “I’d like to go there some day.” Now that’s what I call good travel ‘writing.’ I didn’t know where Abu Dhabi was before I looked at those pictures, now I want to go there. I don’t think a writers words could have impacted me as quickly as Duncan’s photographs.
Ken’s work is really good. The pictures are digitally manipulated slightly to take out ‘imperfections’ but it’s worth the changes. His stuff blew me away and I’d argue against any photographic purest that is against digital manipulation that regardless of their hoity toity dedication to rule following, the experience of the viewer in terms of esthetics, feeling, and expression are far more important. Lets be real, a photograph untouched can’t reproduce the complexity of being, a being with all six senses attuned, in an actual beautiful place. So, give the photographs steroids and let me consume the muscle bound images. We’re not talking baseball, I’m all for photographic steroids, aka digital manipulation.
I can understand the other side of the argument. Taking a photograph on film and developing it in a black room with chemicals is an art in itself that I can really appreciate it. It’s something that I’ve never done and would like to do someday. Then came along the digital photograph and computers. The computer gives us much more detailed control in specific locations over an image. Not using the digital version of photography for any sort of aesthetic pursuit that aims at having an impact on a viewer in terms of beauty or inspirational reasons, would be like telling movie makers that they had to use black and white super 8 cameras instead of HD film technology. (I’m really looking forward to Spielburg’s new movie this summer, “Super 8,” can’t wait like a kid can’t wait for Christmas morning.)
I’m merely focusing on aesthetics here, idea creation, and inspiration. I do think a line needs to be drawn in terms of news reporting. I wouldn’t want my news reported images to be majorly altered. By that I mean, words changed, people added or subtracted, and the like. I don’t mind if they auto adjust contrast and brightness or the like, that’s like focusing a camera. Just don’t change the reality of the situation.
Bonus review. I went to Sidney's Museum of Contemporary Art. I'm not going to even talk about it, it was that uninteresting. They are under major construction, so I'll give them that excuse. But for all you Aussie's out there, one point to the Poms, the Tate Modern in London has got you clobbered.
