Zoom Meeting 26 November 2019 – Improbable Images
Led by Robert Bloomfield
My notes for this meeting are from my Rocketbook notebook
26-11-19 Zoom Mtg Improbable IMAGES
Robert gave a presentation expanding on the concept of “improbable images” as described in the course notes. This is based on the principles outlined by Vilem Flusser in “The Philosophy of Photography”.
That is, the concept of the photograph alters from that of the memento (“people who look at a photograph naively photographs represent the world”) to a more generalised unique type of image (“representation of the world no longer depends on direct experience but on interpretation of previous images or representations that already exist”).
As a result of this meeting and the works discussed my objectives are
- Read Flusser’s book “The Philosophy of Photography”
- Examine the works of the artists discussed
- Steele-Perkins
- Tomasz Windland
- Re-examine Hokusai’s work
Later thoughts on the meeting
Overnight I thought more about the meeting and some of the issues Robert had raised.
- Some of the images Robert showed included areas of white, lacking detail, and he emphasised the importance of these in the composition, adding a sense of ambiguity to the overall image. This reminded me of the concept of “kindly vacancies” introduced by John Ruskin in his work “On Modern Painters” and referred to by Rachael Talibard in the talk I heard her give.
- Robert had made many of his images with film and he emphasised the ability of film to enable the photographer to make images other than those which are our original intention. With digital cameras we are able to review the image immediately and may discard those that do not meet our plan, whereas some of these discarded images may have features making them of significance. This to me was reminiscent of the principle employed in the “Nine Eyes of Google Street View” by Jon Rafman, whereby captured images become art works because of the selection process by the artist.
Andrew Procter 