(mis)representation

by julie posted January 19, 2010

(mis)representation
From Minor White: \”When I look at pictures I have made, I have forgotten what I saw in front of the camera and respond only to what I am seeing in the photographs\”.

Most of my photographs are idealised scenes, made so by selective framing to eliminate unsightly details, or the distortion of reality by plastic lens. I’m constantly dancing on a line, wondering whether it’s harmless and natural to step away from reality or whether you miss out on real life by spending your time in daydreams and looking for the magical instead of appreciating what’s really in front of you. I look at this little polaroid and I see a lovely spot by the window for reading, listening to the creaking of the wooden floorboards, feeling the sun spilling in through the glass. In reality I know what’s either side of the edge of the frame, and behind the camera, and outside the window. But they are two different places to me. the photograph, and what I photographed, are two different things.

5 Responses to (mis)representation

  1. Quite brilliant both words and photo.

  2. So you are kind of crystallising memories of a world that might exist? Sounds like as good a reason as any to take photographs…..

  3. this is why i love photography though, it gives us the ability not just to capture the world we see but to create images of the parts of that world that are special to us and perhaps show them in a way that would only been seen by us if we didn't take the photo :) i don't know if that makes sense, perhaps i've typed it badly lol, but i hope you get the jist of what i mean!

  4. i'd sit there, get up to pick flowers from the garden and arrange them in a vase. put it somewhere and sit down again, yet knowing i can't….
    you make up this dream for the viewer

  5. Loving these replies. Thanks people!

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