Kris D'Amico Photography

January 22nd, 2009 by Kris

This article was originally posted on 50ft.com by Jed Sundwall, it brings up some interesting ideas. Enjoy . . .

Dustin clued me into a very interesting discussion going on on Red de Leon’s Flickr stream. In essence (as far as I can grasp), he’s asking if we can judge photography upon things other than novelty or beauty—perhaps a photograph can simply express an opinion, or thought.I believe it’s a discussion worth having—particularly as the Internet is getting better at flooding us with novelty and beauty (especially since 50ft got started).

I gather that the rapid fire nature of the Internet encourages us to experience art out of context (ZOMG LOOK AT THIS SICK HDR PIC). Red’s discussion is about photography, but the same thing happens to music. I don’t think this is a bad thing per se; some songs stand on their own, others work better within albums, and it’s not a big deal. I’m glad, however, that talented people like Red are advocating for a more subtle (perhaps gentle) appreciation of photography.

Red’s discussion immediately made me think of the photograph by Hans Gissinger above, which was featured in last November’s New Yorker profile of food writers Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. It’s a picture of a stir fry. A lot of thought obviously went into taking the picture, but the lighting and composition all take a back seat to the fact that it’s just a picture of a stir fry and I admire that. The photograph honors its subject by making the viewer (me, at least) think more about the stir fry than the photographer, his gear, or his process.

Red’s portfolio