20 December 2010
17 December 2010
HYPER-REALISM
The industry is changing quickly, very quickly in fact. And when things are changing so quickly it means that the industry is looking for something fundamental to establish, something to grasp avidly because it is losing track. The problem I am going to develop now is not relevant only to wedding photography but to photography in general. How our aspirations anticipate our imagery interpretation.
The art of reportage is to capture and communicate a feeling in a form which not only original but also driven by honesty and a sense of reality. Reportage doesn't perform by transforming our vision of the daily in a different dimension but it has the ability to transcend the real by highlighting a beauty that most people cannot perceive. Reportage is about observation and it is a philosophy of life. To photograph in that vein is a constant analysis of the world. Photography helps us to understand more the world we live in and our role. That is the reason why most reportage photographers have a critical mindset and have been predominantly engaged in conflicts. Obviously wedding reportage is not aimed at criticizing the event but it is engaged in capturing that other side of human nature, and that is about happiness and its beauty in the widest sense. Wedding photography focuses on the admirable and essential magnificence of life.
And to capture it in various forms is an art that very few can perform on a regular basis.
Now, the traditional reportage golden age had its own quite specific quality and is long gone. Today the spectrum is very wide in its presentation and contents and can widen for many years. The trouble of today is that this multiplicity of representations hide a certain lack of rigor and real essence. The more you use tricks the more obvious it becomes that your content is very weak. And that phenomenon affects deeply the wedding industry as it remains an open, autonomous and non-body supervised. It is therefore very difficult for customers to actually know what they want in the first place, and secondly be confident that what they pay for will be delivered accordingly.
That is why digital technology is helping the mediocre to perform relatively well. It is quite astonishing actually that most people in the last couple of years I propose the film alternative saw me as a foul. Digital is supreme nowadays and if you use film people don't think you are a professional whereas it should be the other way around. Anyway after many adjustments and reflections I decided to provide digital only. Never mind the film, it doesn't change the approach to the subject and the essence of reportage photography. The trouble though lies in the fact that digital technology open then doors to fictional reality such as Hyper-realism or CGI technology.
Photography is a very broad industry. Digital is perfect to serve certain branches such as advertising, food, fashion, etc...because it aims to produce some kind of imaginary that doesn't exist. That is what most advertisers, graphic designers and so one have done from the start. There is nothing new as it is the very core of their industry with or without digital technology. But real reportage is the antithesis to that. You can though spot or slightly retouch your images like it has always been with brushes and pencils in the past, you do it with Photoshop today. Instead of reinforcing the highlights and soften the shadows under the enlarger, you do it again with the software. But in any case reportage aims to capture reality at its best but there is a certain limit to the quality we can pretend to. Even the old fashion reflex cameras had already a excellent quality superior to the eye. Not only the perfection and accuracy increase tremendously but that has been enhanced by the softwares.
We are now reaching that supra real reality all over everywhere. And I find it a shame that it is being used more and more often in the wedding world. Firstly, because it is not what reportage is about. Secondly because it is a lie. If you manage to get all the formal bits correctly plus creative and original visuals within the time frame imposed you are a good wedding photographer, and you know that visual perfection doesn't exist. But your ability to transcend the reality then present with your personal style and instinct is definitely a skill. To then take those materials to the fictional world is something else that reportage has nothing to do it. To get good highly retouched images is not reportage, it is studio, staged, fake, modified, etc...there is nothing genuine and personal. It looks highly valuable and skillful but it is sadly generic and blend.
Beauty is not about perfection, beauty is about imperfection but captured to its best.
Hyper-realism, CGI and the likes have nothing to do with honest reportage photography.
But it seems to be the technology people prefer nowadays...well, let's see in a few years.
This debate is simply about whether you enjoy the real world or not. That is a philosophy of life.
The art of reportage is to capture and communicate a feeling in a form which not only original but also driven by honesty and a sense of reality. Reportage doesn't perform by transforming our vision of the daily in a different dimension but it has the ability to transcend the real by highlighting a beauty that most people cannot perceive. Reportage is about observation and it is a philosophy of life. To photograph in that vein is a constant analysis of the world. Photography helps us to understand more the world we live in and our role. That is the reason why most reportage photographers have a critical mindset and have been predominantly engaged in conflicts. Obviously wedding reportage is not aimed at criticizing the event but it is engaged in capturing that other side of human nature, and that is about happiness and its beauty in the widest sense. Wedding photography focuses on the admirable and essential magnificence of life.
And to capture it in various forms is an art that very few can perform on a regular basis.
Now, the traditional reportage golden age had its own quite specific quality and is long gone. Today the spectrum is very wide in its presentation and contents and can widen for many years. The trouble of today is that this multiplicity of representations hide a certain lack of rigor and real essence. The more you use tricks the more obvious it becomes that your content is very weak. And that phenomenon affects deeply the wedding industry as it remains an open, autonomous and non-body supervised. It is therefore very difficult for customers to actually know what they want in the first place, and secondly be confident that what they pay for will be delivered accordingly.
That is why digital technology is helping the mediocre to perform relatively well. It is quite astonishing actually that most people in the last couple of years I propose the film alternative saw me as a foul. Digital is supreme nowadays and if you use film people don't think you are a professional whereas it should be the other way around. Anyway after many adjustments and reflections I decided to provide digital only. Never mind the film, it doesn't change the approach to the subject and the essence of reportage photography. The trouble though lies in the fact that digital technology open then doors to fictional reality such as Hyper-realism or CGI technology.
Photography is a very broad industry. Digital is perfect to serve certain branches such as advertising, food, fashion, etc...because it aims to produce some kind of imaginary that doesn't exist. That is what most advertisers, graphic designers and so one have done from the start. There is nothing new as it is the very core of their industry with or without digital technology. But real reportage is the antithesis to that. You can though spot or slightly retouch your images like it has always been with brushes and pencils in the past, you do it with Photoshop today. Instead of reinforcing the highlights and soften the shadows under the enlarger, you do it again with the software. But in any case reportage aims to capture reality at its best but there is a certain limit to the quality we can pretend to. Even the old fashion reflex cameras had already a excellent quality superior to the eye. Not only the perfection and accuracy increase tremendously but that has been enhanced by the softwares.
We are now reaching that supra real reality all over everywhere. And I find it a shame that it is being used more and more often in the wedding world. Firstly, because it is not what reportage is about. Secondly because it is a lie. If you manage to get all the formal bits correctly plus creative and original visuals within the time frame imposed you are a good wedding photographer, and you know that visual perfection doesn't exist. But your ability to transcend the reality then present with your personal style and instinct is definitely a skill. To then take those materials to the fictional world is something else that reportage has nothing to do it. To get good highly retouched images is not reportage, it is studio, staged, fake, modified, etc...there is nothing genuine and personal. It looks highly valuable and skillful but it is sadly generic and blend.
Beauty is not about perfection, beauty is about imperfection but captured to its best.
Hyper-realism, CGI and the likes have nothing to do with honest reportage photography.
But it seems to be the technology people prefer nowadays...well, let's see in a few years.
This debate is simply about whether you enjoy the real world or not. That is a philosophy of life.
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