What do photographs tell us about the photographer?

[mh2000]

I think what is really relevant to this discussion is whether the photographer in question is an "artist" or just a photographer... with the former, their approach will be to say *something* with their work and from this something about the photographer can be inferred... for "just a photographer" maybe it's a portrait or an architectural shot... and you can infer only how good a photographer they are.

 

[antiquark]

This fits with the Hanoi connection.
He is short. Shorter people are less threatening to strangers, and since he is Vietnamese, this is likely.

Come on, everyone knows that HCB was actually a fictional character concocted by the Leica marketing department.

 

[PMCC]

Rashomon or Rorschach

Rashomon or Rorschach

I think the question of what's art and what's not is a red herring. The question is what can a photograph mean, art or not. it appears there's some support here for the notion that a photograph can be determined to mean something in particular that is objectively true. Maybe, maybe not. What interests me is the idea of how that meaning is interpreted and by whom, and from what position: photographer, subject, viewer, and what assumptions each brings to it from past experience. A photograph can be a print out of clues as to what's going on in the heads of who made it, who's in it, and who's looking at it, and in the case of the viewer, at various times. Or not.

 

[demian]

I think Micky D is right on the money here. If you look at a series of photos by a particular person you will gain some insight into that individual. This to a point is dependant on the photographer being honest with themselves and photographing in a style they truly feel is correct for them and not one that is adapted or formed to please their peers!

There are a few people on this forum who really reveal themselves with their photography and I find their work very interesting for that reason!

I agree.

Wow...this all seems to have become kind of silly with the anger and hostility difficult for me to avoid...but I like the topic and the contributions.

Above was written one can tell that HCB was "French, short, etc.." ??

Nice. No offense, but me thinks you seem to use the wrong senses to "investigate".

It is obvious his complexity of character, intelligence, and yes, one certainly can know his strong admiration/passion/belief in "the decisive moment" (without having ever read his book) from his images alone.


We could even be funny and although never having met the man HCB, would know already he would not like Martin Parr's work or want him to be part of Magnum!

Although we have may have never met a great writer (Hesse, Dostoevesky, Hemmingway, etc.) for example, we can still say we know something about them through their work. A great deal in fact.

We may never have met "God" (for lack of better term), but we can say we know something about it/him/creation by studying nature and teh world we live in.

This is all I wished to say on that, nothing more.

It seems great creators always leave fingerprints of themselves. They have to. Images, words, sounds...it usually amounts to a diary of ourselves (or themselves) no matter how it is "packaged" or where our experiences/thoughts have taken us.

We must go through absolute hell to find our truth, our originality.