Modern and Postmodern Photography

Modern photography suggest different view and perspective, it is pushing boundaries, delivering different messages within images. There's a lot of room to discuss modern photography with great works throughout the years.
In this post I would like to mention works of modern photographer Diane Arbus. She's most noted for series of black and white square images picturing seemingly surreal or ugly people. Arbus' works are shocking, provoking and most of the time uncomfortable. It's not the rule that modern photography is obliged to trigger unpleasant feelings, although it draws a different perspective and different view to a photography as an art form.

Diane Arbus, Mexican dwarf in his hotel room in N.Y.C., 1970

Postmodern photography differs from modern photography with more conceptualism in it, also it aims to reject concept of modern photography. Postmodernism is breaking all the rules created by modern photography, it can't be described as warm and close or sometimes even as beautiful. It might seem careless, created with no passion. To be honest it's was always quite difficult for me to "read" postmodern photographs or find story, signs, meanings of it. Trying to find answers and trying to understand meanings of it I found myself realising that postmodern photography is deeply personal in many cases.
As an example of postmodern photography I chose Stephen Shore who is known for is images of banal scenes and also he's the pioneer of coloured photography.

Stephen Shore, Proton Ave., Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, 1974

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography
http://www.moma.org/
http://diane-arbus-photography.com/
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/29/arts/art-review-when-photography-became-postmodern.html

Biography: Zoe Strauss

Zoe Strauss (born 1970) is an American photographer working mainly in the streets of Philadelphia. She is a photo-based installation artist. She started taking pictures when she got camera as a present for her 30th birthday.
Strauss is still very deeply connected to her roots and her neighbourhood where she shoots most often. Her images reflects everyday life in South Philadelphia with all its shuttered buildings, sad beauty of everyday life.
Zoe's work is quite voyeuristic and might put the viewer into uncomfortable position. It is very intimate, sometimes shocking. As Zoe said "I approach someone with the intent of making a photograph and what attracts me to the person is intangible, although later on in the edits it seems as if the portraits that have the greatest importance to me, and have the greatest satisfaction, are the ones where I have had some sort of connection with the person, and that almost always involves a connection that can not be articulated — a sense of pride and joy of being in the world.".
One can find difficult to connect to those images, especially if never been to such surroundings and atmosphere, even though, it's difficult to stay indifferent to Zoe's work, which proves it to be very strong.


http://www.zoestrauss.com/zoe.html
http://blog.metrogallery.com.au/?p=282449055

Paparazzi

Recently I spoke to quite few people who are very interested in work as paparazzi and find it very entertaining (well paid as well). As a person who never liked fashion photography, I do not hesitate to go through yellow pages checking pictures of drunk, humiliated celebrities, exposed in all true colours for us to judge. I guess it's just human nature to dance a happy dance when someone (most of the time - more succesful) is in trouble or having a rough day.

So, trying to understand our curiosity and habit to care more about lives of celebrities instead of lives of our close ones, I did some research about paparazzi.

There are many scandals involving paparazzi, many unsolved cases and blames, like death of Princess Diana. The job is also very difficult - sometimes one paparazzi has to be at more than one place at the same time. But it really brings good money. For example best paid paparazzi photograph is worth 10 - 14 000 000$, and of course it's image of Angelina's Jolie twins. So why somebody is willing to pay such an enormous amount of money for the picture of somebody's kids? Why are we so interested in gossip, in people caught in unfortunate situation? Why do we talk and talk for hours about Britney shaving her head or Michael Jackson almost dropping his kids off the balcony? Is it just a natural curiosity or we are so bored with ourselves that we'd rather read all gossip magazines instead of having a pint with a friend?

Britney Spears attacks paparazzi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paparazzi
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4697388

Photo sharing on Facebook

These days we're all trapped (mostly on our own will) in a social networks. I guess the biggest consumer of our time and real social life is Facebook. Not only we can check what our friends are up to, we can read most intimate things, share romantic moments, sometimes become a witness of tragic events - all is there. Poking, liking, commenting and it seems that our social life is just one click away.
Debates about advantages and disadvantages will never stop, as there will always be people, who can't live without social networking, and people who will hate it forever.
I must admit I am mildly addicted to Facebook myself. I check it almost every day and can't really remember when was a last time a wrote big, warm e-mail to my friends or family back home.
Well lets return to the main subject - photo sharing on Facebook. I do it myself gladly whenever I have something nice or worth wasting time. Although I'm still quite shy and with a low self esteem as a photographer, so I rather share exceptionally with my friends. One can find most intimate family, party, daily life pictures, snapshots, self portraits made with computer cameras. Sometimes I just ask myself - is it photography? Or photography lost its value? And is it still considered as art, work of talented people?
I have no illustrating examples for this post as I don't really want to steal those snap shots from other users. Though I have no doubt we all know what I'm talking about..