The Art of photography

ChallengingtheTraditions

OnePicturefromMany

Theboundariesofphotographyarein-

creasinglybeingexpandedbyinnovative

worksthattranscendtheconventional

definitionsofthephotograph.

What

doesconstituteaphotograph?

Thedefinitionsgenerallyspecifyatwo-

dimensionalpictureofanactualobjector

event,adepictionofsomethingthathas

happenedatacertaintimeandplace.

Withinthesebounds,photographyhas

demonstratedbothitspoweranditslimi-

tations.Thepowerisinitsgrippingillu-

sionofreality,whetherquietordramatic.

Thelimitsappearwhentheviewerreal-

izesheis

seeing,onasingleflatsurface,

onlyselectedportionsofasceneoutof

whichthephotographermustcreate

a

senseofthewholeevent.

Feelingconstrainedbytheserestric-

tions,somephotographershavesetout

tobreakthem—oratleastbendthem.

Whilecontinuing

toemployphotographic

methods,theyhavequestionedmanyof

thetraditionalassumptions:
Doesapho-

tographalwayshavetobeflat?Doesit

havetobelimitedtooneimageinasin-

gleframe

9

Musttheeventphotographed

consistofoneevent,orcantherebesev-

eral?Doesthiseventhavetobeonethat

anybodycouldwitness—

oristhere

nota

placeforphotographsof"events"that

havehappenedinthemind's

eye

orina

compellingdream?

Toeachofthesequestionstheanswer

oftheseinnovatorshasbeen"No."They

haveshownthatseveralimagescanbe

juxtaposedtoformonepicture,andthat

itmaysaymorethananyoneimage

could Theresultsarevariedandallof

themchallengetheviewer'spreconcep-

tions:aphotographwithinaphotograph

(pages152-153);acontactsheetthat

servesasthesingleportraitofaroom

(pages154-155);acompositethatcom-

binesthesubject'sportraitwithscattered

bitsofwritingtakenfromhisbooksand

papers(page158).

Theyarephotographs,andyetthey

arealsomorethanphotographs—each

auniqueway

to

convey

theartist'sintent.

Therewardforthebeholder,inrecogniz-

ingtheinnovationsthesepicturesintro-

duce,istoenlargehisownconceptof

photography'souterlimits.

Thiscompositeof

20

printsconveysthe ide

peoplestreamingalongacitystreetbetterthan

singleimagecould.Thepeopleglimpsedh.

thoughpresentinthestreetatdifferenttimes.

givenrelationshipsonetoanotherbybeingmad

appear,disappearandsometimesreappear

makethecomposite,thephotographerstatio,

himself

ona

sidewalkinPhiladelphiaand

t

picturesofpassingpedestriansHeselectee

negatives,severalofwhichheprintedrr.

thanonce,juxtaposedtheprintstocreateavariet

light-and-shadowimpressions,andplayed

wi

varietyofhumanposturestolinkoneprinttothen