light : 01

There has been a vogue for lightless photography for some time now. By this I mean photography which makes an effort to create emotional distance, a non-partisan account of a scene, by stripping away various accents of visual language such as lighting, angle of view, vivid colour use, even facial expression.

Richard Avedon explains it by saying that he has 'worked out of a series of no's—no to exquisite light...etc' implying that—in making portraits—he wants to view the plain surface of a person, and what it gives away of his relationship with them via the camera. So he developed a simple, routine method of lighting his subjects that was applied in all his work. (Even so, you can still recognise an Avedon portrait the way one might recognise a familiar accent.)

Since he said this, the scene has become utterly flooded with photographers who work in colour on medium/large format, choose flat light for their subject, stand at a full-length distance and wait until beyond the last hint of expression before shutter release and capture of - well, of what? A person I have no access to. I find it difficult to differentiate between the accents in this type of work, from one photographer to another, and find the aloofness unappealing. Unlike, on the other hand, the originators, who are individually fascinating—Gursky, Adams, Eggleston—because they aren't trying to remain impartial and aloof. They still want to communicate in their own accents while searching with a democratic eye.

I understand that 'exquisite light', as much as seductive chunks of vivid colour, can be a distraction from the bare honesty of a person or a thing when you're trying to tell the plain truth. But truth (oh, here we go) isn't always objective is it? Especially not where people are concerned. I also know that the lightless habit is about photographers not wanting to presume an opinion, they'd rather we look and make our own minds up (an excuse for unresolved thought?). But I like exquisite light in photographs, it dares me to look in the first place, and it also dares me to do something about the fact my heart is beating faster when I see the life moving in a person or a thing because of that light.

Light can describe passion, so for now while I try to figure this out, I'm going to let myself be seduced by it.

[I'll post more thoughts about this - look out for future numbered episodes. And about today's soundtrack, the perfect tunes to accompany a long run after my darkroomed S.A.D. on Friday, flying over the Clifton Suspension bridge with light bouncing off the River Avon underneath and across the city - now tell me light means nothing...]


{today's soundtrack: The Bees - Free the Bees}