What is Photography?

Quick edit integrating an AI-generated image of an “obelisk of mysterious origin” into a photo that I shot in the Ozarks.

With the recent deluge of AI image generators upon the market, and the continued expansion of AI assisted image capture/processing, there has been a lot of understandable discussion about what impact these new technologies will have on photography itself. These discussions range from “AI will destroy photography” and “AI image compositors cannot call themselves photographers” to a general excitement or curiosity (tinged, perhaps, with a bit of reservation). What is generally missing in these discussions is a clear definition of what is or is not photography, a benchmark with metrics for many that would appear to vary as widely as positions on image generation by artificial intelligence.

Mound City Chronicle Book

In late Fall of 2022, my first monographic photobook was published through Vedere Press in Indianapolis. Mound City Chronicle, a current exhibition series and the subject of my book, has been both a labor of love and a voyage of discovery for me since I moved back to St. Louis in 2009. The idea of publishing the work as a book goes back to at least 2014 when I produced a handmade variant using tipped in prints, though the publication process began in earnest back in 2018.

Does a parasite know that it’s a parasite?

All works in series are untitled.

One of photography’s inherit and unique properties is its ability to harness the duality of believability and obfuscation. This alone makes it unique among the arts, which are otherwise only capable of presentation (versus representation). Even a painter that works directly from a subject in front of them creates a product that is understood as an interpretation–an amalgamation of paint, canvas and the artist’s technical ability. We see these things first, before we are able to relate ourselves and to “experience” the subject. In photography, however, the viewer almost always accepts what they see first because the photograph is a recording of something in front of the camera and because photographs, for more than a century, have been both the currency and language of history. That said, a photograph has at least as much potential to lie to the viewer as any of the plastic arts. When the photographer frames, they carve away from reality and begin to manipulate what they see for their own aims. These are not light decisions and they form the basis for this body of my work.

Though all of the images in this series are “straight” photographs, many of them play with the viewer’s understanding of what they see. A photograph of a seemingly serene scene may in fact have been photographed on the edge of a toxic waste dump, a photograph of something that looks like a perversion of nature may in fact be an image of mitigation efforts meant to protect or preserve it, etc. The viewer is encouraged to explore each image individually and interpret for themselves what impact they see.

My Best of 2022

1. Historic River Des Peres Sewer Tunnel, from Mound City Chronicle (for Terrain Magazine)

Despite taking a lot of photographs in 2022, very little photography was dedicated to my several ongoing projects (though significant that little bit was). This is due to several intervening factors: 1. my focus on exhibiting has picked up steam; 2. my focus on publishing a photobook has become realized; 3. I had wonderful assistance with my photo organization; and 4. it was hot as heck for a lot of the year.

What’s in my Camera Bag, 2022?

photo by Harper Gray (my oldest son)

It has been a while since I have shared a true, “what’s in my camera bag?”-style peek into the gear that I use on a regular basis. I am going to take the opportunity to really deep dive into what I pack in my primary kit, my everyday carry, and for travel or street photography. I will also summarize my thoughts on Fuji, after three years of using this system as my primary choice.

My Best of 2021

1. St. Louis Riverfront, from Mound City Chronicle

You wouldn’t know it from this blog (considering that this is my first post of the year), but 2021 was an opportunity for me to stretch my wings a bit and expand horizons for my work. For much of the last ten years, I’ve been primarily focused on assisting other artists in St. Louis, whether that was through Photo Flood Saint Louis, curating, teaching or mentoring. The effect of this was that I had lost sight of promoting myself and my work as an artist–to the degree that it had been more than ten years since my last solo exhibition. This year, all of that changed.

Katherine

I’ve expressed my fondness for working with the human form in previous posts (here, here, and here).  All of that said, I think it is important to note that these sessions are important to me/my work for a variety of reasons.

My Best of 2016

1. reveler at St. Louis Mardi Gras for PFSTL (Photo Flood Saint Louis)

Time again for my annual post of my favorite images (24 this time) and personal accomplishments.  To my recollection, very few years of my 36 or so in the world rival 2016 in terms of sheer awfulness.  I mean, the year was literally ushered in with a devastating flood for the record books….

Interlude: PFSTL Top Ten, #1. Dutchtown

Photo Flood Saint Louis turns four this August.  This post is a continuation of a countdown to commemorate this exciting milestone.

Dutchtown, named after a mispronunciation of “deutsch”, is St. Louis’ most populated neighborhood, and equally one of the city’s most threatened and potential-rich.

On Photography

Writing about photography, mostly in terms of its relationship to art and experience.

1. Chicken or the Egg?
2. Define: Photography
3. Film Pace
4. Flaws of Perception
5. Hitchcock’s Rear Window and the “Spectacle” in Photography
6. Photography and the Merits of Change
7. St. Louis and the History of Photography
8. Results of an Experiment, “The Neutrality of Information”
9. The Photography Experience
10. The Photographic Series
11. Photography is No Monolith
12. History of Nature and Landscape Photography, The Beginnings
13. History of Nature and Landscape Photography, Transition to Artform
14. What is Photography?