Blog Prompts 2.20

“I think photographs should be provocative and not tell you what you already know. It takes no great powers or magic to reproduce somebody's face in a photograph. The magic is in seeing people in new ways.” Duane Michals

I agree with what Duane Michals says here. In my opinion in all things in life, including photography, it is a lot easier to create a copy of something someone else has already made. It takes a true artist, photographer, to create something else in which has not been told before. In this way I do believe photographs should be proactive and not settle for recreations of famous works. I think that through doing recreations one can learn a great deal of how to create their masterpieces. 

“I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.” Duane Michals

This quote by Michals goes along with his last quote. I also do agree with this one as well. Without individual imaginations we would not have proactive photographs. When I view photographs I do not simply look for aesthetically pleasing images. I try to look deeper into the photograph for some type of meaning or story that is being portrayed by the photographer. In photographs, things that are left out of focus or another type of way to create a mystery to your photograph brings out a higher interest than something that is simply depicted.

“Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” ~Ansel Adams

I would have to disagree with Ansel Adams. I believe that there is not one type of photography that is a true test of the photographer. There are too many genres, techniques, and styles of photographer for one style to be "crowned" the supreme test. As always one can have an amazing photograph that could go down and history, and on the other hand one could have a photograph that disappears with history. It also all depends on the viewer. Everyone has different interests and experiences which leads to different interpretations. These different interpretations tend to stem from what an individual likes or dislikes in general.