Perceptive Photographer #19: Can any photo be special

Hosted by Daniel j Gregory

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July 20, 2015

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What the heck is this week's podcast about?

I was recently watching the Incredibles from Pixar again. In the movie Syndrome talk about how how when everyone is special no one is special. This reminded me of a quote by Robert Frank about how if every moment is captured then nothing special is captured and that there are to many cameras and to many images now.

Those two quotes got me thinking about how we look at and view photographs and photography as art. I love that we have put so many cameras and images out there. I don’t necessarily think that we have made better photographs that transcend time, but we have been able to capture more and more work. In this podcast, I spend some time thinking about what makes an image distinct from a photograph and what makes the photographer separate from everyone else with a camera.

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Quotes

“There are too many images, too many cameras now. We’re all being watched. It gets sillier and sillier. As if all action is meaningful. Nothing is really all that special. It’s just life. If all moments are recorded, then nothing is beautiful and maybe photography isn’t an art anymore. Maybe it never was” — Robert Frank

“Oh, I’m real. Real enough to defeat you! And I did it without your precious gifts, your oh-so-special powers. I’ll give them heroics. I’ll give them the most spectacular heroics the world has ever seen! And when I’m old and I’ve had my fun, I’ll sell my inventions so that everyone can have powers. Everyone can be super! And when everyone’s super…no one will be.” — Syndrome from the Incredibles

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Gear used in the podcast

Rode Boom Arm
Rode PSM Shockmount
Rode Podcast Mic
Focusrite Scarlet 2i2
Adobe Audition (part of creative cloud subscription)
Macbook Pro
OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock
Headphones

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