Blog Promts 16, 17 & 18

16.  “Photography can only represent the present. Once photographed, the subject becomes part of the past.” Berenice Abbott


I agree with this quote. Im not sure if Abbott meant this in a negative way, but i certainly don' think this is a negative thing. I think that's part of the beauty of photography. Because, it captures the past. Things cant always remain as they once were. Photography to me is a tool of our memory. 


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


I think that Ansel Adams means that it is important to capture landscape photography as it is in nature, because maybe he feels that the viewer would be disappointed in the image if it was not accurate to it's setting.  It's well known that Ansel Adams used to spend hours waiting for all the parts in his images to come together (clouds, sunlight, shadows, etc...) to form the perfect picture. So I could definitely see why he would put such an importance on getting the perfect image. Perhaps Ansel Adams felt as if other photographers were not doing the landscapes they shot justice. Seeing that Adams had a very good level of patience, maybe he felt that other landscape photographers did not put in the same hard work he did. 


18.  “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 think that Michals has a point, but I think that there is a different point to consider. Not everything is done for abstractions sake. Sometimes the beauty is in true representation.  I think you can still see someone in a new way, while seeing a reproduction of someone's face. A great photograph keeps that magic no matter how many times you look at the picture, and no matter if it's abstract or not. I think that it is necessary to have both, a representative view and an abstract view, and I dont think either of him is better or more important than the other, nor that one requires more skill than the other. The only thing that changes between abstraction and representation, may be the message that becomes conveyed to the viewer, but then again, that is always subjective anyway.