j.a.marohn
candid camera
You’re going to be tempted to glance at this photograph, grin a bit, then move on.
Don’t. Stop a moment and take a second look. A deeper, more thoughtful look. Because dude, there’s a lot happening here. This is the sort of photo that Susan Sontag would write about, and I am totally serious.
Most photographs are images of things; people, trees, public streets, doesn’t matter—they’re all turned into objects by the camera, objects to be photographed. But this is NOT a photo of things; it’s a photograph of something immaterial: an interaction. In fact, it’s a photo of two simultaneous, separate-but-related interactions. Each of the two people we see are responding in a unique, individual way to an action by an unseen third person—the photographer. We, as viewers, are sucked into the interaction because we occupy the place of the photographer. How cool is that?
But wait, there’s more. On an entirely different level, this is a sociological comment on the ubiquitous intrusion of image-making technology into spaces once considered private. And it’s a comment on how people are learning to respond to that intrusion. A man ought to be able to sit quietly, read the newspaper, or talk on the phone without having his picture taken, right? Not anymore, dude, not anymore.
But that’s not all. This is an example of using new technologies in non-technological ways, thereby re-purposing a machine into a modality for self expression. You’re wondering what the hell that means, right? It means using a handsaw as a musical instrument.
So that’s what we’ve got here. A handsaw used by somebody who isn’t there to play a blues song about the loss of privacy. Sontag’s toes would curl, I’m telling you. And you thought this was just a cute photo. Dude.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
