After a long 2 hours of discussing in PHOTO 111, about Robert Adams' essay, Beauty in Photography, I've come to realize that I have very little knowledge of "beauty" in art and photography.
After reading the essay over 3 times, I began to have mix feelings about my understanding on photography and art. During my 8 semester of studying photography, Adam was able to pull out a part of me, I didn’t know existed, so to speak. Notice I use the word “studying” because when people hear me say that I’m going to school for photography, first thing that comes to mind is, learning how to compose a ‘good’ photograph and sitting in front of a computer all day, photoshopping, if you will. No, that’s only 1/3 of what student photographers do in school. Now that I've gotten that across, let’s get back to Adams’ essay.
Adams expresses himself in a very vague and ambiguous way. Here’s my understanding. Please do correct me if I’m wrong. After our discussion in class today, I’ve realized I wasn’t exactly hitting the nail on the head, if you will. Here goes…
According to Adams, the goal of art is beauty. What is beauty? He suggested that beauty is not only an important part of art but it is also an important part of how we communicate a meaning. Successful art “rediscovers” beauty for its viewers. Now beauty can be define differently according to individual experiences. He also mentions that successful artworks usually have the widest diversity. In other words, photographs that viewers tend to find beautiful are the ones that contains more of what humans can relate to.
Beauty is there, however, we do not pay sufficient attention to it. A photograph does not have to be over the top to be considered beautiful. However, it should present a new Form. I understand Form to be the contents contained in a photograph. In respect to its predecessors, a successful photograph should be unlike what has already been created.
Adams believes beauty can heal but can also be painful. Painful? How can beauty be painful, you ask?
He believes that when we are in a good mood, art can be helpful and healing, making one feel at ease. Then there are times when beauty can hurt.
There was a time when Adams had to pack his camera and leave to a local café after witnessing a magnificent beauty.
“…city tract houses so inhumanly beautiful that they had over them the chill of empty space.”
Adams realize that the presence of beauty brings one back to reality.
My professor used a great example for this. Ever loved someone so much that it was painful when trying to express yourself? What Adams experienced was a little something like this. Although love is beautiful, it can be healing and it can be painful. It can be emotionally painful in expressing your love for someone.
After our discussion in class, I not only learned about beauty in photography, but a little bit about myself.
What is my relationship to the world of beauty, where do I stand when it comes to the beautiful and the sublime?
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