Notes about Core Curriculum
From www.aperture.org
Curriculum: Writings on Photography is the long-awaited collection of essays, reviews, and lectures—some of which have gained a cult following online—by Tod Papageorge, one of the most influential voices in photography today. As the Walker Evans Professor of Photography at Yale University School of Art, Papageorge has shaped the work of generations of artist/photographers, and earned a reputation as an unusually eloquent guide to the work of many important figures in twentieth-century photography.
Among the artists Papageorge discusses in this essential volume are Atget, Brassaï, Robert Frank (with Walker Evans), Robert Adams, and his close friend, Garry Winogrand. The book also includes texts examining photography’s relationship to poetry, and how the medium’s early technologies led to the creation of the self-conscious twentieth-century photographer/artist. Among the previously unpublished pieces are an unfinished poem on Sontag’s On Photography, a profile of Josef Koudelka, and a commencement speech delivered at Yale in 2004.
- See more at: http://www.aperture.org/shop/books/core-curriculum#sthash.h6P1JVWw.dpuf
Curriculum: Writings on Photography is the long-awaited collection of essays, reviews, and lectures—some of which have gained a cult following online—by Tod Papageorge, one of the most influential voices in photography today. As the Walker Evans Professor of Photography at Yale University School of Art, Papageorge has shaped the work of generations of artist/photographers, and earned a reputation as an unusually eloquent guide to the work of many important figures in twentieth-century photography.
Among the artists Papageorge discusses in this essential volume are Atget, Brassaï, Robert Frank (with Walker Evans), Robert Adams, and his close friend, Garry Winogrand. The book also includes texts examining photography’s relationship to poetry, and how the medium’s early technologies led to the creation of the self-conscious twentieth-century photographer/artist. Among the previously unpublished pieces are an unfinished poem on Sontag’s On Photography, a profile of Josef Koudelka, and a commencement speech delivered at Yale in 2004.
- See more at: http://www.aperture.org/shop/books/core-curriculum#sthash.h6P1JVWw.dpuf
My own notes from Core Curriculum.
"Happy accidents do happen and perhaps in direct proportion to the chances the photographer takes". I have also heard it said The more I practice, the luckier I get. This says to me that camera craft is a skill that needs to be frequently practised.
"Training - brings the eye to a 'secular' awareness BUT the body which moves with it also sees and forms with its own singular pressure" - from this I understand 'Get out there and do it!. Move around the subject. Consider form versus the demand of content.
Eugene Atget took photographs of 'historical and curious houses, fine facades and doors, panellings, door knockers, old fountains, period stairs and churches all over Paris'. He took pride in never cropping at the time of printing. This tells me of the extreme care he must have taken in positioning himself and his equipment at the time of taking. If a movable object were left in (eg. a piece of rubbish) it was meant to be in.
"Good pictures are not explained by words and in the case of the best pictures a writer would be well advised to save his words" Szarkowski., in relation tol'Escalier de l'Orangerie, Versailles by Eugene Atget. What this says to me is that everything I have to say about the picture should be in the picture. Add in the essentials, leave out the unnecessary.
Cyparisse par Flamen - description of the composition of this photo - Verticals of the tree trunks are echoed by the statue and balanced by the adjacent path, receding into the distance. The sculpture is acentuated by the dark backdrop of trees. Graphic composition. The narrator tree on the left. A dramatic structure, the statue. We are put in our place by virtue of the angle of view. Reference
The Ancien Regime, Versailles, Vase and Pedestal Here the position links 2 pedestals and has a wall leading away. The vases are enveloped in the dark tree background - the same device as in the Cyparisse (above). Composition learned by studying his previous pictures. This is a skill which can be employed today, both by being observant in what you have produced, and by looking closely at other photographers work.
Versailles Parc shows the same vase, off centre. This captures some of the 'energy' at the time of taking. Papageorge makes a point of linking Atget's early acting career with his photography. He suggests that the frame acts as the stage and the major components actors in it, the viewer is the audience. Perhaps the Parc with its statues evoked this sense of stage.
Parc de Sceaux - a graphic cross produced by tree branches against a backdrop of a beautifully lit pool. 'He saw it, he loved it, he took it' atget66s.jpg From the many photographs of Atget Papageorge refutes the argument of Rosalind Krauss that he could not be said to have an Oeuvre because the large collection was not edited by selection. Many well known photographers, including Ansell Adams, named Atget as one of their inspirations. They can't all have been wrong. Relate to my own photography
"Happy accidents do happen and perhaps in direct proportion to the chances the photographer takes". I have also heard it said The more I practice, the luckier I get. This says to me that camera craft is a skill that needs to be frequently practised.
"Training - brings the eye to a 'secular' awareness BUT the body which moves with it also sees and forms with its own singular pressure" - from this I understand 'Get out there and do it!. Move around the subject. Consider form versus the demand of content.
Eugene Atget took photographs of 'historical and curious houses, fine facades and doors, panellings, door knockers, old fountains, period stairs and churches all over Paris'. He took pride in never cropping at the time of printing. This tells me of the extreme care he must have taken in positioning himself and his equipment at the time of taking. If a movable object were left in (eg. a piece of rubbish) it was meant to be in.
"Good pictures are not explained by words and in the case of the best pictures a writer would be well advised to save his words" Szarkowski., in relation tol'Escalier de l'Orangerie, Versailles by Eugene Atget. What this says to me is that everything I have to say about the picture should be in the picture. Add in the essentials, leave out the unnecessary.
Cyparisse par Flamen - description of the composition of this photo - Verticals of the tree trunks are echoed by the statue and balanced by the adjacent path, receding into the distance. The sculpture is acentuated by the dark backdrop of trees. Graphic composition. The narrator tree on the left. A dramatic structure, the statue. We are put in our place by virtue of the angle of view. Reference
The Ancien Regime, Versailles, Vase and Pedestal Here the position links 2 pedestals and has a wall leading away. The vases are enveloped in the dark tree background - the same device as in the Cyparisse (above). Composition learned by studying his previous pictures. This is a skill which can be employed today, both by being observant in what you have produced, and by looking closely at other photographers work.
Versailles Parc shows the same vase, off centre. This captures some of the 'energy' at the time of taking. Papageorge makes a point of linking Atget's early acting career with his photography. He suggests that the frame acts as the stage and the major components actors in it, the viewer is the audience. Perhaps the Parc with its statues evoked this sense of stage.
Parc de Sceaux - a graphic cross produced by tree branches against a backdrop of a beautifully lit pool. 'He saw it, he loved it, he took it' atget66s.jpg From the many photographs of Atget Papageorge refutes the argument of Rosalind Krauss that he could not be said to have an Oeuvre because the large collection was not edited by selection. Many well known photographers, including Ansell Adams, named Atget as one of their inspirations. They can't all have been wrong. Relate to my own photography
- Composition - look at how the lines in the frame relate to one another
- What should I leave in or leave out
- How will the viewer feel involved with this picture
- Keep practising