23 June 2010

Two quotations

Two quotations which, while they do not fully describe photography or replace other views, do represent a truth not often enough emphasised. Both taken from a photography course graduation show.

Photography is freedom, photography is a play day!(Stacy Robson)

Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.(Arnold Abner Newman, quoted by Kathryn Gatt)

5 comments:

Julie Heyward said...

Reference the second quote, wouldn't that require/assume that the real is known? (Otherwise, how do you know the difference?)

If everything turns out to be of one "stuff" then we can quit worrying about divisions and ... (topic for your next post ...)

Felix said...

On your first point, Julie...

One looks at what is before one. If one recognises it, it is not real; if not, it is.

Clear as mud?

Julie Heyward said...

How do you know if you recognize something? Not in the sense of knowing or not knowing what it is but ... (my head is hurting, which I expect is your intention...) not believing that you are perceiving what you are perceiving? Belief is problematic.

Felix said...

Arguably, it's not belief which is problematic but objective testing of the validity of a particular belief.

However, I take your point ... we cannot know whether we do or do not recognise something; only believe that we do (or do not).

The same, of course, applies to perceiving ... so we are reduced to: "One looks at what one believes is before one. If one believes one recognises it, one believes that it is not real; if one believes that one does not, then one believes that it is".

That appears to add up to saying nothing useful at all ... but if you count up all the ones, there are nine of them. We therefore appear to have stumbled upon a proof that 9=0...

Geoff said...

I know a puff of smoke when I see one.

"To be or not to be "
Been there, done that............and then one day........
A four legged ginger furry friend has just passed away; but I knew him when he was here, no doubt whatsoever about that.