Tuesday 14 April 2009

On Anton


The photograph,

the object that represents

a time,

a moment

the photograph

forever connected

to time.


So this fascination resides in so many things. The meaning of a photograph, it's possibilities, it's mysteries, it's mistakes, it's historical connection. It is after all a record, a trace of the past, although the staged photograph questions its credibility in showing the truth. There seems to be no end to my wondering and research.

The play on time and movement as the subject within the photo tends to be in the forefront of my mind. I recently discovered one of Italy's great pioneer in Photography/ Filmaking - Anton Giulio Bragaglia.
After his studies he worked alongside his brothers, experimenting with photography and forming photodynamism /futuristic photography.
He published his theory on this in 1911.



As much as a sharp photograph strikes and appeals to me - ' the blacks must be black, the whites must be white' echos of the repeated advice from college tutors, there is a side of me that is drawn to the blur and movement depicted in the work of Bragaglia and Francesca Woodman. I suppose there is charm in the imperfection, a Romanticism in the soft haze especially in the work of Miroslav Tichý.

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