Thinking about Photography

andree writing lise

1. What we understand as ‘photographic’ exists outside of, or maybe even before, the advent of man.

2. With photography, there is a distinction to be made between ‘before’ and ‘outside.’

3. There is a photographic state that exists not as interpretation but as trace. This is the photographic in its indexical condition.

4. The material and information of photography are two different things.

5. The creativity of nature can’t be reduced to JUST the quest for survival unless you categorize all our (human) activity as a quest for survival. The photographic – including nature’s version of the photographic – might be associated with play not survival.

6. The main issue to wrestle with in photography may not be ‘the chosen photo’ but the discarded one.

7. Digital photography may not be a direct descendent of analog photography — It might only be a third cousin, not a daughter.

8.  With the advent of digital photography the left-over material of analog photography doesn’t just disappear – it migrates to other cultural systems.