The Art and Business of Photography

The Descriptive Photograph: Illusion and Fact

I wrote my MFA Thesis on descriptive photography, or as Walker Evans aptly put it the “documentary style”. That was 1989, and although photography has since gone through an evolution I still hold to those arguments. The thesis began with a quote by Garry Winogrand that is as useful today for documentary based photographers as it was in 1974 when he said:
“A still photograph is the illusion of a literal description, of how a camera saw a piece of time and space… I like to think of photographing as a two-way act of respect. Respect for the medium by letting it do what it does best, describe. And respect for the subject by describing it as it is. A photograph must be responsible to both.” Aperture, 112 (Millerton, New York: 1988), p. 53.

One of Walker Evan’s photographs from Let Us Now Praise Famous Men punctuates the way of working Winogrand articulated. The Evans photograph I wrote about is, perhaps a lesser known example, Kitchen Wall, Alabama Farmstead, Hale County Alabama 1936, but it is one that I believe is an elegant expression of Evans’ vision.

“Evans’ use of form flowed from his subject matter. His photographs (Kitchen Wall) is another example of his descriptive style… The wall and the implements, carefully placed there by their owners, speak of balance and delicacy that reflects their sense of beauty. It is Evans’ attention to the significance of those objects and his visual response that reveals essential form.” Cialdella 1989.

…The importance of Evans’ work is that it demonstrates that photography flourishes as art when the artist explores deeply the real world while controlling the medium to communicate a personal vision.

I never tire of looking at the photographs of Walker Evans, his skill in making the ordinary extraordinary.

Posted by Gary Cialdella | October 21, 2011 | No Comments