Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Michael Wolf: 500 Words 11.14.08
Photographer Michael Wolf begins his essay reflecting on his challenge of working in Chicago. He says that it is a conceptual difficulty. But he found Chicago it be visually stimulating. So he begins to find rooftops that allow him to look into the adjacent buildings. Even though his focus was on the architecture of the buildings, he found in one photo, a man giving him the middle finger at the precise moment he took the photo. Keep in mind Michael was on the rooftop of another building for twenty minutes. This inspired him to look at every photo he took at 200 percent magnification to find other unique events that are happening in his photos. Here we have another issue of privacy invasion by a photographer. Even though he is taking a photograph of a building, he is still able to look into the buildings with enough accuracy to be a government spy. Michael Wolf does mention at the end of his essay that, “Despite the unpredictability of my process, I have very specific images in mind as I work.” This leads me to believe that he doesn’t mean to spy on people, but I still feel uncomfortable that an artist is not concerned with the privacy of others. It is as though he thinks it is funny. Michael Wolf is just one step away from becoming paparazzi.
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1 comment:
Nate -
Play devil's advocate for a sec : how are the results? does he - as an alleged "artist" -- have any justification, to get away with it? How is his rooftop photography different from, say, street photography. What do you think of the invasion of his work, versus, say the work that Mads Lynnerup performs. or the snapshot project of Paul Chan or the realistic settings that Cauleen Smith's actor invades? Are any more exploitative or voyeuristic than the others? Your point is taken, but your comments may settle too soon on labeling him, and your discussion comes to a rest too soon. Or is that all the work is, plain and simple?
These posts - as writing - are fine. As discussion of ideas, as work for the class, I would have liked to have heard more. You did, here, craft fine platforms from which you could readily expand your thoughts. Just need to do the work of crafting and sharing more thinking here.
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