Take a Wider View, David Ward, Outdoor Photography, August 2014.

In this month's Outdoor Photography magazine is an article which encapsulates one of the reasons why I find studying for a photography degree rather than just being a wildlife/landscape photographer important and satisfying.  The article is entitled 'Take a Wider View' and discusses the importance have having an awareness and knowledge of the the context of photography in history and the wider culture of art.

David Ward tells us that there has been an explosion of photographic imagery  in the last decade which can only be positive for the art of photography but he feels that there is something missing: reference to any wider artistic context.  His concern is mainly the lack of reference to the history of the medium.  He argues that many photographers new to the discipline are bounded by the work they see on Flickr, ephotozine and other forums and believe that nothing happened prior to the digital age.  His main question is "...how do they know what constitutes a 'good' photograph?" (Ward, Outdoor Photography, 2014, p 57)  The same can be said for the photography critic and this knowledge of the wider context is crucial to their 'deep knowledge of the practice of photography'. He goes on to say that our current aesthtic sensibility didn't arrive with the digital age; it has been around for countless thousands of years since man began to draw in caves.  The attitude that today is all that matters leads us to reinventing the wheel and the example that he gives is that of 'The Big Stopper' and the fact that long exposures and their effects have been around since the dawn of photography; indeed, there was no alternative to using long exposures in those early days and subjects had to sit completely still for several minutes.  Knowing more about the history of art can lead to 'knowing' photographs.  This fact is relevant to Liz Wells's essay and is part of the deep knowledge that photography critics need to have in their armoury.  A lack of knowledge of our photographic predecessors and the work they produced leads to insularity.

Ward also argues that if we are to be serious about photography being an art, then we also need to look beyond the near horizon of the wider worlds of painting, sculpture and music.  One of the joys of studying for this degree is the visits I have made to exhibitions; not just photography but all branches of the art world.    He suggests that photography magazines should have a role to play in educating the new breed of photographer by running articles on the wider art world and on the history of photography and our photographic forbears.

He ends by arguing that there is nothing to fear and, in his experience, the best photographs are to be found a little off the beaten track.


Reference

Ward, D. (2014) Take a Wider View. Outdoor Photography. 1(181), p 57