Today I read David Campany’s essay on Safety in Numbness: Some Remarks on Problems of ‘Late Photography’ 2003.
It was an interesting read and he certainly discussed some ‘problems’ with Late Photography. As I see it photography as medium is evolving rapidly into this genre of Late Photography and is well suited for the task. Campany says, “Meyerowitz’s imagery is not so much the trace of an event as the trace of the trace of an event”. (Campany, 2003,P185) This certainly categorises my practice and a great critical way to put it, and with my practice I would go ahead and put another ‘trace’ in there. Time is a great factor in my practice, as the time that has passed from the actual event is greater and possibly what I think Campany is describing Late Photography but still has the same definition of captured after the event. Capturing an event after, at different times in history could visually look very different but that area/landscape could always be defined with that event.
Campany talks about interesting works of Late Photography by Willie Doherty, Paul Seawright, Sophie Ristelhueber and Richard Misrach but then goes onto to say “but as I write it is hard to avoid the cheaper moodiness of images of derelict buildings and urban wastelands on display in London’s galleries” (Campany,2003,P191). I’m wondering if my practice falls into this category and if by ‘cheaper’, Campany means popular? These types of images have been popular for some time now and I admit viewing can become repetitive at times especially when presented with just an abandoned building which holds no significance to culture. In the next module I will look into why ruin photography is so popular and the type of aesthetic and how they are atmospherically constructed.
Campany in summary says “If the banal mater-of-factness of the late photography can fill us with sense of the sublime, it is imperative that we think through why this might be” (Campany, 2003,P193). I would have to agree that this could be a problem if the photographer doesn’t have a clear intent, which draws the audience to the attention of the very reason why they are recording that ‘trace’ of event. If the audience is completely distracted by other factors other than the rough account of the event then for me it’s not Late Photography.
Critical Research Journal 