Share article:
Share article:

Chappaqiddick
I'm old. Believe me, I know it. I'll be 70 in a few months. That fact may make it hard for you to take me seriously but bear with me for just this post. With age comes wisdom, right? What I want to write here is that I think the field of photography by those making art is changing in a disturbing way. Read on.
Photographic series or bodies of work are being explicated, explained, contextualized, rationalized and elevated with text or verbal rationales. You're thinking: so what? That's no big deal. Let me start with a short history and then let's take a look at current practice.  20 or 30 years ago, going to a photo show at MOMA or the Met, SF Modern, ID in Chicago or even the Whitney often meant you were confronted with a row of framed and matted photographs along with perhaps a brief statement from the show's curator that gave some biographical data on the photographer or maybe explained in what context the works were being shown. The titles of the work were usually the ...

Read this story and all the best stories on The Luminous Landscape

The author has made this story available to Luminous Landscape members only. Upgrade to get instant access to this story and other benefits available only to members.

Why choose us?

Luminous-Landscape is a membership site. Our website contains over 5300 articles on almost every topic, camera, lens and printer you can imagine. Our membership model is simple, a Dollar-a-Month ($12.00 USD a year). This $12 gains you access to a wealth of information including all our past and future video tutorials on such topics as Lightroom, Capture One, Printing, file management and dozens of interviews and travel videos.

  • New Articles every few days
  • All original content found nowhere else on the web
  • No Pop Up Google Sense ads – Our advertisers are photo related
  • Download/stream video to any device
  • NEW videos monthly
  • Top well-known photographer contributors
  • Posts from industry leaders
  • Speciality Photography Workshops
  • Mobile device scalable
  • Exclusive video interviews
  • Special vendor offers for members
  • Hands On Product reviews
  • FREE – User Forum. One of the most read user forums on the internet
  • Access to our community Buy and Sell pages; for members only.
Share article:
Neal Rantoul
Neal Rantoul
See all articles by this author
Neal Rantoul is a career artist and educator. Retired from 30 years as head of the Photo Program at Northeastern University in Boston he is devoting his efforts full-time to making new pictures and bringing earlier work to a national and international audience. With over 50 one-person exhibitions over the length of his career, Rantoul has just finished two new shows that were in April 2013. One was at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA that opened in early April and another at the gallery that represents his work, Panopticon Gallery in Boston, that opened April 6. These two exhibitions emphasized more current work. The Danforth show was of “Wheat” and the Panopticon exhibition featured new aerial photographs of the islands off the coast of Massachusetts.
See all articles by this author

You may also like

dnfba
Camera & Technology

What Camera Do I Choose Next? A Journey Through Needs, Wants, and Gear Lust

Finding the right camera feels like figuring out my creative identity —balancing what I shoot most with the gear that truly excites me.
Jon Swindall

Jon Swindall

·

November 20, 2024

·

6 minutes read

n
Camera & Technology

Sony Alpha 1 II and FE 28-70mm f/2.0 GM: Two New Excitements for Professionals

Two groundbreaking tools—the Alpha 1 II and FE 28-70mm f/2 GM—set a new benchmark for speed, precision, and creativity in photography and video.
Jon Swindall

Jon Swindall

·

November 19, 2024

·

7 minutes read