Projets de Paysage (Dec 2016)
Curiosités de l’observation photographique
Abstract
To what extent is it possible to give an objective representation of a changing landscape by means of photography ? Which criteria should be adopted to achieve this ? Is this the purpose of a photographic observatory ? To answer these questions, it is necessary to reflect on the belief in a so-called mechanical photographic image and to look at what has become of this belief in science and subsequently in art. Thus we shall follow the thread of observation, even if this means unravelling the notion until we encounter the that of objectivity which is implicitly associated with it. From that point on, based on an interview with the photographer Gilbert Fastenaekens, followed by an analysis of photographic images of empty landscapes, the aim will be to demonstrate the inadequacy of terms such as “neutrality”, “distance”, or even “detachment” ; often used confusedly in analysing the approach of photographers. When working on an assignment, although they are focusing on the landscape, photographers are entirely engaged in the field of photographic composition, albeit with a trained and highly instrumented eye. As for the images they produce, it is because they are taken within a long sequence of technical attachments that the very idea of a detached view should be considered as highly doubtful.
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