~ Oscar Wilde

A Photo Editor posted about talent in photography and what it means to them…a great from-the-gut line of thought. It engendered a slew of comments as you can imagine.

I just finished watching half of the Genius of Photography series over on Ovation TV that What’s the Jackanory mentioned and there’s a fantastic quote from Chuck Close in the first episode of the series, around 32 minutes in…

“Here’s the dilemma and the strength of photography. It’s the easiest medium in which to be competent. But, it’s the hardest medium in which to have personal vision that is readily identifiable…

There is no physicality to a photograph, there’s nothing there. Some silver that got tarnished in the development process, some dyes from the colour print, there’s no physicality. There’s nothing you can point to and say this is the work of that artist’s hand.

…So, how do you make a photograph that everybody immediately knows is the work of a particular artist? Well that’s a very difficult and complicated thing to come up with. And when someone really ends up nailing down a particular kind of vision to such an extent that they own that vision, then they’ve really done something.”

How apt.

We know an Avedon portrait as soon as we see it…as well as an Irving Penn still-life…or a David LaChappelle celebrity shot, an Araki nude, Atget’s intimate portraits of Paris. Some of them had the benefit of coming before, but all of them owned the unique vision that they possessed.

So keep that in mind photographers, the next time you’re debating purchasing a portfolio with covers made of oak and hinges made of brass…