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photo by Donald Kinney
The town of Point Reyes Station had its beginnings when the railroad arrived in 1875. Originally known as"Olema Station", its name changed to "Point Reyes", then to "Marin", then back to "Point Reyes" again, and finally sticking with "Point Reyes Station" in 1891. Fifteen years later the town was almost completely destroyed in the 1906 earthquake--as the San Andreas fault runs north and south, about a quarter mile west of town.
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photo by Donald Kinney
I'm not absolutely certain of this, but I'm guessing the bricks on the left are pre-1906--in part of the wall that survived the destructive quake; contrasted by the different size, misaligned, and newer looking brick on the right.
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photo by Donald Kinney
Getting a bit arty here… This new non-skid floor--suitable for slippery cow hooves--is part of the old barn shown in the top photo. The barn is part of public open space and has been undergoing a restoration by volunteers for more than a decade, with funding for materials coming from TARP funds.
click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney
Inside the barn this piercing design of light caught my eye. For a moment, but only briefly, I felt like I might need to replace my baseball cap with an artist's beret, or my worn out green shirt with a smock smeared with green paint. When I returned to reality I remembered that photography comes with its own set of baggage--no need for me to complicate matters with the self-inflated title of "artist".
Reminds me of a story about one of my idols--Edward Weston--who died in 1958. In the 1930's while a gallery in New York City was preparing for Weston's first major exhibition, he received in the mail a proof-copy of the exhibition's catalog for his approval. He immediately balked at the blurb beneath his name on the cover, calling him a "photographic artist". Angrily he fired off a terse note to the gallery instructing them to change "photographic artist" to simply "photographer".
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 2
Donald Kinney Quarterly - volume 2014 issue 1
2 comments:
Interesting distinction, but wouldn't you be a photographer if you simply document what is there, and an artist if you manipulate your photographs to change what was there? If you crop, or even select the framing, never mind using filters or manipulating in the darkroom or on the computer, you are making artistic choices, choices that change what is there. I might say that makes your work "art" without being pretentious, no?
Hmmm… Well ZOOMIE, if someone took a snap just to document what was there, I don't think that would qualify them as a photographer--any more than someone who smeared brush-loads paint would qualify them to assume the title of artist. The term artist is SO broad. It can apply to music, song, dance, lovemaking, etc.; but nobody will ever call a writer or a poet an "artist"--or at least I won't. Yet, in all these endeavors, creative expression is involved. Honestly, photographers can be just as pretentious as other types of artists. It is all art--of course. The difference is that it is perfectly valid for any painter or sculptor to call themselves and be regarded as artists (good or bad), but when it comes to photography--when I hear someone refer to themselves as an "artist", I cringe and am instantly maddened. Nothing special about being an "artist" because the term is so exceedingly broad. Once in a while I might snag an artistic looking photo, but I might have to make 10,000 attempts (no kidding) before I achieve anything that comes close, or could be vaguely assumed to be "art". Usually they are just lucky happenstances, and BEING there has a whole lot to do with it. A nice camera, lens, and a whole lot of patience and free time also plays into the equation. Anyway, for me, it all boils down to Edward Weston--he didn't want to be referred to as an "artist", and I will never achieve his level of creative genius, so it would be sacrilegious of me to elevate my title higher than his. Same goes for that Ansel Adams fellow--who NEVER referred to himself as an artist. Perhaps a "photographic artist", but never just plain simple "artist".
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