Going back, a never ending (fruitless) dream!

Every time that we are facing to an inevitable transformation or we are on a verge of a more fundamental change, you can see all those sudden and popular trends proposing going back to the past. But it is profoundly human to be insecure about something we don’t really know how it will establish themselves in your day-today life.

The obvious example of that in the photographic field is the reemergence of the interest in film photography, a technique that have been substituted and surpassed by the digital technology. For sure the digital photography emergence doesn't prevent many people to persist in using the old film technique and its associated and still available products as long it will possible to do so. There will be surely some supplying and environmental issues regarding this resurgence, but we won’t elaborate about these issues.

Going back seems to be reassuring although we must add that for most of us, we have already understood the virtues of going ahead with the future of things. In fact, is it possible to going back by simply ignoring, boycotting and refusing the progress as a positive value of the evolution of humanity? And this is not the most intriguing about going back idea because for some of those who defend these trends, going back is a better solution than looking ahead. Like a kind of time-laps refuge that will defend ourselves again the uncertainty of the future.

There is not only one factor that is pushing the evolution of things. It is an array of decisive multi-reasons, multi-events and multi-influences (external) that is provoking the change. Digital photography is not only related to a specific technology of equipment, it is also the result of the global spreading of personal and commercial communication through Internet. If the camera makers have not followed this trend, they would have been simply eliminated from their market share and, in fact, some have already paid a higher price for having been to slow to do it.

Now we are entering into a new social physical distancing era for obvious reasons. And it will last for a longer period of time that we have first anticipated it and hoped that everything will back as it used to be in a very short time. That will be not the case and the Internet social channels are becoming more and more important and less recreational too. Photography will have to adapt itself to this intermediate reality, at least for a few years and, who knows, it can be a more permanent change in a long term.

I think you have past the photo equipment review blogs domination over the Web as many of them are not only redundant but also not so pertinent in a more mature market. We have to move ahead with the real purpose of doing photography which is sharing your personal visions of this world. Hardware or software subjects have to be rightly replaced by the true subjects of the pictures or photographs. And the discussion must evolve to the family of man (and woman) and his/her surrounding universe.

Autour de l'humain en photographie

Nous vivons tous à travers cette crise sanitaire et socio-économique un sentiment d'incertitude et de questionnement sur la pertinence de nos actions, de nos attentes et de l'empreinte que nous voulons laisser de notre passage dans cette vie. Mais fondamentalement, peu importe ce changement apparent de perspective, tous les grands thèmes qui animent notre humanité demeurent. Et ces thèmes sont souvent la base mutilatrice de l'expression photographique et de toutes autres formes d'expression humaine.

Le médium photo est connu, maintes fois expérimenté mais toujours renouvelé. Sa nature même a évolué et ces supports de représentation passant du verre, au papier jusqu'à la projection éphémère et virtuelle, ont continué leurs mutations incessantes. Son public d'abord très généraliste s'est transformé en des auditoires de plus en plus spécialisés sans oublier son côté individuel axé sur un visionnement très intimiste.

Le plus grand thème de la photographie reste l'humain que ce soit explicitement ou très implicitement car la photographie est surtout un fait culturel qui se définit et définit à travers ses auteurs. Il n'y a pas de photographie automatique, spontanée sans que ce soit au départ une intention (humaine) de se faire.

Donc l'humain domine la réflexion photographique. Bien sûr les variantes d'interprétation de ce thème fondamental sont presqu'infinies.

L'humain (sa nature)
Centré sur un soi-même corporel d'abord, les esquisses photographiques de l'humain peuvent passer du réalisme de représentation au surréalisme quasi-virtuel. C'est un portrait de l'âme, de l'émotion, de l'expression des attitudes, des gestes et, par extension, des intentions. Le visage de l'humain ne délimite pas qu’à sa partie faciale mais englobe toute sa représentation corporelle. C'est aussi un témoignage de la diversité raciale, culturelle, sociale et économique.

La créativité humaine (son édifice, ses activités)
L'humanité bâtit sa maison, son refuge, son domaine par souci de sécurité, de prospérité et de plaisir. Cet édifice jamais terminé se métamorphose au gré des années, de sa localisation, des saisons, des envies et de l'invention, du pouvoir de posséder et d'afficher, bref ses motivations sont multiples.

La présence humaine (son environnement)
C'est la conséquence du précédent (la créativité humaine) où l'environnement naturel et planétaire de l'homme doit subir toutes sortes de transformations et, souvent, faire l'objet de sa consommation définitive. Historiquement l'humain propose plus la dénaturation plutôt que la préservation de son environnement. Il considère la nature comme un réservoir de ressources à sa gratuite disposition et n'a souvent aucun véritable respect pour celle-ci, la bouleversant allègrement et sans retenue. La présence humaine, c'est avant tout la tragédie d'un état planétaire.

La trace humaine (sa pérennité éphémère)
Que restera-t-il de cette humanité après son déclin matériel universel inexorable et planétaire? À moins qu'il ne mute en pur esprit ce qui est peu probable devant sa spiritualité infantile, le leg de l'humain restera éphémère si ce n'est par les messages lancés par l'univers comme des bouées de sauvetage lancées sans grand espoir. Est-ce qu’il aura une post-humanité? Cela apparait presqu'impossible par sa nature foncièrement matérialiste. Avons-nous une parcelle d'éternité en nous ou plutôt une petite semence de pérennité à transmettre à l'univers? C'est encore à voir si cette trace saura perdurer momentanément.

La spiritualité humaine (sa raison d'être)
Alors se pose toujours ce pourquoi de l'humain. Une raison d'être qui pourrait la justifier dans ce grand ensemble qu'est l'univers. À ce propos nous n'avons pas toujours été modeste et aujourd'hui, nous tentons toujours de définir cet univers à partir de notre petitesse vaniteuse mais bien éphémère. Mais quand l'humain se met à réfléchir sur son modeste destin, il a souvent la sensation du vide spirituel auquel il s'est bien accommodé longtemps. Et cette spiritualité humaine s'est souvent exprimée dans l'exclusion plutôt que l'inclusion ce qui en résultait au final à un cul de sac, somme toute, prévisible. Serons-nous aller au-delà de notre petite humanité? C'est une question bien fondamentale.

Photography: this cycle is over!

This is an article theme that we are used to read since several decades. It has been evoked when the roll film has taken over the photographic plates. It happened again when compact 35mm film cameras have sweep the larger format ones. It happened again when electronic cameras push the mechanical ones to obsolescence. It happened another time with the apparition of the digital photography. And now we are speaking of the end of the D-SLR type domination in favor of the mirrorless camera’s devices.

But there is another phenomenon that is may be a far more preoccupation for all the supporters of the traditional photography. The lifetime of all the present photographs has been cut to almost nothing, from the documentary and archival purposes to the actual instant consumerism with no intend preservation. Images as a whole, have not been so present into your society but individual iconographic representation are vanishing almost as fast they will appear. Photography have loose one if not its most important task: preserving those precious moment as testimony of our human presence.

In search of a (durable) purpose
The history of traditional photography is a very fascinating one. Its peculiar story has demonstrated right from its start a huge popular interest for the new visual medium. Even with its very limited initial technology, photographers of all over the planet and any conditions have found different ways to express their art and to share theirs results. The pace of photography in our society has been frenetic right from its beginning. People were very aware about the real potential of photography and they manage to use it.

Almost all the greatest themes in photography have been exploited during its infancy. Travel, documentary, scientific, journalistic, fashion, portrait, family, abstract, nude, nature and many more have been the core pretexts to do pictures and printed them for prosperity. Because photography can be a precise and detailed medium, it offers a very rich testimony of the past and present that is describing more meticulously our surrounding and ourselves.

It is now more difficult to us to apprehend the major role that photography has stand for many decades to our recent civilization. Because the importance of history and its study has been depreciated in our present consumerist society, (authentic) photography tend to be less and less popular. Places or media channels to show and preserve it are disappearing at a fast pace. Many recent tentative have failed to reintroduce an appeal to enrich ourselves with pictures that are revealing all the aspects of this civilization without the pollution of marketing censorship.

In search of a public
Photography has been for almost two centuries one of the most favorite way of visual expression both artistically and for documentary private or public purposes. All kinds of public were demanding for pictures and we have seen a plethora of photographic different channels overtime that fulfill the everybody visual appetite. Today it would be inconceivable to live in a world without the iconographic contribution. And photography is still "the" universal language that most of us can refer without prevention or the need of special translation. For sure the problem of the different photographic interpretations for the same image is still a challenge for the various publics of this planet.

Although the demand seems to be ever growing, by a strange phenomenon, traditional photography had loose most of its presence and have been replaced by the "photo illustrations" who are creating totally controlled (often fake) visual universe to fulfill more often their promotional task into the commercial, social, economic and politic fields. As I have state elsewhere, authenticity has simply been put aside in favor of idealization of the iconic representation. People have chosen to be reassure in their vision of this world instead to stay inform and actively reactive. Photo stories based on reality without too much filtering have no longer general channels to get diffused.

Which is bringing us to the Internet alternative often seen wrongly as the life buoy of many traditional media channels. That initial perception of an open, free and universal way of popular communication have been changed for the todays highly commercialized Web tool that its sophistication has pushed aside the less fortunate communicators. Even the (private) social media channels have imposed specific user constraint that have mainly standardized their contents.

If I am very critical of today’s photographic diffusion channels, it is because it seems that the most interesting and provoking contents appears to be totally evacuated in profit of those never-ending standards edited (winning contest) pictures. We are the "Don't Rock the Boat" civilization preferring the comfort of a repeating pattern instead of the disturbance of the difference.

What's next?
Sure, we are moving ahead. Human stagnation never has been an enduring option for the future. We need to progress, to evolve and to elevate ourselves. And into the need to move ahead, there is a basic curiosity stimulus that give us a strong motive to try, to push, to jump on the other side. What is photography if not an act to project ourselves through a visual flash of reality that is recorded into a virtual support that we share with others.

Photograph is an act of self-expression which allow us to select a special moment of time, a special space and subject arrangement of a fading reality. But fundamental photography is not a pure invention issued from our imagination that is simply using light effect and an object or subject drawing to create a completely virtual universe. So, is there always a place for a more "realistic" photographic quest? Before saying yes for sure, we have to ask ourselves if we are still interesting about this world surrounding us or if we think that we are now enough self-sufficient in every way for evacuating any "outside" disturbances that are questioning our selfish behavior.

The recent world crisis has forced us to refugee ourselves in a very secure cocoon to simply survive further. What will happen next? Do we want to reopen humanity to its diversity and share its rich culture heritage? Can photography be able to participate to a new emancipation of the people on a universal level? For that, it has to be seen what our choice in this crossroad of the future will be.

Photographic Community Identities

There is no question about the existence of many photographic communities around the world. Their purposes are various and reflect the different interests that reunite people to photographic themes such as styles, schools, professions, genres, gear, etc. What the introduction of Internet had changed was the higher facility to reach and share these diversified groups of interest.

Socializing through digital virtual channels is not really a new thing since the Internet had been becoming for more than two decades the privileged communication structure of most modern communities. But in doing so the people relations are now proceed a to more on an international base with an obvious cultural blending. It has opened the exchanges at a more instructive and enriched cultural level.

With time many group plate-forms have specialized their subjects creating niche interests that eventually evacuated other subjects initially discussed. As a generalist myself, I have found more and more difficult to avoid all the associations with narrowed subjects that are now orienting many Web (or Blog) sites. An easy example can be observed into the numerous Web sites reviewing photographic gear. Many of these sites have been transformed to (political) commercial self-promoting groups that have loose almost any detachment regarding the various photo equipment products. There are even fierce wars between specific gear users divided by their manufacturer’s product choices.

So the identity debate is very actual. In a way nationalism had been substitute by commercialism. With the actual sanitary and economic crisis, it may be the time to realize how we have loosened touch with the essentials of Photography that is ... doing photography and share it! Everybody is talking about a "pause" imposed to your way of life dominated by consumerism. Is the way we want to ultimately transform, spend and dispose of your planet resources for short-term selfishness? Are we happier with that way of life that excludes more and more mind opening to someone or to something different that could push us to emulate and to progress?

As photograph, curiosity should be a strong stimulus to get original contents that will be interesting to share. Let's hope we won’t lose this photographic universal fundamental spirit.