Just finished reading “The Poetics” by Aristotle (loved it) and came across this idea from him regarding poetry and art. He states that poets attempt the following in their stories (in terms of their presentation):
- Things as they are (reality)
- Things as they are thought to be (perception)
- Things as they ought to be (philosophy)
Which makes me think: we as photographers also have a poetic sense. And the question is with our photography do we desire to show reality how it is (objective reality), how we think it to be (our personal perception of reality), or how we think it should be (our philosophy)?
The poet is a maker
Poet (Poetos in Ancient Greek) literally means “maker”. Thus if you make art works or anything, you’re a poet.
Thus when we consider the “poetics” of what you do, we are interested in how we make our artworks; the technique, approach, and artistic vision underlying our creations.
What is your ambition to communicate via your photos?
With photography do you desire to display:
- Objective reality
- Perceived reality (your perspective)
- Transfiguring and transforming reality in your own image (reality as it ought to be in your own eyes).
My thoughts:
- For me objective reality is boring. To me capturing objective reality isn’t art; it is something a computer or Google Maps/Street View can do.
- Capturing your perceived reality is legitimate and good. Artists don’t strive towards objective representation; we seek to embed our soul into our art works.
- To transform reality as we think it should look like: the greatest version and vision of the artist-photographer. This is what we should strive towards and aim towards!