>>> in the way
When I surf on the web, I have the feeling that all photographs in the world have already been made. Michael Wolf is right when he uses Google’s interface in his Paris Street View. Why go out on the street when the whole of Paris is mapped in photographs? More examples of this world mapping can be found at Flickr and Panoramio. I guess you could say this is frustrating. With Paris Street View, Wolf raises questions about privacy in a metropolis. He also emphasizes the duality of Google, creating this unauthorized (is it?) map of the world, and some governments, who are restricting the freedom of a street photographer. For me, Michael Wolf is an example of a photographer who is in search of new ways to make photography interesting. I think that there can be some analogy found between the last century change, from the 20th to the 21st, and the previous century change. Painters like Manet, Cézanne or Picasso were searching for new, interesting ways to depict reality since by then it could be more easily shown with photography. Now, not only photography is easy but also publishing photos to a wide public through the web. Professional photographers feel they need to step up or are doing this without thought. Although I can hardly call myself a photographer, I’m struggling with this as well. ccc was a first step to overcome this struggle.
In this project I’m showing more and less important touristic landscapes, buildings and objects, but something is clearly standing in between the viewer and the subject. There is something in the way. For me, this is a straightforward way to deal with this frustration. There are 2 goals in this work in progress. Firstly, I want to enter a phase where I take these photographs naturally, without thinking. Secondly, I would like the viewer to actually view these pictures scanning for some touristic features, even when they are not present. This is a complete opposite way of how people nowadays are digesting photographs on the internet.
