In my last post on Unmapping The City I think I have set a hare running by questioning the usefulness of theory to my practice as a photographer. This is something that I am going to have to chase down but anticipate that it is going to take some time and might even be an elusive quarry that I will never actually run to earth. In some ways it raises an existential question about what I am currently doing.
My current train of thought has been set in motion by some research that I have been doing in connection with the next section of the course on the Picturesque. Looking for the South Bank Show programme about Fay Godwin on YouTube I stumbled upon another show that I had not heard of before from 1991 (I am not and have never been much of a watcher of television) in the Channel 4 series “In With Mavis” (no, I have no idea who Mavis Nicholson was) that was an interview with her. Not a long programme but well done, interesting and thought-provoking, very intelligently presented by the eponymous Mavis (cheesy theme music apart).
Godwin makes a very interesting comment at one point: “The more conscious I am of why I am taking a picture the less successful it is.”
This strikes a chord with me: this is is very much how I feel about theory. It is useful, clearly, to have a grounding in theory but when it comes to actually taking a picture I do not find that underlying theory is at all useful. Godwin also comments that she did a lot of preparatory work and research for her projects but when it came to actually making the picture she had to put that behind her and rely more on her instincts. My own approach to work is very similar. At the end of the day the picture depends on what comes in front of my eye and whether or not the subject and composition work. When I am out taking pictures there is no room in my bag for books on theory!
Mark Robinson's OCA Landscape, Place & Environment Blog 