I am starting a blog about photography. I’m late to the game but I believe this will be a good place to test out some images, think and write about photography and perhaps charm and/or bore you with asides on music, design, art and, if you are unlucky, the New York Knicks, pork products and bourbon. ***************************************************************************************
If you believe Bill Brandt‘s quote that “it is part of the photographer’s job to see more intensely than most people do…” then taking the Farnsworth Munsell Hue test is interesting. While the test is not a measure of “intenseness” it is a measure of “chromatic discrimination,” and I am undiscriminating in the dirty greens and in the bruise-y purple/magenta area. (These purples are my wife’s favorite colors… if you pray please do for me.) How do you trust a photographer without perfect color sense? (Find out here what it’s like for a cook without a tongue.) I often think about a quote from David Salle–which I am both paraphrasing and misremembering–that says as an artist you need to take your weaknesses and turn them into strengths. (If you have the book let me know. It was in that series of books that consist of a long interview… Richard Avedon shot the covers… tall and skinny… I think there is an Eric Fischl one too.) What does this ramble have to do with this blog? I’m starting it because I write slowly, it takes me forever to edit and correct new work, and I’m super jealous that blogs are cool and I don’t have one! (Full disclosure: I’m also slightly dyslexic, I have poor depth perception, I border on the edge of A.D.D., and I like sleeping in). All of these things should make me a terrible photographer but this blog is an attempt to address these issues… maybe you should file this blog in your Google Reader under both the photography and self-help sections. You can find the test from the good people at X-rite here: http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77
