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Author Topic: Caponigro Photos and Article  (Read 2378 times)

BradSmith

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Caponigro Photos and Article
« on: August 19, 2019, 02:32:02 pm »

I very much enjoyed the photos.   

But the accompanying text, riddled with things like ......."and like a metaphor its power lies in transformation, but an equivalent transcends both through a heightened state of self-awareness, even to the point of transforming the self through its accompanying effects of clarity and commitment" and " it can also be a trace of spirit, the energetic confluence of body, mind, and emotion, either single or multiple" went way, way, way over my head.

But I think that if I can take enough mind altering drugs that it will all become clear.    In the meantime, the 1970ish psycho-babble ruined the impact of the article for me.    But, this is just one person's opinion
Brad
« Last Edit: August 19, 2019, 02:50:28 pm by BradSmith »
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2019, 03:00:20 pm »

"Lord...forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us."

In other words, it is a wonderfully illustrated article, so we can, I hope, forgive a few convoluted sentences :)

Les Sparks

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2019, 02:13:27 pm »

The photos were wonderful.
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digitaldog

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #3 on: August 20, 2019, 02:30:18 pm »

That's just JP's nature. He is very e·the·re·al  ;) 
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jim t

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #4 on: August 20, 2019, 04:12:28 pm »

" it can also be a trace of spirit, the energetic confluence of body, mind, and emotion,...."

Well, the above quote should be something we are all familiar with and that is when we feel something that evokes us to capture, we just know that it needs to be shot.
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BradSmith

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2019, 05:17:20 pm »

Well, the above quote should be something we are all familiar with and that is when we feel something that evokes us to capture, we just know that it needs to be shot.

Ooh. So that’s what it meant!
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petermfiore

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2019, 05:33:18 pm »

You have to understand artists speak differently than most. Just like the art that they make. Isn't it wonderful.

Peter

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2019, 08:05:26 pm »

Well, the above quote should be something we are all familiar with and that is when we feel something that evokes us to capture, we just know that it needs to be shot.
It does boil down to that.

I had to chuckle reading this thread, since I had heard all of what John Paul is quoting first hand in two workshops with Minor White.
Those who prefer a simpler verbal expression of artistic ideas would have enjoyed my workshop with John Paul's dad, Paul Caponigro. He was leafing slowly through some mounted prints he had in his collection, and every once in a while he stopped and said: "Look!"

 ;)
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Krug

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2019, 08:10:14 am »

Attempting to capture and convey complex ideas and feelings and impulses is not easy and is hardly likely to be able to be successful in simple everyday 'speak'.  Personally I found some of Caponigro's phrasing difficult and not readily accessible but so are the complexities and subtleties that he was trying to communicate. Some perseverance and effort is required. Revelation and understanding do not necessarily come easily but are worth working at if we are not to be restricted to a 'Walmart' world.
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nirpat89

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2019, 11:18:25 am »

I would say both the images and the words are well suited to each other.  Look good and sound good, but difficult to understand.
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faberryman

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2019, 11:19:41 am »

I would say both the images and the words are well suited to each other.  Look good and sound good, but difficult to understand.
Discussing photography philosophically is all well and good, but if you have to explain your photographs you have already failed.
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nirpat89

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2019, 11:27:58 am »

If you have to explain your photographs you have already failed.

Not sure if I understand....are you suggesting that the Caponigro failed because he wrote the article accompanying his images to explain the concept of Equivalence in photography. 
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Krug

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2019, 02:58:46 pm »

   " .... if you have to explain your photographs you have already failed."

No Sir, if your art, in whatever medium, is not susceptible to and will not bear extensive and thorough analysis and discussion and indeed explication then it is unlikely to worth calling art. The immediately obvious and superficially attractive may be delightful but is most unlikely to sustain the prolonged interest which is a prerequisite of art.
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Jim Kasson

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2019, 03:13:21 pm »

I very much enjoyed the photos.   

But the accompanying text, riddled with things like ......."and like a metaphor its power lies in transformation, but an equivalent transcends both through a heightened state of self-awareness, even to the point of transforming the self through its accompanying effects of clarity and commitment" and " it can also be a trace of spirit, the energetic confluence of body, mind, and emotion, either single or multiple" went way, way, way over my head.

But I think that if I can take enough mind altering drugs that it will all become clear.    In the meantime, the 1970ish psycho-babble ruined the impact of the article for me.    But, this is just one person's opinion
Brad

Welcome to the Zen System. It has a long and storied history.

Jim

elliot_n

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #14 on: August 22, 2019, 05:20:06 am »

I enjoyed the article more than the pictures, but to argue that equivalence goes beyond metaphor is to misunderstand metaphor.
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Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #15 on: August 22, 2019, 08:48:34 am »

Spending ten minutes messing about on the PC mirroring bits of landscapes/seascape shots together using PS, to make mirrored graphics isn't very difficult is it, but it is art? Not really. Is it interesting? I suppose it can be for a short while. But to talk about this type of 'fun to make' graphic, as though it is more deeply meaningful and unintelligible, than few other than us gifted types could ever hope to understand, is just mumbo jumbo in my opinion - but hey, if he can make a living out of it, then more power to him.

Eg, my description for the accompanying graphic, which I have just knocked up on the computer using some bits of old rock pictures...

There was no point of reference or quantifiable meaning to the chaos appearing before one's eyes, as I began to create this subliminal work of such an unquantifiable metamorphic conundrum. I soon began to realise, that all this would somehow placate me artistically and soothe away any tribulations I had incurred over time, if only I could go even deeper and ultimately become untethered by the forbidding, yet mystifying absurdness and the sheer delight of being. I clicked the mouse button once, then twice and was instantly consumed by the enveloping foals of a darkening horror, as I plunged further into the engorging cult of decay. It was like I was being penetrated by a cacophony of dissonant notes, howling, screeching and moaning, as they resonated like sparks surging throughout the very fibres of my being - I then began to think, hang on a minute it's lunch time and I think I am going to have a corn beef sandwich with some pickle on it  :P

Please do not take offence at this post, I only did it for a bit of fun, as I am bored and it is raining outside and I thought this thread could do with a bit of lightening up ;D ;D ;D

Dave

« Last Edit: August 22, 2019, 09:07:56 am by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #16 on: August 22, 2019, 09:43:06 am »

I enjoyed the article more than the pictures, but to argue that equivalence goes beyond metaphor is to misunderstand metaphor.
Most of us were taught sometime in school that a metaphor is a verbal device. I suspect that Stieglitz's use of the term "Equivalent" was mainly to make the point that a metaphor can be visual as well as verbal.

In the mid-twentieth century, a number of photographers pushed that idea in directions of religion, "spirituality", etc.
Often, words get in the way of the feelings that a ("good?," "meaningful?," "evocative?") photograph can inspire.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #17 on: August 22, 2019, 11:15:47 am »

... Please do not take offence at this post...

Not at all. I can actually see a new art star rising above the horizon (without touching it)   ;)

Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #18 on: August 23, 2019, 11:30:14 am »

...I can actually see a new art star rising above the horizon (without touching it)   ;)

Excellent  ;D ;D ;D
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Rand47

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Re: Caponigro Photos and Article
« Reply #19 on: August 27, 2019, 04:20:32 pm »

I’ll just go with a Hemingway sentiment that went something like, “If you talk about something too much, you ruin it.”

The way I put it is: “You end up effing the ineffable.”

Rand
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