Now……Now?…Now!
Photography is understood as a tool that can freeze a moment. To give us a slice of “now” in the future, letting us see in detail, the past. The problem that bothers me is what is now? We take for granted what time is on a day-to-day basis. We are sharing an existence together on this planet and our proximity to each other makes it easy to agree on what past present and future actually are. That makes photographs easily read within the context of our experiences, but when you really look at what it’s made of, light that has been traveling for millions of years, it gets more complicated. At least it does for me. It feels like a flaw in the system we just conveniently decide to ignore. The medium of photography is light and time. That makes it odd and unique as way to communicate and make artwork with, but I think most people would argue that it is the most accessible and prominent art form and communication. How can we just dismiss that?
I don’t have answers for any of this, nor do I consider myself in any way a quantum physics or philosophy expert, though I really enjoy it and study a lot about how these things work for fun. I think they are just great questions, and ones that everyone should think more about when examining the “truthfulness” and “nowness” of photographs. We all agree that they constitute reality very well, but it seems much more complicated than that to me. Are images ever real? I know that question seems a bit like a stoned teens shower thought, but there is a lot of physical and scientific evidence to support the need for that question. Like are there different “nows” you know like because of Einstein’s relativity?
I am a self-admitted nerd about this stuff and to me it makes a lot of sense, particularly those like Roger Penrose and his philosophical and scientific ideas. I fell they align with the way many photographers think and explore the world as they make images. I wish I could get Eggleston and Penrose together and be a fly on the wall. I believe there would be a lot of interesting crossover about life and observation. Also I think they may be the same person they look almost identical.
For anyone who wants more than a few paragraphs from a fanboys obsession about life try looking into these things.