MoMA

I saw work from a number of photographers at MoMA, here are a few thoughts and reflections.

Dora Maurer
These pieces studied and reflected on the nature of movement and perspective. Details of perspectives were included as part of the piece.Geometry and mathematics were a crucial consideration within the work. The resulting pieces were almost montaged together.

Tracing Space I and Tracing II were of most interest to me. They presented interesting ideas in relation to the Part 4 Assignment which involves taking a single subject under multiple lighting conditions.

Stephen Shore
There were a few pieces by this influential colour photographer. The most interesting was recently shot in Ukraine of a family bathing on the shore of a lake.

Oscar Munoz
The piece disaplyed was called "Game of Probabilities". It involved 12 identity photographs which had been taken of the artist over a number of years. Munoz had then cut these into strips, woven the strips together and then rephotographed them. I thought this was a fairly direct and fascinating piece which questioned the ability of photography to represent a person over time as well as a comment on the nature of identity and time. In addition, it was compelling from a purely aesthetic perspective.

However, it did make me wonder whether the approach was somewhat dated (think it was complete in 2007), as the challenge/question now is about the transigence of identity and representation in the digital realm.

Bill Brandt
There was a significant selection of Bill Brandt's work on display. For me, some of the most interesting pieces were of his nude studies. These high contrast images, often taken at close range and with exaggerated perspective really emphasize the form of the figure in a very graphical way. The shots are driven by shadow and light. Many of the photographs were taken on the beach, but others were taken in domestic settings - which actually make the photographs seem dangerously close to vintage porn...! However, the work is at most subtly erotic.

I've never been particularly interested in nude photography, but I did find this set interesting.

Paul Graham
A number of pieces were displayed from Graham's piece on the A1. The presence of this work kind of made me laugh - I'd come all the way to New York to see something of the history of American street photography and instead was faced with something intrinsically and passionately British, which on the occasions I've seen it before has always reminded me of my own childhood.

However, it was good to see these pieces in the flesh. The photos were surprisingly small, but this made the colours seem even bolder and impressive, especially when the pieces were viewed in quick succession or at the same time.

From a personal perspective as a photographer I kind of get troubled by colour photography from this period though.  I worry that it work so well because of the period itself - the colours from the 70's and early 80's were typically more bold and garish. In addition, the photographs seem to work from a nostalgic perspective. These things combined make me wonder how a photographer can produce similarly effective work in current times.