Our review in class today of the book Camera Lucida ushered in a new understanding of photography as a medium in itself. What is a photograph, but a mere capture of a moment. A true moment? Maybe not. But a moment nonetheless. As the author notes, photographs ( portraits in particular) may not be as realistic as they seem. In the sense, that a person no matter how much they resist, is inevitably posing for a picture whether they smile or not, whether they maintain eye contact or not. The mere fact of knowing that they are being photographed changes the individual.

 I must say I underestimated our trip to the International Center of Photography.  As it turns out though, it was time quite well spent, since it became a complete new learning experience for me. At first glance, the images seemed simple and undeserving of second glimpses; but boy was I wrong. As my classmates began to discuss the photograph with depth, offering a variety of interpretations, my eyes were soon able to grasp the ideas they described with such detail.

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What do you think New York art is?