Bill Cosby By Dennis Hopper
There is a raw, metaphysical power in snapshots that cannot be denied.
Throughout my career I have been hired or commissioned to create very specific technical photos. There are lights and crews and mechanics involved – and while it’s incredibly creative – it’s also complicated. There is a purity and undeniable power in a snapshot. I recently came across these stunning snapshots (via Flavorwire), spanning 50 years, shot by the likes of Lady Gaga and Andy Warhol. The subjects are their equally famous friends. Click through some of the image tabs above to see some great examples of snapshots of the famous – by the famous.
We are approaching critical mass of cameras in our culture. They are nearly ubiquitous. Point and shoot cameras, web cameras, surveillance cameras, DSLR cameras, and particularly mobile phones. Celebrating that we can now be whimsically, instantly, in-the-moment free to be more creative than ever before, is something that I have enjoyed playing with. Some of my recent work (Dasein:Invitation to Hang) has come to rest not in the artistic exploration of what creativity these devices afford, but specifically the content of the snapshot images that spring from them. Like it or not, the snapshot has become the most meaningful visual storyboard we have of our ‘being’ in the world because it is pure, direct, unmediated visual expression. It refreshingly lacks academic influence or vogue and invites accessibility and participation. The intention to capture a moment is fundamentally present but not over thought. There is an innocence in snapshots, a marked lack of sophistication, that resonates in today’s media landscape off well-orchestrated “messaging.” Snapshots of the famous by the famous…who better to demonstrate the raw power of a snapshot?
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For more of these snapshots and some great commentary on the celebrity side of this story head over to Flavorwire, where I discovered these snapshots.
Colum Graham #54:”What was the original point of his post? For me, it still remains valid.”If you are refering to his leading post, that seems to be about reinforcing his strong belief, there is a “conspiracy” taking place, but some people are not buying into it.He then continued on with some fairly emotional and not very factual rants, in defence of his theories.I am not about point scoring. I am jst asking for some objectivity and maybe some proof, that things are, or are not, as Jim claims.It is sad, this whole mess is fast bringing Thailand down to the level of a “failed state”.But, it is not going to get better, if people like Jim (who by his occupation, certainly has more power ,than someone like me) use flimsy heresay as reality.Isn’t that after all, part of what is wrong in this country, where the mass media are either lazy, ill-informed, or just playing a certain line, fed to them by their various patrons?
johnfernquest: “That they’ve learned to **not kill** people in certain contexts is noteworthy and praiseworthy.” When they learn not to kill civilians in contexts such as Tak Bai maybe then they deserve some praise. To praise them for at the moment not ” hav[ing] thrown a monkey wrench in the works but they didn’t” seems giving them way, way too much credit. Historically, they are unworthy of praise or respect. Presently, one act of (presumed) good judgment hardly constitutes an historical watershed.
Thorn:Well, Princess Bajarakitiyabha actually also got an undergraduate law degree from Thammasat with “second” class honours. This degree, I think, is more associated with her than her pol.sci degree from Sukhothai Thammatirat.
Most of the Reds believe that the King ordered the military to kill them. Whether he is the one who ordered’ or not, I do not know. But what I know is that he remained silent despite realising that his army was out killing his own people, yet he did nothing to stop them despite the fact that it is his duty to stop. Thus his silence, or his acquiescence to the killing (if you want to put it that way) has shamed the Monarchy beyond repair. My mum used to love the King very much. Up until last year she hung the pictures of the King and Queen on the wall. After all these events, however, she threw those pictures in a bin.
I do love the way you have presented this particular situation plus it does indeed provide me personally some fodder for consideration. Nevertheless, coming from everything that I have observed, I just simply hope as other commentary pile on that folks remain on issue and in no way get started on a soap box involving the news du jour. Yet, thank you for this superb point and though I do not necessarily agree with it in totality, I regard the perspective.