A year ago, none of us could have imagined what was about to transpire in 2020. This idea was percolating in the back of my mind when I was made aware of William Kentridge's thoughts on the responsibility of an artist:
The essential responsibility is to work well, and hard, and a lot, and look at the work once it’s made. In the end, the work shows who you are, and you can fool it for a certain time, but if you are a shallow or a pretentious or a vain person, that comes through in the work. If there are other elements to you, then those also come through in the work.
How have each of us been marked by our pandemic year and how will that come through in our work?
One of the nice things about being a 'walker' is the chance to re-photograph a scene again and again. This shot was captured on a walk in a favorite park using a conventional 400 speed emulsion.
On a different day, I revisited the scene, this time with a slow 80 speed film in the camera. I had to use a wider aperture, and as a result, the image is pretty soft in the corners. The tonal response of the film leads to blocked shadows, not usually my preferred look, but one that is effective here, I think.
In the past, I think my tendency would have been to prefer the first version; after the past year, though, I currently favor the more ominous rendition of the second shot.
It is interesting to contemplate how our photographic vision changes as time progresses and in response to particular experiences.
