On the path to earn my MFA-V from Vermont College of Norwich University I was hog-tied, put on a diet of bread and water until I relented and did the assigned readings of Walter Benjamin (the profs pronounced his surname as Ben-ha-min… you know because they were cool). Ben-ha-min (see… I can be cool, too) once said this about photography:
“Its motto: the world is beautiful. In it is unmasked photography, which raises every tin can into the realm of the All but cannot grasp any of the human connections that it enters into, and which, even in its most dreamy subject, is more a function of its merchandisability than of its discovery.”
A few of observations… One: “into the realm of the ALL,” is postmodern-speak that means… nothing really. And two: Be-ha-min never made a precise exposure to film nor a significant print. And three: “merchandisability.” He was Snoop before Snoop.
It’s too bad a photograph, not to mention, a photographer, “cannot grasp any of the human connections that enter into it." Oh… Here’ what exited my tin can…
I am off to discover my beautiful world. With my camera.
I leave you with, “Into The Light,” Orvieto, 5 September 2025. No human connection here people.
Just move on.
