Senior Reading Response # 7

Edge of Vision by Lyle Rexer

One main idea I took from this reading is that whenever you make a photograph you’re playing with the difference between a “rendering” and an “expression.” Over the years I’ve come to realize that photography is inherently conceptual, no matter what form it takes, because of its relationship to the “real” or physical world, our world. On page 32 it says a photographic print is a reconstruction of the world, and I agree. You can’t escape the individuality of humans, even when they work mainly through a machine.

I tried to think of another art form that is related to photography in its dependence on the existence of another, preexisting material (in photography I would say the most basic preexisting material needed would be light, and from there you add whatever the subject(s) is/are, if any). I quickly thought of casting: the sculptural mold as a 3 dimensional brother to the photograph. I wonder now that 3D printing is steadily becoming more common what the implications will be in the future for photography. It might already be possible (I don’t know much about 3D printing) but I envision the ability to pull a set of digital photographic files into a program and end up with a printed model of the subject, probably even in color. As it says in the reading, photography has always been an investigative act, a medium that melds experimentation, science, and artistry. First there was photosensitivity and the invention of fix; then reproducible prints via the paper negative; then smaller and better cameras; color film; finally, digital cameras and software; I think it’s possible that 3D printing could be one of the next big things to change the direction of photography, as all these things have done in the past.