2007-08-08 // 17:49:55
martyn_oliver
I didn't expect – but am very appreciative of – such a full response. I'll do my best to follow up with some research (see: I'm genuinely interested!), but might come back to you with questions. Is that ok?

martyn

^ No worries. I can talk for ever on it ... this is a summary!! One reason I like the Polaroid medium in this context is the time element between capturing the image and holding the finished item - not even digital gives this immediacy.

2007-08-08 // 13:42:31
martyn_oliver
"Absolutely! This was part of the research for a project to see if..."

I'm interested. Care to elaborate?

martyn

^ Uh-huh? How long have you got? My starting point was how can I approach the truth of Walker Evan's eye in my own work - ambitious? Essentially Goethe offers a methodology for the phenomenological photographer. A way of more reliably finding that image that truly captures the essence of the phenomenon that you are looking at. If you like a way of ensuring the decisive moment is yours ... Goethe's model of scientific truth and reality is more useful in a medium like photography which is naturally subjective. As opposed to the Galilean approach which may lead to false generalisations and deliberately ignores the evidence of our senses. Those senses by which we tend to experience photographic images which we then describe in terms of mood and feeling. Look at the work of Isis Brook for information on Goethe's methodology. And I think the landscape images of Edward Burtinsky offer an example of what the methodology can help achieve.

2007-08-07 // 17:40:44
currywurst
johann wolfgang von...?

^ Absolutely! This was part of the research for a project to see if the principles of Goethe's scientific method are useful for straight photographers trying to discover/depict a place or other phenomena...