The work of image tags, search terms, and how we are learning to find and retrieve through those new forms of captions, are completely dependent on the process of categorizing. While at the same time photography is in a state of complete un-grouping, where the original can be pasted into multiple contexts and completely shift in meaning.
The Abu Ghraib photographs, in the effort to understand and think about their production and effects, were put on view in traditional art spaces at ICP and then traveling to the Andy Warhol Museum in the show Inconvenient Evidence in 2004/5.

This building of and collapsing of categories speaks to me as a sort of infinite loop of dialogue between text and image, a form of a caption emerging working tirelessly with no word count.

I’m interesting in how Photographs of “societies in transition” add to, overlap and challenge my own sprawling categories of photographies into witness, information, art intention, tool, memory, facts-in-identity-crisis, entertainment, evidence.

Enwezor speaks of how photography suffered from myopia, from the oversimplification of subject as victim or as other that may halt anything other than passive viewing. This state for photography I think is being chipped away at, especially in the proliferation of camera ownership and camera usage, especially when the subject’s own arm wraps around to take their picture.

“The blighted history of photography” that Enwezor reminds us of is linked to what I believe is the underestimated power of photography in its recent explosion of versatility and visibility that digital has allowed. The ownership of singular photographs is spreading with its multiple opportunities for copy, web presence, and infiltration into the memory. The Internet is on the list of USA Today’s New Seven Wonders and I would also put photography there.

There are also limitations in peoples minds – that an photographic image has to be made in a certain way – the camera has to go to the eye, you stand still, compose and take the image.

If your dealing with human suffering being brought to the fore, then please give it to me any way you can so long as its technically good it will not be dehumanizing by black and white film grain or poor contrast. The issue there for me is – is anyone listening or prepared to do anything ? ie Rwanda. The terrible reality of suffering bleaches out nuanced issues of photography articulations. Grey scale is different because we see in colour – In a bit more detail – it may be described as dehumanizing if you have what might be described as bad technique and use a 400 ASA film pushed to 1600 ASA and all the problems of printing through an enlarger that photo-shop has now removed. The black and while images of that time are about a technique of black and white photography of the time. It is seen everywhere not just in Africa.

And I think you definitely need to discuss the problems for young photographers coming out of art/photo courses and how they can make any head way when they are faced with pay for review and pay to enter competitions. Frankly we have a situation whereby photographers/artists are marketing targets whether for information or ‘administration fee’s’. Or just bare faced – if you want to show your work to important people in this world you have to pay and what that does to incentive.

Thanks, Corey; striking that the real first date is so much earlier than the legendary one.

I like these photos. As in a lot of effective color photography, you can see they work visually by marshalling their color into bands. I’m afraid the text is pretty opaque, though — language like “subtended its mode” will exclude most readers.