Pictures
of photographers we reviewed. (Click to enlarge)
Español
I
was invited to attend FotoFest
once again this year. It's usually in my capacity as a "reviewer
of portfolios". I am not sure if this is accurate,
but I think the idea of reviewing portfolios was born at
FotoFest, if not, then
they surely elevated this practice to a fine art, which
then has been imitatated the world over by other festivals.
But be that as it may, what happens at FotoFest is very
worthy for all those involved, in every sense of the word.
A
photographer taking his work to be reviewed by a cadre of
people who are in a position to not only offer advice and
critique, but also to invite the artists to publish (like
in our case for ZoneZero), exhibit, or even buy their work
(which we also did) is something quite special. Although
the price for participating in these reviews is not cheap
if you add in all the costs of transportation and staying
in Houston, it certainly is a fraction of the cost of what
it would take both in time and money to find such contacts
if the artist were to seek each and everyone of the people
they asked to be reviewd by at FotoFest on their own. In
that sense having your work reviews at FotoFest is a real
bargain. The test of how practical this process is, can be
seen by how many of those photographers who made it to FotoFest
one time, returned for the next event as well.
The
reviewing of portfolios is a very intense task, you only
have 20 minutes before you need to move on the next person.
However I found that you can accomplish a great deal in such
a short period of time. Photographers have also learned how
to prepare their own portfolios so that one can get down
to business right away. In that sense the digital age has
ushered in an entire array of solutions that are very practical
for such purposes as presenting your work to others. As a
reviewer one leaves Houston with a trunk full of materials
that each photographer leaves behind as a reference to their
work and a trunk full of new friends who also share in our
passion for photography. Nadia, my partner, helped me in
reviewing the portfolios, contributing with her vision as
a woman, and from the vantage point of her generation. This
mix, I think, brought a lot of benefit to those who we were
reviewing. As we usually saw things that complemented each
other.
Houston's
FotoFest was this year one of the best I have attended, the
organization was better than ever. With a relatively small
staff, I was impressed how everything ran so smoothly and
all the photographers could be there in time for their meeting
and no one was lost in the process. With so many people participating,
this was no small feat to accomplish.
Dozens
of exhibitions in the evenings was a bit of an overload
for me. After looking intensely at pictures all day long,
having a respite from looking at even more images during
the evening was something that my eyes sorely needed, however
that was not to be. I simply could not do justice to all
the exhibitions we visited in the evening tours. However,
I am sure not everyone felt like that.
A
number of the photographers reviewed came with portfolios
that were over intellectualized. Their images were not up
to their ideas, or the ideas came as an afterthought to work
that had already been done and they were simply super imposing
ideas to justify their images. I was quite surprised at the
level of solitude expressed in much of the work we saw. This
solitude many times was not even consciously expressed in
the pictures, it just came through and upon further deliberation
with the artist whose work one was looking at, they were
surprised that this was even visible in their work. After
all the driving force behind all of our image making has
strong connections to our personal life experiences, so why
would one be surprised? But that is what happened. I found
that it was women who came through with the clearest ideas
on their work.
Also
noticeable was the fact that even though digital technology
was to be seen all over the place, there were far and few
between, that actually used the creative opportunities that
digital technologies have to offer. Digital technology was
used more as a tool to service analog mind sets, rather than
to open a new direction based on the potential of digital
technology. I attribute that to the slow pace at which new
technologies are actually adopted by the generations who
started out their careers using film. I suppose FotoFest
in 2020 will be very different to 2006. Digital technologies
do not enjoy the reputation or recognition that is now offered
to silver halide prints. This ironic twist in photography
which was always considered to be the poor cousin to the
arts, has now been bestowed upon digital prints. But as we
know, these ideas change in time as well, and there is little
use wasting time in debating such arguments. The notion that
you can have digital prints that can outlast silver prints
is something that so far has not been sufficiently understood.
The fact that you have a wider gamut in printing, both in
papers as well as tonal range, between ink jet prints and
silver halides, is also something that will take time to
be fully recognized. In the meantime, the effort that we
could see by many photographers, was to show their work prints
in digital, and their "good prints" in silver halide.
The
FotoFest event, is a great window to see the current state
of affairs in USA photography. Of course it is not the only
window, but it sure is a good one. We took snapshots of all
those photographers we reviewed to keep track of so many
faces we got to see in a very short time. We were surprised
in the age groups and racial construct of most of the attendees.
I am convinced that this was no deliberate choice by any
one other than the photographers who decided to participate
in the review process. In the end the fact that the reviewing
of portfolios has been imitated all over the world, insures
us that there is a fair representation of photographers on
all continents that get to have their work seen and commented
upon.
We
were very glad to have had the opportunity to see a lot of
interesting new work, that we will bring you in ZoneZero
over the coming year. Stay tuned.
Pedro
Meyer
|