Monday, March 09, 2009

Lift Off

Torrington, Connecticut

More daily posts over at the WPII Blog.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

when i see scenes like this i always wonder whether it was a conscious decision by the homeowner to put the bird where it is or whether they just walked outside with a hammer and nail, hung it the first place they saw and then went back inside to watch tv???

Carl Weese said...

Lyle, good question and I don't know the answer in this case. But it goes to something I've thought about for a very long time. This is a prevalence of "unconscious aesthetics" in American culture. When I grew up in New Jersey in the 50s-60s, among the tougher crowd young males acted as though any consideration of aesthetics was suspiciously effeminate. Yet they were all car-crazy, and their preferences and fan-boy (as it would now be called) brand loyalty was primarily based on aesthetics. Seemed ironic at the time, and still does forty+ years later.

Anonymous said...

Carl, I think that sometimes we photographers are simply responding to our own "unconscious aesthetics". that is, asking the question, "what is stopping me to take a look at this thing?" And while attempting to answer that question, seeking how to answer it in the strongest way. ... then we go back inside to watch tv!

Carl Weese said...

Well, when I go out to photograph (personal work I'm thinking of now, not assignment/commission) I'm basically looking for things/situations that make me want to respond by taking a picture.