When i watched Angela Singer describe her photography compulsions, i laughed to myself a bit because we share the same compulsion. My friends are constantly yelling at me for bringing my camera around. I always tell them that they will be old and not have any photographs of their youth while i will. The single fact i loved most about her photography is that not every picture of hers is artistic but rather a documentation. Most of them are just photographs of everyday life. She is deeply committed to her work and i can relate because i am constantly photographing everything. Not only do i love to photograph people, i love photographing things that you wouldn't normally think are worth photographing such as a weird looking rock on the ground or an extra long blade of grass.
A difference between her obsession and mine is that i usually feel uncomfortable photographing the more morbid or upsetting parts of life such as death, breakups, anything forensic etc. Photography is a beautiful thing but sometimes it can feel like intrusion. I am very protective over photography almost to the point where it is like a close friend so i would hate for someone to think of it as an object of intrusion. Also, Angela lived a pretty normal life. She was a homemaker who married young and had a lot of siblings. Photography was her way to branch out and experience the world. It was her sort of therapy and expression. She mentioned her friends and family gawked at some of her photographs because they were 'unconventional'. I am happy to hear that she was open-minded enough to branch out and photograph things people usually wouldn't think to photograph.
I really enjoyed the part where her and her granddaughter's pictures were placed next to each other in comparison. Although there are many years a part from the two women and they were on different coasts, the photographs weren't very different from each other. It just shows that even when you mature in age, you still find the same things fascinating.
I think Angela Singer's photographs are important for many reasons. They are very consistent just in the fact that she is always taking pictures and also that she keeps them organized in albums. They are very intimate in the fact that she takes photos of her personal life and the people/things that surround her. She never took pictures with intentions of showing them to people but rather for herself as a king of memorabilia.
Although we are told that photographs are truth, i think the camera can definitely lie depending on lens, angles, perspectives, photoshop etc. you can manipulate photographs to allow viewers to see something you want them to see. I definitely believe that Angela's photographs are true to their form om the sense that she didn't manipulate them post-work. I do think that they definitely show her world through her eyes as if you spent a day in her shoes.
pretty good.
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