A Discussion

An update on my 'lecture' on Fashion Mgazine by Alec Soth. The presentation went down well with the group (I think), it certainly evoked a lot of discussion, of which I will try to sum up here.

The main point, or rather question, that we kept coming back to was: 'Is this fashion photography?' Fashion photography is primarily there to sell, it is an industry tool. But then it is entitled to an artistic appreciation, although personally I would question the depth of the creativity. And then there is the rather vaguely categorised 'high fashion'. And now we're entering into a much larger debate, of which I am barely informed.

But to bring it back to 'Fashion Magazine' - Soth's sensitive pictures of Minnesota teenagers, are not as candid as they first appear. It would seem they have been dressed/styled in designer outfits, the photographs then carefully arranged, and then perhaps even poses asked for. So would a viewer, from this style of image, be spurred into purchasing the product. Well potentially yes, they might be. They would not at all be familiar with this mode of advertising, but may be encouraged by its originality. So this means that the categorisation of 'Fashion Magazine' lies entirely with the viewer - is that right? I suppose its all subjective anyway and we'll only end up in circles arguing the definition of 'fashion'. A good debate then I'd say.

It felt like we ended up with two options in our attempt to 'classify' this work. Fashion, against social documentary - or rather a comment on fashion - both we're equally defensible. We are aware of Soth's dry and ironic humour (watch this video now), but I really didn't feel that there was any cynicism with 'Fashion Magazine'.

Soth seems to be party to our inconclusive debate when attempting to define this work:

"...I love the idea of borderlines - of walking a tightrope. This is the best place to make pictures. I would never claim that this magazine is documentary photography. But I'm not really sure this is fashion photography either."

And this brings me back to my thoughts on Soth not pushing boundaries, but redrawing them. Through the group's discussion, it seemed to me like we found this borderline that he speaks of, some of us found ourselves strongly on one side of it, some close to it, and some pondering it laterally - "I'd hardly even call it photography, more that he is a conceptual fine artist."

And so, wondering what project we could set ourselves, this discussion topic led us nicely to a theme of 'genre challenging'. The idea being that, in a similar way that Soth has challenged our concept of 'fashion photography', we should ponder the same, whether it be through producing our own images, research, or even just comment.

What is exciting is the potential for this genre theme to continue, with varied project/discussions into the many different, and difficulty definable fields of photography. I look forward to the results, see you in a month.