all © catherine buca 2010

I downloaded the Plastic Bullet iPhone app from Red Giant Software yesterday. It provides a less controllable experience than a lot of other apps I use: you either take a photo in-app, or choose one from your photo roll, and the app produces 4 random variations, all ‘retro’ or ‘lomo’ in style. You can choose to save any or all of them, and/or reload for another 4 random styles. I spent ages reloading this image and although the images share characteristics, out of the maybe 100 created, none were exactly the same. This app is going to be loads of fun.

I also downloaded Photo FX from Tiffen. Coming from Tiffen, as you might expect it’s based on a series of filters. I say ‘series’, I mean shed-load. There are so many to choose from I haven’t actually saved any of the images I was playing around with last night. You can layer filters as well, and have a degree of control over each one’s application. Well worth the price.

all © catherine buca 2007-2010

both © catherine buca 2010

The top one was a mistake, because the camera wouldn’t wind; the second was intentional (I think), only partially winding on.

all © catherine buca 2010

I had my first 2 rolls taken with the Diana Mini developed today. I’m pleasantly surprised. I very, very, very much like this camera. In lots and lots of ways.

There is an article in the Observer today about street photography. Nothing substantially new here; the article traces the origins of street photography, pays lips service to Winogrand, goes on to talk about the difficulties faced by the current climate and briefly mentions the ‘I’m a photographer, not a terrorist’ campaign. It’s a decent round-up though, bringing it all into a modern context.

What I did find quite interesting was the discussion about the art market’s view of street photography. The article quotes Paul Graham, who said: “…there remains a sizeable part of the art world that simply does not get photography. They get artists who use photography to illustrate their ideas, installations, performances and concepts, who deploy the medium as one of a range of artistic strategies to complete their work. But photography for and of itself – photographs taken from the world as it is – are misunderstood as a collection of random observations and lucky moments, or muddled up with photojournalism, or tarred with a semi-derogatory ‘documentary’ tag.”

It was perhaps no surprise that the article talks about flickr, more specifically the Hardcore Street Photography group. There may be little point here having the debate about what the increased access to photography means for its status, whether it devalues it as an artistic medium or has democratised it for the better, but it seems that few discussions about photography these days can leave flickr out – even if it’s there as an implied presence only. And going back to Graham’s comment above, there is no lack of “photography for and of itself – photographs taken from the world as it is” on flickr, and elsewhere. The discussion about value is one worth having, however. I would argue that far from there being a semi-utopian community where everyone is an artist, this increased access to photography (and its dissemination) helps highlight the gate-keeping function of the economic and cultural art (sub-)fields. I may come back to this in a later post, since I’d like to flex my Bourdieusian muscles in this area.

As a side note, perhaps, the discussion, towards the end – where 3 photographers describe what street photography is – shows how it’s pretty pointless, and self-serving, to try to define what it is or what it should be.

And it made me wish, again, I could do that stuff. I’ve tried but I’m shit at it. See …

© catherine buca 2006-2010

both © catherine buca 2010

pixels by patrick jean
uploaded by onemoreprod (watch original web videos)

© catherine buca 2010

Final one, for a while. Saved the best for last.

© catherine buca 2010

Just one more to go after this in this set of uploads.

© catherine buca 2010

It’s a series I’m doing. Open-ended.