How Much Time?
So much of the world of consumable media is based on a runtime. The other day at home, I found myself with a chunk of time while I waited for friends to drop by. What to do? A quick scan of the clock and I realized I had just enough time for a 22-minute TV show — without commercials, viewed on Netflix. Being deep into a series and motivated to view the next episode, I fired up the Kindle Fire and watched my 22 minutes with satisfaction.
Later, it occurred to me that I had not selected a photo book, or a novel, or reading some blog posts to fill my 22 minutes. Instead, I selected the TV show. Why? Silly as it may sound, I did so based on the available time. A photo book, a novel, or the Internet are variable time commitments that are always longer than the time I had available. I could spend 22 minutes reading in a novel, but I know that to read a complete chapter is likely going to take more than 22 minutes. The entire novel is a major commitment of time that will require multiple sessions over days or weeks. A photo book is the same. I don't like being rushed when I am looking at artwork. As a result, I tend to postpone examining a new art book until I have a sufficient block of time to give it the attention it deserves. I do the same with a novel or a movie.
So, what has me thinking this morning is this issue of time commitment relative to the artwork I produce. I've never given a second thought to the commitment I am asking from a viewer — and perhaps I should. I'm well aware of so-called "viewer fatigue" and I try to keep that in mind when I'm producing a folio or a PDF, for example. But, I wonder if it would be useful to think in terms of the total time commitment we are asking for when we produce something for public consumption? I've never timed how long it takes to view a 40-page PDF monograph. I have no idea what time is required to look at a 10-print folio. Time is such a precious commodity for today's harried consumer that perhaps it is something we art producers should keep in mind.
On the other hand, we might very well ignore it and simply assume that viewing our artwork requires time that cannot and should not be rushed. Period. We could be uncompromising in producing our work and simply suffer the lack of audience when people ignore our work because of the burdensome time commitment we ask of them.
How much time is the right amount of time for viewing work? I'm not sure this is an answerable question, but it is an interesting thing to think about relative to our projects and the audience we hope will someday view them.
Brooks' books on photography and the creative process are available in print from Lulu.com, and as eBooks for Kindle or EPUB readers. As one of the membership benefits, these eBooks are available in their entirety to members of LensWork Online via download.
On a slightly related subject I did read recently that the average male will wait 7 seconds for a web page to load before moving on. The article suggested that it was just 3 seconds for women. Yikes!
Posted by: Glenn Guy | 03/13/2012 at 06:26 PM