Texas Rangeland by Burton Pritzker
From Texas Rangeland by Burton Pritzker
From
LensWork #43
© 2002 Burton Pritzker. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the photographer.
Commentary
From time to time I find a particular picture intriguing not because it breaks the rules but in spite of the fact that it breaks the rules. Here we see an image that breaks the rules on a number of levels — the cow has no eyes, one horn, an out of focus back, the photograph blows out the highlights, is incredibly grainy, and doesn't even seem to have a particularly strong central point of interest. So what makes this photograph work? — because in my way of thinking it does work, very well.
Well, photographs are not about rules, composition or formulations for success. Photographs are, or should be, about a feeling, a sensation, an emotion, an experience, a moment — and this one is. I feel the dusty heat. I feel the fatigue. I feel the life of this creature, somewhat beaten-down by the oppressive sun and dust of its existence. Sure, I might be projecting into the photograph some assumptions from my own experience, but I'm not sure that's disallowed when one views a piece of artwork. We bring to our appreciation of the photograph our life experience. I've felt that heat of the summer sun bearing down on me in the desert and can imagine the reasons why this steer hangs its head so low.
Photographically speaking, I think this is an amazingly well-executed image that could so easily be diminished if any of the normal rules of photography had been employed. Show us the cow's eyes, balance the exposure to render more accurate tones, eliminate that gritty grain structure and we might have a more accurate image of the cow. We would not, however, have a more accurate image of what it feels like to be a cow.
Pritzker's entire portfolio is about this very thing — what it feels like to be an animal on the Texas rangeland. In my way of thinking, this is a much higher accomplishment than simply showing us what we would see if we were to stand on the hardpan next to the cows and observe with our normal vision. Any photographer with any camera could accomplish that. This portfolio goes farther by showing us not what it looks like but rather what it feels like – and it does so by purposefully and deftly breaking one photographic rule after another in pursuit of something higher than visual fidelity. Instead of being satisfied with visual fidelity, Pritzker pushes the envelope to give us emotional fidelity. Quite an amazing accomplishment when one's subject matter is merely a bunch of cows.
That's the thing about photography — even the most mundane of subjects have the potential to express the subtleties of life.
The portfolio can be seen in its entirety in our back issues — print (while still available) and our PDFs for computer, iPad, Android, and other devices. Plus, bonus audio commentary about this image is available to members of LensWork Online.
Discussion
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