Week 3- Trading Places

New YOrk State 1970, Ken Josephson

This is one of those photos that many people would argue on the validity of it as an original work. There is originality in it, but to me it is not groundbreaking. The work for me lacks interest. I take a single glance and see enough of the photograph to get the idea and move on. I would like to say I look longer at the photo and see more, or find more interest in the subject. But it seems to fall flat. I have never been keen on artists who merely take photos of other photos. Nor do I believe any artist should be rewarded for this great lack of originality. There is very little work that goes behind taking a picture of another picture. I find it very hard to see beyond any other stance of that type of photography. Ideas are wonderful and fuel our artistic world. For me though there seems to be nothing substantial behind this idea or the work itself. When I see this piece it paints the image for me of a young man who is traveling alone and out of boredom has the idea to take photos of postcards along his journey as a way to amuse himself and pass the time. He doesn't even work to remove himself from the picture, but makes it blatant that this is a photo of a man taking a picture of a postcard.