“Aesthetics is to the artist as ornithology is to the bird”
— Barnett Newman
SOUL OF ATHENS (Ohio University School of Visual Communications)
HOPE ON HOLD (Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Thinking Critically about Photography
“If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts. But if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.”
— Francis Bacon
Argumentative Criticism — As the name suggests argumentative criticism about a work or a body of work seeks to assess its merit, either good or bad. The critic judges the work and through argument seeks to persuade others of his or her opinion
Interpretive Criticism — This is a more of an exploratory kind of criticism. The critic is trying to interpret or understand the work and relay his or her aesthetic interpretation to others.
In reality most criticism blends the two or builds from the more interpretive to the argumentative. So what’s my point in presenting this? It is very important that you develop a vocabulary with which to think and talk about your work and the work of others. You may need to write an artist’s statement. You may have to explain your work for the purposes of a grant proposal. You may have to articulate your vision for an editorial shoot to an editor or group that includes editors, art directors and designers. All of these will require that you be able to articulate a clear vision for why you shoot the way you do and what you want to achieve or express.
You will also need to talk and think intelligently about the work of other. “That’s a really pretty picture” or “I like the way the light is shinning through the stained glass window” is not enough. You need to be able to deconstruct an image or series of images in a way that is informative for other photographers and for you about why and how the image was made.
What we’re talking about here is developing your critical thinking skills related to photography. Good critical thinking is about developing an informed, clear set of ideas that can be articulated. The key to this is research and observation.
Art critics and scholars scholars writing about photography and art in general will often address the five issues below in their criticism. They offer a further road map for how you might discuss your own work and the work of others: