Mark Power, photographing ideas
“Now that everyone in the developed world seems to own some form of camera, a different space has opened for documentary photographers. It is a space free from specific events, where there are different expectations, where it is first and foremost about ideas. Now we can all take pictures, with varying degrees of consistency, more than ever before it”””’’s about what we do with photography.”
This quote by Magnum photographer Mark Power points to a key quality of photography that serves to add significance and impact to the images and has nothing to do with the visual aesthetics of the photograph. It is usually referred as “the purpose, the intent of the image, the idea that justifies the making of the picture”. Although isolated images can hold a lot of visual impact even when there was no intent or purpose to be made, the body of work of a photographer will be shaped and defined by its purpose in ways that ultimately define the so called “photographic style” even more than the color palette, the contrast or the compositions. Indeed, one could even say that the style of photographs will follow its purpose.
Browse the portfolio of Mark Power and you will find a superb collection of images. Images that certainly were made with a purpose even when, like most times , the viewer may not have sufficient access to the story behind the picture to understand the intent of the image.
It has been a while since I saw such an extraordinary portfolio.
Yeah, I would have to agree about his portfolio.