RE: authentic space

Steve Bell wrote:
>Hmm, well let's see.
>
>i originally began with the idea of places where people go to reclaim the
>past. for example, diners. i go to diners all the time, and a friend of
>mine started talking to me about the idea of authentic space. like, in the
>50's diners were kind of this ideal for the future. all stream lined and
>chrome and neon. now diners are this ideal of the past. this space where
>people feel like they are part of something authentic. we also talked about
>how yuppie artist types get apartments in more urban areas, and nouveau
>bourgoise people buy industrial type buildings and turn them into living
>spaces so they can feel more conntected to the working class that they've
>left behind. this is all architectural theory that she had been reading.

Well, she should probably quit reading architectural theory! But an
interesting line of thinking nonetheless.

I am not clear if diners are authentic (storefront restaurants might be
more so);
if converted warehouses are like -- or not like -- diners (old, scarcity,
nostalgia);
if old barns, quarries, cars with carburetors . . spaces left over where
real work has moved to more modern methods
are any more real than what replaces them.

But they are more photogenic.

I am reminded of Brooks Jensen's photographs (not pinhole) of traditional
machine shops and the people who work there.
http://www.lenswork.com/mos.htm
That's authentic! At least the subject matter is.

But are we all, when exploring authentic space or activity, just yuppie
artists trying to be connected to the working class? Pinhole photography
doesn't seem too proletariat to me.

To be clear -- I do not mean to sound critical. It really is an
interesting line of thought as I contemplate why I (and others) take
pictures at all, what we take pictures of, who we expect to be interested
in our pictures (perhaps to the point of purchasing them), and whether
critical theory is of any use at all beyond employing college professors --
and prompting discussions like this!

(Disclosure: working class upbringing, now a college professor, too old to
be a yuppie, too underpaid to qualify as a typical "urban professional" --
and an urban warehouse district condominium resident. And, no, I did not
move here to feel connected to the working class I left behind).

Tom

>it got me very interested. so i've been shooting authentic space. i started
>off just doing diners and thrift stores, but i've now started relying more
>on my instincts, shooting whatever feels like authentic space, rather than
>defining it by these specific criteria.
>
>so there you have it. more sociological than truth in pinhole relations of
>time and space.
>
>cheers,
>
>steve
Received on Mon Oct 28 16:09:58 2002