I used to get annoyed at people taking pictures in museums. Because:
1. Looking at art through the lens distances you from it.
2. Your camera is distracting to others.
3. You can buy a better image on a postcard in the gift shop (or find one online).
Then I went to the Museum of Modern Art last week
and saw this crowd taking pictures of The Scream
and saw this crowd taking pictures of The Scream
and found myself pulling my camera from my purse
and taking pictures
of people taking pictures.
Observing the observers through the lens of my camera.
So apparently I am now one of those annoying people.
I must confess that I too have done the same thing Jen.
ReplyDeleteI try to sneak a photo in when no one is around.
Some great modern art there.
val
I spy a Helen Frankenthaler, a Robert Rauschenberg and a Matisse. One of my favorite places in the world!
ReplyDeleteThey photographed the item, while you photographed the experience. I would have chosen your way.
ReplyDeleteAs long as I remember to look at the art too.
DeleteIt was semi-surreal. I know the permanent collection well-it's like seeing old friends, and I got interested in watching and listening to other people's responses.
Sometimes I do both--take a picture to create a personal link with a place or object, or to show some special detail, then buy (or download) better ones taken by professionals with better skills and equipment. Most of the time, I forget that I have my camera, and realize later that I should have taken a few pictures.
ReplyDelete--Road to Parnassus
I think its forbidden to take photos in most museums over here, I have taken some over in the US though.Some amazing ones of dinosaur skeletons in the Natural history museum in New York!
ReplyDeleteI feel like there used to be no cameras in museums, and one day I looked up and they were everywhere. Generally you can't take them of special exhibits, but you can of the permanent collections. It changes the experience when you start worrying about getting in the way of someones camera...
DeleteLike Parnassus says,I take a picture to create a personal or intimate link with a certain place or object.
DeleteI understand "it changes the experience when you start worrying about getting in the way of someones camera" and someone getting in the way of my camera as well, with an increasing number of Sunday photographers like me for their blogs for one reason. You know, here, there's a coined word for a woman photographer, Sya (写)-girl. Sya means taking photos so sounds like Chagall:-)
People make much more interesting photos than works of art do. I've been guilty of taking photos of Wyeth's works. I'm not sure but it was rather like I wanted to capture something of the essence of his work. Impossible of course. However, when I look back at the photos I recall the experience of seeing the art for the first time.
ReplyDeleteI can't really get into an exhibit with lots of people around no matter how much I like the artist, and maybe that's part of why people take photos. Because they're not really there with the art for the sake of the art, but rather for the sake of being able to say they were there.
I think you're onto something there--perhaps the photographer wants to capture the moment, the connection with the art, something they wouldn't get from a postcard.
DeleteIn truth, I was thinking about this blog, when I took the pictures, talking to you guys in my head, using the blog to help me frame the experience. I really took pictures, except when my kids were young, until I started this blog.
It was interesting how many people crowded around The Scream, taking pictures. Maybe because it's a special exhibit? But the Monets, Cezannes, Picasso's, and so forth, were relatively quiet.
Great title! taking photos of paintings is like taking the paintings, but the results are never satisfying. Like photographing the Grand Tetons with a disposable camera: you just can't capture the feeling and the light.
ReplyDeleteNo, you can't. That really frustrated me in New Mexico--I couldn't begin to capture the landscapes with my camera. So I look at my O'Keefe books, but they don't get the scale.
DeleteHello Jen
ReplyDeleteYour image amused me of you photographing people, photographing the paintings. Your trip to NYC sounds fabulous and you saw and did a lot
Helenxx
I adore New York, more so now than when I was young and lived there, and often felt overwhelmed.
DeleteSome museums prohibit to take photos , but here they are tolerent.The Scream is popular! I suppose it's a modern version of Munch's.
ReplyDeleteIt's actually an original Munch Scream. He made 4 of them, which I didn't know until I read an article about it in the NY TImes. It doesn't do anything for me, but it seems to be very powerful which I find interesting.
DeleteNice . . . and humorous, too. I recall my first visit to the MOMA when I was 18 in 1964. I turned a corner and there was Wyeth's Christina's World. I'd seen it in Time magazine earlier. A country girl, I just stood there amazed. And then I turned another corner, and there were Monet's Waterlilies. So large and beautiful. I'd seen those in Time magazine, too. It was quite a thrill. Public museums are so important. Isn't it wonderful that the American aristocracy realized it back in the 19th century.
ReplyDeleteThey have a great perm. collection and very well organized. It's a great place for people who don't like modern art to see how it evolved. I don't think the Wyeth was up but two large waterlilies have their own room, and their were only a few people in it.
DeleteI do it to sometimes. especially in smaller museums where it might not be too easy to find a postcard or online version. what I don't understand it people posing in front of paintings for a photo. that's totally beyond me. do you want to see art? or do you want to be seen seeing art and really don't give a sh**? strange ... :)
ReplyDeleteI guess it's like posing in front of a tourist attraction?
DeleteI love this perspective Jen! I didn't think they allowed people to take photos in museums... but what a great opportunity for you to catch that visual -- we're no longer satisfied with just seeing something and remembering it, we are compelled to record it!
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid to chime in on this since I am one of those who abhor this practice. I remember being at Musee D'Orsay in Paris and there was a field trip of American teenagers and they walked down the wall pointing the camera and not even looking at the paintings all the while standing in the way of those of us there who wanted to just grasp these incredible works of art. Taking a picture of it doesn't capture it, it's an experience too. At the Louvre they enforce it, no pictures of the Mona Lisa! Love it. Nice shot of that Matisse though :) Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteAbhor away! I agree with everything you say.
Deleteoh! The scream (Skrik) when I first went on the National Galleri in Oslo I got shocked on how small it was! But still one of the strongest painting I have ever seen...
ReplyDelete(I didn't know it was even aloud to take pictures in museums!!!)
love
funny.
ReplyDeletemost museums/galleries i've visited it's expressly forbidden to snap away.
i snapped in le louvre, but at least i turned the flash off. there's something about capturing the image with your own camera, an immediacy to the art that can never be obtained though a postcard.
I like your pictures of people taking pictures. I also didn't know that was allowed. We go to our local Art Hop each month and we have found that the bigger the group that comes along, the less it seems to be about the art. It becomes a big social event for the young people. My sons have come to realize that they enjoy it better when it is a smaller group and they actually get to soak in the art.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you say Jen, and yet... I remember when I visited MOMA, and it is totally remarkable that they let you take photos of the art, and from as close up as you like. I adore Matisse, and so I have some fantastic photos, really focusing on the details, and which I still get such pleasure from. One is still my screen saver, 3 years on. I may be annoying, but it was worth it!
ReplyDelete