POV: A Sow's Ear Into A Silk Purse?

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I consider myself to be somewhat of an iconoclast, as I haven't a lot of patience for established norms and procedures. The term iconoclasm is applied figuratively to any individual who challenges established dogma or conventions...and that has been my attitude (to a certain degree) in my previous career as well as in this one.

So having play-acted the role of a photo contest judge in my yesterday's post, and I'm kept in at my desk by the abysmal weather here in New York City, I will now play the role of a photo critic...or an art critic. You know, one of these people who have the gift for using grandiloquent terms to bestow dimensions and meanings to photographs (or works of art) that the rest of us cannot see on our own and in so doing, burnish mundane or even inferior photographs into gleaming gems...or what's called turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. One can find such precious characters writing for avant-garde art magazines and the like.

But lest this post be taken seriously...let me assure you that it's not.

Let me start...I chose the above photograph to illustrate this lighthearted attempt.

First off, the photo critic would most certainly note that it was made in the SoHo district of New York City...a sort of hip connotation. Brooklyn would work as well...but I think SoHo with all its art galleries et al has more umph. The fact that it was made using a Leica M9 would also be highlighted, as it gives it an imprimatur of high professionalism.

Now, still with my artsy photo critic hat on, I'd describe the picture as brooding and reflective of the photographer's dark mood (especially if he or she have a French or Italian name....it adds to the overall mystique). I'd note the photographer's uncanny ability to have noticed the color match between the bags in the window and the advertisement over the subway's entrance. Then, I'd note how the photographer waited for the right instant to capture a well dressed man to juxtapose to the street name (Prince) on the subway station, and also stretch the limits of credulity by mentioning that the photographer "saw" the relationship between the "one-of-a-kind" ad and the immaculately-suited gentleman.

And all of a sudden...if we allow ourselves to be conned, a crappy photograph has been turned into a silk purse.

The moral of this lighthearted post? Nothing much really...except poking fun at conformity and lemming-like behavior.