I Don't Know What Makes A Good Photograph.

Photography VS. Art History

In art history, there is no bad art. There is simply art. It's like therapy. There are no bad feelings, just feelings. You don't judge them. You just process them. But you know when something in art seems distasteful to you.
So, I'm confused when it comes to photography. don't know much about photography. I have no idea what makes a good photograph, a good photograph. I have no idea what makes a bad photograph, a bad photograph. Sometimes I look at a photo and it evokes thoughts and feelings inside of me, it sends me into a silent conversation with myself, or it leaves me completely confused. In my book, if art does any of that, it's successful.

My old art history teacher, Ms. D, used to say to the class, (and I'm sure this isn't verbatim, but somewhere in the ballpark), "If you are confused by the piece, or if it doesn't register in your mind as being good art, or even art at all, stop and ask yourself why. Is it because it is challenging what your idea is about art?"

Marcel Duchamp, 1917, " Fountain"

So after taking contemporary art history, after spending 3 hours talking about Duchamp and his urinal and "ready mades", after the shit the performance artists got away with in the 60's, and after Jackson Pollock, "Jack the Dripper," inspired articles in both Life and Time magazines, what can't pass for art? What do you have left after you include everything?

Jackson Pollock, "Jack the Dripper"

At our last class meeting, Mrs. D. said something to this effect:

"I hope I have helped you look at art differently. I hope that when you look at something that doesn't make sense to to you, you don't immediately judge it. Ask yourself, what is it about the piece that doesn't meet your standards. And if it doesn't meet your standards, ask yourself if it doesn't meet your standards because it is challenging your idea of what art is supposed to be. You don't have to like it, but don't say that it's not art. But if you do, don't tell anyone you took my class."

Thanks, Mrs. D.

So, for those 3 of you that have clicked on my blog and got to the end of this post, I'm asking you to give me a little input, on what makes a good photograph. And if you don't know, just tell me what you THINK makes a good photograph.

Jack the Dripper Biography
Marcel Duchamp