Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Alan George

Noticing things is what photographers supposedly do. Seeing, noticing, interpreting... I've lived in San Francisco for close to a decade now and have recently had the pleasure of having two photographers show me what my adopted hometown looks like. The more famous, Gabriele Basilico, has shown me the possibilities of what I imagined San Francisco to be like if its architecture and landscape were shot via large format. Alan George on the other hand has shown me that which I've seen, even noticed- but my limited imagination didn't construe as "photo worthy." Naturally, I tend to appreciate the latter more since it also alerts my vision to that which I hadn't truly seen and noticed, despite myself. His beautiful Domesticated series is wonderfully understated, but nowhere is his unique vision more apparent than in his Wheeled Estate essay which depicts the mobile campers stationed throughout the city. Like everyone else, I too regarded them as little more than eyesores, as they are in any given city, the stuff of "snapshots" at very best.

Just goes to show how one's personal taste, sensitivity and vision are what's paramount in this game, and how we can all hopefully continue to learn, evolve and go beyond our limitations...

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