Fanny Pack Not Included

While sitting through a recent lecture, a fellow photography student made it clear that school is where we begin to set ourselves apart from the average tourist armed with a point&shoot. Even though this statement has some sense of validity, what I find infinitely more interesting, however, is L.A. based photographer Mark McKnight's suggestion that all photographers are essentialy tourists.
Tourism is arguably more complex than just travel for recreation. How far does one have to travel exactly? And is it still considered recreation if you're not having a good time? A more important question looms though; if tourist photos are simply trophies of things seen, or proof of one standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon, is that any different than Richard Misrach making sure the world knows that bombs are being dropped in the middle of the desert? Perhaps there is no difference, and an artist like Hiroshi Sugimoto sees a monument in the ocean, just like my Grandma would if she peered up at the faces on Mt. Rushmore.
It seems that what Mark McKnight implies has little to do with the "snapshot" vernacular attributed to say, a tourist and William Eggleston. His assertion, as I understand it, has much more to do with ideas of observation, evaluation, experience, and judgement, which is of course, the root of why any photographer would want to photograph, and why any tourist would want to travel. So with that said, perhaps Mark McKnight is right, and not only are all photographers tourists, but in many ways, maybe that's all we are.


You can see more of Mark McKnight's work on his Blog at markmcknight.wordpress.com

posted by seesaw @ 2:52 PM