Previsioning Your Vision

In the Spring 2007 issue of Aperture, there is an article which consists solely of a dialogue between Stephen Shore and Luc Sante. This is an ideal format for an article because it flows more like the natural conversation between two people rather than a one-sided report of the facts, as most articles tend to be. One of the most interesting points was the concept of "mental modeling", which Shore describes as such: "There has been this idea in photography of previsioning (to use Weston's term), which is having a mental image of the picture. The image an experienced photographer has in mind, whether it be conscious or unconscious, can guide all the little decisions that go into making a picture. It becomes the coordinating factor. With "mental modeling", I'm talking about making that conscious, becoming aware of it as an image, and not simply seeing out your eyes like out a window."

I like this idea of planning a picture, while still allowing for the spontaneous moments that happen during shooting that can really bring a picture to life. A good mix of the two is probably the best approach to picture-making, in my opinion. I also study Psychobiology at another school, and we learned that in science 90% of the work is done before the experiment is ever carried out, and that the experiment is just a rote execution of the carefully crafted plan. The photographic translation of this should be a consideration for us photographers. Shore's idea of using an idea that other "makers" use to get the creative juices flowing is spot-on, I think it is always a good idea to see how other people get their ideas going and try to translate those techniques into something useful for making and planning pictures.

Labels: aperture magazine, mental modeling, stephen shore

posted by Megan Bigelow @ 11:48 AM