Bill Jay's "Past Perfect"

Reading Jay's work I found myself continually nodding in agreement with the points he put forward. 

In VC1 we looked at various art works over a range of periods and styles to see the influences art movements had and the progression of art forms. The influence of art  styles on early photography with photographers replicating artworks and styles in their captured images. It surprised me the number of fellow students who felt that there was absolutely no bearing of studying art on our study of photography. This even after a visit and talk by photographer Alexia Sinclair  and talking about her work on "The Regal Twelve" and "The Royal Dozen". 

One of the most interesting things for me was the example Jay used in  numbered paragraph 2 about the art historian lecture on 1860s photo-albums and the interpretation of the work compared with the more likely interpretation put forward by Jay. Interesting to me because I am always sceptical when I hear or read an interpretation of a work of any kind, especially when the author of the work is deceased, that the person doing the interpretation is merely putting forward conjecture not necessarily based on the artist own interpretation or comments or reliably relayed about their work. Jay's point, "historians can become excessively academic and irrelevant, but that is not a condemnation of history itself."

Interesting too is, "By looking back at these 'pasts' you can plot a more forward-looking future. The history of photography is relevant because the past illuminates the future." For me the truth of this statement is that by looking at the works of earlier photographers we see things that are different from what is in style at the moment and it stimulates our visions of works we want to make. It can be a replication of a work or merely analysing a technique used and attempting to perfect it using modern methods to present something out of the norm. 

I embrace his comment that "History is relevant by the very fact that it is our history." Although I had a thirty year hiatus from a time I considered myself an avid amateur in photography until the time I picked up a digital camera in 2000 that history provided me the basic insights into the new digital technology for the basic principles were the same. That history gives me a bit of an edge, I sometimes feel, in understanding topics in our classes. 

Studying the history of photography shows us the difficult time and tasks photographers had to endure to get their results. It also provides insight into the development and innovation of the tools of our trade.

I just finished reading Annie Leibovitz at work (2008) where she is responding to her "Ten Most Asked Questions" and in response to 'Where do you get your ideas?' part of her response that relates specifically to our topic, of the relevance of the history of photography, is, " I'm a fan of photography. A student, if you will. I collect photography books. Something in the history of photography might contribute to the style I choose to shoot in. The style of the photograph is part of the idea."