Exercise 3.2:Postcard views.

Postcard views.

Not having received a post card in about 20 years I went out and bought 6 from a local shop.  They all feature local views but fall in to three distinct categories: historic, realistic and enhanced.

The picture on the first card appears to be from the early part of the last century and shows a view that has hardly changed and is still popular with photographers today, namely looking north from the pier.   It shows the seaside town of Deal at play with folk messing about in boats and ladies under parasols.  A typical wish you were here postcard that buyers are now more likely to keep.   A hand tinted black and white image. 

The second is of a reproduction of a British Railway poster advertising the delights  of Deal.  It is a simplified and stylised view and is typical of the art work of the late 1940s and 1950s.  This is another novelty item that buyers are more likely to keep than to post

The third is a photograph of fishing boats on Deal beach.  This is a fairly recent image as I recognise the three featured boats as ones that are still in use.  A snapshot of Deal that is designed to be posted. 

The last three were taken by a local photographer/shopkeeper by the name of Ralph Greencade and enhanced to give the appearance of paintings.  They each feature a list building and are again more likely to be kept than posted.  I think Ralph would like visitors  will go out and find the buildings for themselves.

The last four are from a large book of postcards that my wife’s grand father collected on his way from India to the UK prior to WWI.  They cover his journey through the Middle East, the Holy Land and on through Greece and Italy.  They consist mainly of monochrome and and tinted photographs.  The subjects range from vistas and ruins to the local people and their animals.  As it is highly unlikely that he could afford a camera so these were bought as mementoes of his trip and were never posted.

Response to Graham Clarke’s comments.

As soon as a camera is placed between the scene and the viewer the viewer has disconnected himself from it, in that rather than judging the scene for himself and accepting it for what it is he is now planning for the image that will be seen by a future viewer.  He is thinking about how the image, and not the view, will be seen and judged.  Even with modern equipment the photographer must think about how the image is to be recorded: the framing, the balance of the elements within that frame, the depth of field, the exposure, and any message he wishes the viewer to receive.   The photographer’s manipulation of the scene as he records it separate him from it.  He can no longer see the image without a frame or a message until he has finished the task of recording it.

The modern exception to this is the selfie where the photographer puts himself in the picture.  This movement has given rise to the Selfie Olympics where, mainly young men, place themselves in dangerous situations, take a selfie and post the result.  This has resulted in fantastic images of people perched on high towers with whole cities stretched out below but has also led to some unfortunate falls.

After the work is finished and the image is taken it is still nice to relax and view the scene for what is and just admire it.