Decker's
Photography
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Is it a valid
philosophy, a
passé precursor
to the Beats, or a handy modifier that one can couple to almost noun
for
instant pseudo intellectual content? It certainly gets a lot of use in
the latter
category. I think, that, existential is a great modifier
for
photographic portraits in that both are relatively modern phenomena and
that in a
broad sense the term existential defines what a
really good portrait is all about.
Here's a nice definition of Existentialism from the Philosophy Pages (.com) "A (mostly) twentieth century approach that emphasizes the primacy of individual existence over any presumed natural essence for human beings. Although they differ on many details, existentialists generally suppose that the fact of my existence as a human being entails both my unqualified freedom to make of myself whatever I will and the awesome responsibility of employing that freedom appropriately, without being driven by anxiety toward escaping into the inauthenticity or self-deception of any conventional set of rules for behavior, even though the entire project may turn out to be absurd." If that's too wordy, go to Berkeley Breathed(.com) and take a peak at Opus, October 29th, and September 17th, 2006. |