I first started thinking about this post with the term “pecking order” in mind.  The idea that there is a hierarchy in the act of making art, and viewing it as well. Kathleen, who spends a lot of time thinking about brain science suggested the term bias as a way to better think about my concept.

For all of the years that I have been working as a photographer, first in the realm of retail portrait and wedding photography and later working to make fine art photographs I have harbored and encountered bias. It was everywhere and effective.  Think about the term “wedding photographer” it was always less cool than advertising photography for instance.  It did not matter that is was far more difficult and paid less. There was an order of importance attached to all of it. Think: color vs. b&w, small format vs. medium format vs. large format. Now days film vs. digital. I think you get the idea. 

A hand full of years ago I started working in printmaking, I started making photogravure prints from my negatives. I had been making platinum prints from large format negatives, the queen of photography process (at least in my mind). Little did I know that for print makers photogravure was the bottom of the barrel of methods for making marks on paper. Not to mention I was using polymer plates, one step lower on the pole. 

I will admit you, my friends that I was a willing participant in this version of implicit (Unconscious) Bias. How I felt about what I was making was influenced by my understanding of the history of photography and how it all ranked in the chart of importance in my mind. Same goes for the artwork I chose to look at and collect, I mostly was interested in black and white photographs made using historic processes. 

Kathleen’s comment to me about implicit (Unconscious) Bias was this: “Everybody has it , it is how our brains work. Our job is to recognize it and bring it to consciousness so that we can respond intentionally”.

In the last few years I have begun to look at art differently, and think about my own work from a place that I feel is more intentional and maybe more honestly. I opened my mind. Allowed myself to view and make pictures from a fresh and new place to me. At first it felt selfish in a way, making pictures thinking less about the audience than myself. I was not used to this but it seemed important. It has helped me connect with myself, other artists, and the world around me. Looking at and collecting art that is outside the old boundaries I’d set up for myself has been important, again life changing. 

As always please consider joining the conversation, let me know if any of this sounds familiar. Maybe this is a journey you have already made.

Be well,

Ray