this weeks obsession...Peter Andrew photograph entitled Phone Booth. I saw this printed 8 feet by 3 feet. It is magnificent and surreal and captivating. The gallery staff was discussing the newly hung piece and hypothesizing if it was "real" or not - real in that the scene was not manufactured either digitally or posed for the purpose of the shot. I was caught up in the conversation, staring intently at the image, nose to the glass in an effort to discern any incongruities in the image that would give it away. (i didn't/couldn't find any but it was a big picture and i am lazy)
I think it's funny that what captured our attention was the fear that maybe, just maybe we were being tricked. Because really, does it make it any less spectacular a piece? Are the woods any less haunting if they were created by the artist imagination then if they were created by nature? Or is that what we expect from photography - that it captures what is "real" or what already exists? Is the beauty and the craft of photography that one finds and captures a moment that exists already?
