13) Flirting with Monsters: Photography and Commodity Culture, Jim Campbell - 15/1/18

On Monday we had our first lecture back with Jim for Photography in Context, all about photography and commodity culture. My notes from the lecture can be seen below.

He started off the lecture by stating that as a society we have chosen capitalism as our economic and political system, and this widely affects our creativity - for instance commercial photography.

This led him on to say that you can't spend your career sniping away at commodity culture, because you won't make any money or get any jobs. However you can choose briefs which you're more interested in when working commerically.

He also spoke about the other side of the spectrum, where people sell work on abject horror and do not think about the ethics of photography too deeply. For instance Simon Norfolk's work 'Forensic Traces of War' which displays his interest in the subject of war and death. This abject horror and his interest in death can be illuminated by the image depicted below, titled 'Oumuh, dying of AIDS'.

Following on from this, photography (especially of objects etc) is central to western world society, and is even making money in recession due to our commodity culture and advertising. Jim also stated that this career path statistically makes more money than banking. This leads me to think about photography and commodity culture in a more positive light, and as long as you're taking jobs that you think are ethically right and have interest to you, it's worth doing them because that is where the money is. You can then use this money to fund your own personal projects, so really its all just about playing the game.

Another part of the lecture which I thought was interesting was the quote:

"Ambitious writers and artists will modify their work under the pressure of kitsch, if they do not succumb to it entirely". - Clement Greenberg ‘Avantgarde & Kitsch 1939

I thought this was engaging because we think we're free, but in reality we're only free to choose from the options offered within this consumerist society. I think this is quite a sad truth, and makes me think when I finish uni and start taking on commercial projects to pay for my personal work I'll take on work that is of more importance to me and ethically right to try and combat this issue within photography due to our society.

What is creativity and what is creative industry?

There was also another quote from the presentation within this heading that I thought was interesting, from Bourdieu which reads:

"Jobs and careers (in the new professionals) have not yet acquired the rigidity of the older bureaucratic professions and recruitment is generally done by co-option, that is on the basis on ‘connectedness’ and affinities of habitus, rather than formal qualifications.".

Bourdieu essentially states in this quote that it's who you know not what you know, which makes this profession seem a lot more scary than older professions. However this just highlights to me the importance of assisting and work experience during university even more, because this will allow me to get myself into the industry and making contacts, rather than just relying on my own skills to get me a job.

Jim then went on to speak about the question: How can we retain a creative input in commercial practice? He explained we can do this in three different ways, radical, passive and resistant.

1. RADICAL:

- an uncompromising (anti-lifestyle) which may drive you to rarified contexts that do not reach a significant market or earn you a living.

An example of this is Scott King, creator of 'SLEAZENATION', because he uses radical approaches within the commercial environment with the feeling of 'this is shit but you'll still buy it'. However this approach to commodity in photography means your work may have a very short shelf life.

2. PASSIVE SPECTACULAR:

- accepting the commercial (lifestyle) agenda – functional often entertainment and fantasy or escapist ideals.

This means you need to be 'on message' even in editorial pieces, always playing the game. It also means that you only play a small part in the bigger picture, no authorship just helping press the button of the camera. This attitude also means you play no interest in politics, only in this kitsch culture.

3. RESISTANT:

- attempting to work with with market forces whilst at the same time maintaining a serious sense of critical creative practice.

Jim rounded off the lecture by explaining some of the ways you can retain a creative input in commercial practice, all of which I agree with and am going to actively try to do when finishing uni and get out into the world of work.

- Play the game, you need to be confident and informed in the commercial world, and it's what gets you money for your own personal work.

- Surround yourself with the culture you want, find commercial work which reflects your views and ideals instead of just doing work you hate for money.

- Don't forget you're an artist, TAKE CREATIVE RISKS!! Employers will expect you to be naive and take creative risks, so there is no need to replicate the style of others.

Overall I found the lecture really interesting and helpful particularly the theorist quotes and the 3 ways you can retain creative input in your commercial practice. Most importantly I found Jim's tips at the end to be the most important information from the lecture, and I will remember these when going to do commercial work.

#photographyincontext