The  Lesson  of  Blow-­‐Up  

In  the  60s  movie  Blow-­‐Up,  a  photographer  witnesses  what  he  thinks  is  a  murder  commi?ed  in  a  

London  park.  

 He  furBvely  takes  photos,  and,  several  blow-­‐ups  and  a  number  of  sexual  encounters  later,  he  sBll  is  no  

closer  to  the  truth.  

 Was  it  real?  Did  his  eyes  and  his  camera  deceive  him?  

And  did  it  even  ma?er?  

David  Hemmings  in  Blow-­‐Up.    1966  

Antonioni’s  1966  film  both  glamourized  and  denigrated  

photography  at  the  same  Bme.  

His  hero,  played  by  actor  David  Hemmings,  is  a  man  with  all  the  technical  skills  needed  to  climb  to  the  top  of  the  London’s  swinging  social  scene,  with  the  requisite  

female  flesh  included.  

 He  has  a  treasure  trove  of  pricey  equipment  set  at  the  criBcal  F-­‐stops,  a  studio,  a  studio  assistant,  and  a  

Rolls  Royce  with  a  phone.  

Yet  despite  all  that  skill  and  stuff,  he  sBll  didn’t  know  more  than  the  average  person  what  was  in  the  

image.  

FiUy  years  onward,  we  are  sBll  visually  illiterate,  only  even  more  so.  

DigiBzed  images  remove  not  only  move  things  like  grain  (although  there  is  something  called  “snow”),  they  also  remove  thinking  process.  

 I’m  not  talking  about  the  underexposed  birthday  party  

pictures  bathed  in  candlelight  or  the  dumb  vacaBon  pictures  on  the  beach  where  someone’s  head  is  

invariably  cut  off.  

I’m  talking  about  the  ability  to  think  through  a  picture  like  any  other  

piece  of  art.  

 What  you  are  trying  to  express,  how  you  are  going  to  do  it,  what  tools  to  use  (I  don’t  mean  Photoshop  or  Lightroom),  and  ulBmately  what  

does  it  signify.  

How  do  you  read  a  picture?    

In  the  age  of  Instagram  (visual  graffiB)  and  sexBng,  and  an  

unlimited  number  of  built  in,  bad-­‐taste  filters,  photos  are  instantly  

malleable  and  instantly  uploadable  –  someBmes  to  the  great  regret  of  the  person  who  suddenly  realizes  that  once  their  naked  private  parts  hit  

the  ether,  that’s  it.  

Every  college  and  job  interview  hereon  in  will  have  a  genital  focus.  

Film,  on  the  other  hand,  had  to  be  selected  for  ISO,  saturaBon,  brand,  

size.  

The  camera  body  and  make  ma?ered.  

So  did  the  focal  length  of  the  lens.  

People  lived  in  the  world  of  manual.  

They  chose  their  shots  carefully,  the  subject  and  details,  and  chose  them  

carefully  too.  

The  photographer  Ansel  Adams  said  that  if  he  got  one  money  shot  out  of  50,  he  considered  himself  lucky.  

But  he  wasn’t  a  point-­‐and-­‐shoot  guy.  

He  thought  everything  out.  

Back  to  Antonioni’s  hot  and  confused  David  Hemmings.  

Would  he  have  liked  Instagram?  Anybody  who  goes  through  all  that  

trouble  to  find  an  answer  to  a  serious  quesBon,  my  guess  is  

probably  not.