Lyle Rexer Reflection

    Lyle Rexer gave a very interesting talk about the prevalence in contemporary photo art of ‘Bad Pictures of Bad Subjects’. This is not a disparaging comment, however. Rexer discussed how the changing nature and use-cases of photographs have led to this outcome. Today, nearly all Americans have access to a camera attached to their phones at all times. This, along with social media’s meteoric rise, has lead to an unprecedented volume of so-called ‘vernacular’ images being taken as compared to past eras. What do these kinds of images, with little consideration given to framing, composition, or conceptual ideas, say about our contemporary image making culture? Naturally, contemporary ‘fine art’ photographers have been quick to respond to the growing trend. In creating these ‘bad pictures of bad subjects’, scrutiny is placed upon the context of the photographs, rather than the content themselves. I always wonder whether I would be able to tell the difference between these ‘bad’ pictures done by artists, vs similar pictures taken from, say, a random person’s Instagram page. I believe the meaning of images lies as much in their contexts as it does in their content.