Thursday, August 21, 2008

Stock Photograph?

Although this is a candid shot, it looks staged to my eyes. Perhaps it's the upward tilt of the woman's head and her wide smile. Commercial photography, especially stock photography, has a distinct vocabulary and simulations of the expression on this woman's face have become part of a visual vernacular exhorting us to buy things we don't really need. Simultaneously, this shot conveys one of the great benefits of digital photography: the ability to instantaneously view a shot and to share it with others has made the art a far less solitary pursuit than it once was.

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