The Photographer, The Laborer

Yesterday at Lawrence University I went to a lecture given by Frank Lewis. He spoke about the history of photography, specifically about how photography is a medium that historically has appreciated and noticed the worker. Photography's capture aspect has the ability to freeze the worker and fixate on his/her craft. By doing this photography can emphasize the laborer as an individual, which goes against how I think a lot of people consider the worker "a piece of the machine". Frank Lewis mentioned that the worker was portrayed now not only as an extension of the machine, the worker is much more. The worker has his/her craft and is empowered and appreciated. Frank Lewis also alluded to the idea that because photography has historically emphasized the importance of the worker, photographers were the first artists that weren't necessarily thought of as a part of high culture. The lecture gave the image of photographers and their subjects holding a very noble role in the history of art and society. These ideas brought me to think about the role of the photographer today and how technology has given pretty much any asshole with a digital camera and a Flickr account the chance to call themselves a photographer. I think that degrades the idea of the photographer and the parallels that Frank Lewis illuminated between the photographer and the worker. However, I think that there is still a separation between the photographer as a true artist (whatever the fuck that means) and the asshole with a digital camera; I got the chance to see some really great artwork in an exhibition following the lecture. Two of the artists are my teachers, Julie Lindemann and Johnny Shimon; it was really great to see some of their artwork featured in an exhibition about the worker within photography. They have a feel to their work that presents an image of the worker as a real master over their craft. They had a book written by Julie Lindemann and Johnny Shimon that featured a lot of their work laying out in the exhibition and I got a chance to read a little of it. I was very interested in one part specifically that talked about how the older worker more readily identifies him/herself with his/her craft whilst the younger worker has aspirations for something "more" or at the least an identity separate from their craft.