11 Responses

1. David Clapp

   Lets not forget Simon Butterworth (clarinet)…. We should all have a one off jam on the Isle of Skye. I also DJ alot these days with my Mac and Ableton Live, so now there’s an excuse for an ‘after party’. What am I saying?! I will probably end up keywording instead.

   On May 3, 2011 at 9:54 pm • Reply
2. Adam Pierzchala

   Jamming on Skye? Count me in, I’ll bring my guitar… Adam

   On May 4, 2011 at 12:28 pm • Reply
3. EmDashMan

   Jamming on Skye? Can’t make it in person – can I do it on Skype?

   On May 4, 2011 at 2:01 pm • Reply
4. kevin-allan

   I’m a guitar and mandolin player myself (both very badly). I suggest that music and photography complement each other well because we can practice music when the wrong type of light inhibits our photography. Mind you, with that much practice, I should be a much better musician !

   On May 4, 2011 at 2:38 pm • Reply
5. Julian Barkway

   As a one-time musician (with a music degree, no less) I can see the parallels. It was something that I encountered most obviously when I first saw the work of Jan Töve. His use of layered complexity is entirely analogous to classical counterpoint where musical texture is created from interleaved musical lines. Some of Charles Cramer’s images work in a similar way.

   However, I can’t say that my musical background influences my own photography (at least not in any way that I’d recognise) but when I’m in a natural environment I do find myself tuning in to the essentially random ‘music’ of the sounds around me. Perhaps this is reflected in my preference for ‘busy’ compositions?

   On May 4, 2011 at 3:17 pm • Reply
6. Tim Parkin

   Some comments were removed by the authors mutual agreement as they didnt’ really relate to photography. However, I am at pains to point out that my correlation of some of the symptoms of Asperger’s and art, music & photography are not meant to be addressing fully diagnosed Asperger’s or autism.

   On May 4, 2011 at 4:29 pm • Reply
7. Adam Pierzchala

   Following on from my slightly flippant remark earlier about jamming on Skye (though I would really love to…), there is of course quite a serious aspect to this. It is said that mathematicians can make good musicians – that was certainly the case at my old school. Mathematicians and musicians both look for patterns and both can enjoy the discord (in maths this could be the unexpected twist in a pattern, a statistical oddity or a fabulous number such as the square root of minus one). Mathematicians do talk about beautiful and elegant solutions to problems – a hint of artistry if ever there was one.

   Photography is a wonderful mix of art and science: it’s helpful to understand the science of vision, how the film or sensor reacts to light and colour, perhaps about film processing and something about the physics of lenses. But we also need to have a sense of artistic order – composition, juxtaposition of colour in the right proportion etc. So perhaps it does take a certain type of mind to be able to process the required amount of scientific and artistic analysis to produce a result that most viewers find pleasing.

   But Tim hinted at landscape photography attracting the less adept at social small talk. I would not go so far as to say “loner”, but certainly landscape photography does seem to suit those who are at ease when alone, can appreciate and enjoy solitude and can operate and survive without the support of others – even if it is just for a few hours.

   However, this is not a universal truth: I have had the pleasure of meeting some of the best UK based outdoor photographers and all are great with people and a far cry from the stereotype loner. They are entertaining in both a serious or comical way, are very good at motivating people, very good photographic tutors, great guys socially – and superb inspiring photographers too, often working alone. One is a mathematician – as is one other who comes to mind but I have not met. Maths, music, photography – do they all really mix art and science? So, where does that leave us in this discussion? How do the left and right sides of the brain collaborate in our activity?

   On May 4, 2011 at 10:45 pm • Reply
8. Adam Pierzchala

   There’s one more thing that came to mind today as I was chatting with my son (a keen photographer, musician and sound production technologist): how is it that we can recognise a tune from just 3-4 notes of the Intro. Sure, the notes are in a particular order and with specific time-spacing. The same notes in the same order in the middle of a different tune sound very different and may or may not remind us of the first tune.

   Do our pattern-recognition abilities extend in a similar way to photography? There has been a lot of research apparently showing that we recognise patterns related to survival (primeval instincts). Do we have built-in patterns that make us say ah – how pretty? I also remember reading somewhere how photographers sub-consciously “plagiarise” compositions based on an image they’ve seen before and found attractive – David Ward’s blog perhaps? So it’s back to pleasing patterns in music, visual art and maths. Rgds., Adam

   On May 5, 2011 at 8:43 pm • Reply
9. Joe Rainbow

   Interesting. I know that top mathematicians have a disproportionate amount of Autism due to the obsessive nature the condition brings. In many ways, it is the obsessive qualities the landscape photographer has that link it to both Music and Autism/ Aspergers. It is also made up of quite distinctly separate skills, which could be likened to the structure of musical composition. There is a good case here to raise the idea of Art and Synesthesia, which shows how the senses are interlinked, more in some than others. Famously Kandinsky was a known synesthete. Others with the ‘crossed senses’ the synesthete has, would hear fantastic and harmonious sounds when looking at a Kandinsky painting, as if orchestrated, when hearing a jumble of ‘noises’ when looking at other non synesthetic Art. Apparently, we were all synesthetes up until the age of 2 or so, and we most probably still retain a degree of this ability. So maybe, it is very natural to associate the practises of ‘seeing’ with ‘hearing’ and for that matter ‘tasting’ and ‘touching’. Somehow we manage to separate these once linked senses, and to me, it seems natural that they should be associated together. Cookery and Art/ Photography also has many compatible features.
   It is quite interesting that smell is the only sense that goes directly and ‘unfiltered’ into the brains receptors. Maybe all the other senses therefore are quite varied between each individual, and are built up through personal experience. Slightly off the point, but relating to previous comments in other discussion threads.
   The one thing common to all, is balance, and at best, the balance between dischord and harmony, hot and cold, rough and smooth, light and dark.
   I fancy a Jam, a wee dram and a photography session in some great location to discuss further…..

   On May 7, 2011 at 8:52 pm • Reply
10. Mike Green

    This is an interesting item, and Joe’s comments are very pertinent to me, personally – at least they’re possibly /relevant/. I’ve taken part, as a subject, in a couple of synaesthesia studies and [apparently] have a relatively high degree of synaesthesia with respect to perceiving sounds as shapes, and a very high level of perceiving number patterns as shapes – I also used to be a half-decent mathematician, once upon a time.

    It hadn’t previously occurred to me that any of this might have some linkage to having discovered that I like photography. Having had this possible connection pointed out (thanks Tim and Joe!), I shall try and determine whether any of these things have any conscious bearing next time I get out and attempt to make some photos (not obsessively or compulsively at all though – oh no….). It would be nice to think that synaesthesia might be beneficial!

    Mike

    On May 8, 2011 at 11:15 pm • Reply
11. Rob Hudson

    Interesting Tim, I’m certain there’s some truth in your ideas, but it raises some questions in my mind, some of which have been touched upon above. I should point out that I know very little about music, although I love it with an unquestionable intensity, I certainly have no musical ability, but I’m glad Joe Rainbow brought up cookery, all I can say is you’ve tried my curry!

    Firstly, I think I’m correct in my belief that aspergers has a tendency to affect men disproportionately, and without in any way wanting to disparage our sister landscape photographers, it does appear to me that landscape photographers are disproportionately male. Now of course there are other social and maybe even biological reasons behind this, most notably the safety of lone women in wild places. I’m not necessarily claiming that as a supporting evidence with any degree of scientific backing, but it does seem pertinent. (Incidentally how about some more articles by or on female landscape photographers? Maybe they see things differently?)

    Secondly the ability to recognise patterns doesn’t in itself create a beautiful photograph, it is also the ability to see how those patterns relate to an emotional response in the viewer, just the right degree of dissonance, to steal your analogy, creates the right response. Patterns are not intrinsically beautiful, if that were true then we’d all be mad about tartan. How does that relate to music or asperger’s syndrome? I think it’s best to bow out before I have passed the limits of my knowledge and understanding.

    On May 22, 2011 at 8:12 am • Reply