2024 02 02
Simple scene from one of my favorite cities, Pittsburgh, PA. November, 2023. © Clayton Hauck
So why Pointing at Stuff, anyway?
The name hit me as being quite a brilliant way of looking at photography. “Photography is like pointing at things you see in life,” as observed by Richard Avedon and noted by myself while reading What Becomes a Legend Most, a biography of Avedon by Philip Gefter. Pointingatthings.com was not available but this domain was, so I went with stuff.
More recently, I came across another bit of Avedon wisdom via the great podcast A Small Voice: Conversations With Photographers. In episode 195 Ben talks with photographer Aaron Schuman about a time when Aaron wrote to Richard Avedon, inviting him to his simple college exhibition. Avedon wrote back, apologizing for being too busy to attend, but added:
“The only advice I have is that you do something connected to photography every day of your life and you’ll be surprised what happens.”
Aaron took this advice to heart, saturating his life with things connected to photography (reading about it, attending exhibitions, talking with friends, studying, interning, assisting, etc) opposed to “constantly making pictures without reflecting on them.”
Admittedly, I tend to be the guy constatnly making pictures without reflecting on them. This blog is a small way to expand my photography vision into things beyond the act of making pictures.
-Clayton
