NZ Visual Diary - entry 324

Rawene Pharmacy - Northland

Yes, this image is a ‘re-do’ of sorts. Entry 323 features the Rawene Pharmacy. That previous entry provoked a wonderful set of email exchanges between me and a dear friend of 50+ years.

There were 2 threads to the conversation. The first debate I’ll put aside: whether my black & white image is more evocative than the original capture in colour, which my friend asked me to share with him. We simply differ in our preference for b&w versus colour photography.

My friend’s point in the second framing of our discussion was spot-on. He was fascinated with the set of window posters. He thought that the window posters were essential elements of the photograph and that my heavy-handed (my judgmental term not his) use of grain and tone had relegated the set of posters to the background, whereas they should have been figured prominently in the foregrounding of the photograph.

I readily agreed with his insight and extended his observation by noting in my reply that the messaging contained within those window posters establishes the pharmacy window as an essential community bulletin board for health news. Without posturing as if I know more than I do about Rawene’s politics within the context of community health information, it is clear that the pharmacist (Mr. Fritz Kruse) acts out of a belief that his store front is a window onto the community health commons of Rawene. Why obscure and not celebrate that motivation?

Our recent (and ongoing) COVID crisis has only heightened my interests in public health policy and medical anthropology, but ‘in the name of art’ I relegated to the background of my photograph an element I could have — indeed should have — featured prominently without necessarily diminishing the artistic impact of the photograph.

Hardly ever does it need to be ‘either/or’ - the challenge, I believe, is in attempting to do both well.

All this said, I eagerly invite other viewers to join the conversation about whether as fine art or documentary photography (as one of many framings) either black & white image is more effective and engaging. Just don’t respond by telling me that I’m a pretentious twit. I already know that.