The Photographer's Chair

The entirely surprising story of a photographic "meme," or leitmotif, through its history—"the Photographer's Chair."

Mike

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Paul Duncan: "Fascinating, but dang: yet another of my totally original ideas exposed as the subconscious purloining from the vast cultural meme-yard!"

Robert Newcomb: "Using a chair in a portrait is hard even when they're soft. The more conventional medium high backed sitting or dinning chair will often 'cut through' the subject in an odd place creating an extra appendage as the back extends from the sitter. In a soft plush chair the sitter will often be swallowed as he/she sinks down into it creating an unflattering bad posture slouching look. The very high backed wicker chair pictured serves as a way to seat the subject and act as a portrait background for their body and head without extra appendages. I spent the last 20 years of my photography life doing portraits. In the studio I usually had about a dozen chairs of different sizes, styles, and hues to match the size and style of the person. I hoarded old and odd chairs for these reasons."

Comments

[Keith]

Now you've done it. We're going to start seeing the peacock chair showing up in camera stores. But that was a great watch over morning coffee.

[Bob Johnston]

Thanks again for another fascinating find. I had no idea. Greatly enjoyed.

[Dale N]

Is the franticness of the video also a new meme? I feel simply exhausted watching - it feels just, rushed. So many stills tossed out at a machine-gun pace. Trendy perhaps, but my poor brain doesn't really have enough time between images to consume and process before the next. Overall, the video loses its message and me. A sign of the times, or perhaps I've found the meaning of "too old". But, nice wicker.

[I know what you mean. Sort of like when you see someone at the supermarket with their cart draped with six-packs of sugary soda. They're so hooked on sweet that they can't even hydrate unless the water has sugar or, worse, fake sugar in it. I guess unless videos come at you fast they seem dull or dead to those to whom that's the usual.

Also, in the beginning, she should have said "the exact same KIND of chair," not "the exact same chair." (Editors needed everywhere!) --Mike]

[David Dyer-Bennet]

I suspect people who grew up on moving images are (on the average!) rather better at processing them than those of us who did not. My parents, for example, didn't get a TV until I was 8 years old (or maybe 9; the schoolyear I turned 9). A lot of the really basic perceptual wiring, which develops after birth (or in some cases the excess decays through disuse), is set by that age.

Also, we are now in control of the video we watch a lot more. If we miss something it's easy to just step back and see it. So a rate at which 80% of the people easily catch everything may be a rate at which 40% of the people get bored, and a faster rate is better; the people who miss things can jump back if they care. This may also be influencing how people produce videos.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

And while I haven't bought soda in weeks and still haven't opened that carton because the previous one isn't empty yet—I have trouble drinking just water. Unless it's very cold and quite good, it makes me want to gag.

In my particular case it's not sugar addiction, though; I can fix the water by adding a squirt or two of lemon or lime (or orange) juice, and the first two at least aren't adding sugar in any significant amount.

[hugh crawford]

Oh yeah, Americana music shot ready here - still got two left over from the 70s !

[Matt Kallio]

Regarding the 'franticness' I think it isn't so much that younger viewers are wired to process video faster, as that they know how to use the Pause button. It doesn't work to show hundreds of album covers, for instance, slowly enough to process them IN A VIDEO. Nobody could stand it. So if you want to see the details use the tools the viewer gives you.

[Mike Shwarts]

A solution, though not ideal, to the photos changing quickly is found in the youtube settings. Click the cog icon and then playback speed. A speed of 0.75 helps without making the audio unbearably slow. I also find 1.25 can get me through a lot more videos if I'm at home not being productive.

The only problem I have found is that speeding or slowing the video by 25% does have a noticeable effect on any music with a familiar tempo.

[MikeR]

Well, yes, the images just fly by. I see them as mental tick marks, serving to illuminate the verbal story. While I would love to study many of the images for themselves, in this context they are not themselves the point.

I am impressed by the sheer volume of archival materials presented.

Re speed of display, that seems to be the norm today. Watch an Avengers movie. Contrast it with a film from the 50s. At 78, I often find myself noticing the rapid edits more so than the exposition. Does getting old do that?

[KeithB]

You too, can take part in this meme. If you are at Disney World they have several at the outside patio of the Jungle Cruise Skippers' Canteen at the Magic Kingdom.

[Sean]

This’ll likely come across asa little curmudgeonly, but this not just a combination of pattern recognition and cherry picking from a vast sea of data? Think about all the famous seated-portraits that don’t feature a wicker chair. Some portraits feature wicker chairs; other seated-portraits are available–by orders of magnitude. And, how many poses are available for somebody sitting on a chair? Gesture is important, but there’s only so many ways to cross legs in a chair.

[Sean]

Right after posting my last comment, I thought of Geoff Dyer’s,
The On Going Moment, which the The Photographer’s Chair is a riff on. My “Meh” has tempered

[DavidB]

This was a fun video. But now I have an overwhelming desire to shoot photos of people sitting on wicker chairs in remote locations. Social distancing, you know...

[mikegj]

It's Huey's chair. BPP should have copyrighted the image.

The six and half minutes it took to get there, all that lame commercial cover art, is cultural appropriation.

Should have done a hard hitting exposé on the bean-bag chair instead!

Power to the People, Right On!

(and get off my lawn.)