Cognitive Dualism in Street Photography

 

“It is about simplicity and dualism, not minimalism.”

It was an email from an old friend with whom I periodically connect to see how we have evolved over the years in our mutual exploration of the arts role in healing.

“And eventually it is that celebration of beauty as our body wrinkles and beauty fills in.”

… More than a decade ago she asked me to read Roger Scruton’s “Beauty: a Very Short Introduction” a book where the renowned philosopher explored what makes an object beautiful in the arts, in people and in nature. And then I read his book “The soul of the World” that helped me understand my own, till then unformulated, quest of expression in photography. It was his concept of “cognitive dualism” that continues to guide my photography, along with appreciation of the arts, in a structured way.

“We have a long way since our biology and chemistry labs” I replied.

“Yes, but we are not there yet, are we?” she noted.” Melpomene and Thalia have shaped both of our philosophies – you look at the world through antique cameras and print in B&W; and I look at suffering through others’ hoping eyes. But we both end up celebrating the beauty we encounter through our explorations.”

… Melpomene and Thalia, the daughters of Zeus represented in the tragedy and comedy masks of ancient Greek theater.  An early form of dualism where the human condition is distilled to two masks, two philosophies of existence.

 

When we ended our email chat, I sat in my rocking chair and recalled some of Scruton’s formulation of cognitive dualism beauty.

The human condition, the theatre masks of ancient Greece, found their way in my thoughts and lead to the concept of cognitive dualism where Scruton proposed that a human is both a physical organism and construct, but also a subjective entity where realities beyond physical sciences find safe harbor. It is a transcendence of sorts between that tangible and the intangible that defines a human and, as my friend said, our relationship with the arts and beauty. Thus, it is not a dualism in the sense of duality, but as a separation of two dimensions that co-exist in us.

And that is why I found the concept of cognitive dualism more than a philosophical formulation, but a guiding blueprint for both the pursuit of expression by an artist, and a necessary attribute in those who interpret the product of the artist.

…At this point, I became curios how, consciously or unconsciously, I had incorporates what I understood as the difference between duality and dualism. So, I took a visit to my prints.

 

A.    The photo atop this essay incorporates my attraction to vintage lenses and the character they give due to the optics technology more than half a century ago. I used a 1950s Zeiss Biotar 58 mm f2.8 focusing on the dogs. The background is delightfully creamy and dreamy, letting the viewer seamlessly go from the tangible to the intangible.

 

B.  The kiss in New York’s Times Square was not posed – I did not know the couple. I just happened to be walking around with my Mamiya 645. Two humans sharing an intimate moment surrounded by other expressions of art.

 

 

C.   The concert poster in Vienna was just a poster until I shapes the environment through curved lines via a Soviet Salyut S camera and the lovely Arsat 30mm lens. Now, it is a conversation in a context that is not realistic. Two generations of women making us wonder about the intangible. The dualism here could be said to be ontological rather than cognitive.

 

D. This early morning discussion was near the Cathedral in Ferrara, Italy. Again captured in medium format, the moment is fluid as two subjective people converse and almost invites us to ear drop.

Always in Ferrara, on a different visit. It was an unreal moment as a man, dressed as a woman, holding a plastic doll, was begging for money. It was apparent that he was a man and the baby was not real, yet a man holding a kid approached to give money. As I was waiting to complete the scene, a young boy walked into my viewfinder frame with a puzzled look: was the man a woman? Was the baby real? It is the joy of street photography to witness such impromptu stories unfold, and lucky if you can press the camera shutter knob to capture that moment.

 

F.    A similar moment from Taipei, Taiwan. This is a night shot without flash (I never use flash, just slow speeds and fast lenses) into a store selling Asian clothing. I was intrigued by the fact that the mannequins looked more western than Asian. Just as I was to take a photo with my 1969 Nikon F, the salesperson walking into the frame. She too looked more western than I expected – almost resembling the mannequins! The photo is one, at least for me, that gives the viewer a temporary sense of direction, context and challenges the expectations we might have had. As such it challenges our cognitive faculties.

 

G.  I wanted to take this photo because of the body language these young lovers displayed on the boardwalk around Baltimore Harbor. It was a moment, a posture, and expectations most humans have experienced. More importantly, the moment was not subjective/personal to this couple, but universal. For that reason and to respect their identity, I blurred their faces by dodging while printing the photo under my darkroom enlarger.

 

H.  Finally, a calm moment in the Baltimore harbor where two military ships took a respite. This photo makes me think of times when we look into our own selves, in stormy days, knowing that we were, like ships, not made for safe harbors. It is that call of discovery that makes any dualism so essential, cognitive or not.

 

 

 

May 5, 2024

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2024