Being There

The pho­to­graphic goal flows from the nature of the medium. Pho­tog­ra­phy is the only medium that orig­i­nates in and is caused by the real, his­tor­i­cal, time-space event of a col­li­sion between a man [or woman], a cam­era and real­ity. But the pho­to­graph itself occu­pies its own time and space and is a sep­a­rate thing from that real-time collusion.

Pas de deux by Nor­man McLaren of the National Film Board of Canada. An oldy, a goody.

Robyn goes on tour across the U.K., and, guess what, she brings a cam­era crew. The result­ing video is a per­fect fit for the song. We’re on the bus, hang­ing with Robyn. We see her sign­ing CDs, eat­ing chips, hav­ing fun at the fair, and gen­er­ally being a nor­mal human (albeit an abnor­mally good look­ing one). The sim­ple story is of Robyn mak­ing her way from small pub­lic­ity events to a sold out sta­dium show.

Watch the first ten sec­onds of the video for Rihanna’s song “what’s my name?” (fea­tur­ing Drake), and you will see an expert bit of visual storytelling.