The Happening (Patreon)

(1) Photographs as objects of inherent visual interest. This in itself is worth looking at.

(2) Photographs as records of events. This happened, and here's proof.

(3) Photographs as records of one's proximity to, or presence at, the event. I was there when it happened.

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"By accident sometimes you will find yourself in an important midst, Saigon falling around your person like a tower of blocks, or, as fortune smiles, find that you have undertaken for the state some tasks that turned out more wellish than sickly; then an account of them, of how it felt to have grappled with Grendel, or smelled the Augean stables before Hercules swept them, or had the blood of an assassinated president sprayed over your shirt as you rode in his cavalcade; yes, then an account might be of value to future travellers who might not wish to go that way."

- William H. Gass, “Autobiography,” Finding a Form (1996)