In 1967, American artist John Baldessari exhibited his ‘wrong’ photography series, and the most famous image is shown above in the blog. The photo shows a man standing in front of a tree with an awkward background, while the word WRONG sits below the photo. After publishing this series, he then stated, “You don’t want any one to say, ‘you can’t do that! ‘” to show how photos that break the rules of photography can also be great. When I learned about this event, these ideas also influenced me, whereas since then, I believe that we don’t always need to follow rules, and sometimes what people identify as ‘bad’ photos can also be great when they include important contexts.

We all know that photography is a form of art, which means that it’s a way to express enlightened ideas and fascinating beauty of nature and humanity. Under this circumstance, photos shouldn’t be defined as good or bad (when they each represents their photographers thoughts). Thats when context becomes important.  Context and themes are what gives the photo purpose, for which photographers express thoughts, hide perspectives and separate them from plain good looking images.  For example, the photo ‘WRONG’ itself is obviously a bad photo, but when John Baldessari explained how he was trying to show people that rules can be broken (which is the context), ‘WRONG’ then became a great photo.  This explains how once a photographer place meanings and context into any image, he (she) could possibly create a great series (image) even if the photo itself is what people define as a ‘bad’ one.

Wikepedia, John Baldessari, Last edited on 21 August 2024, Wikepedia Content. “en.wikepedia.org/wiki/John_Baldessari”

Wikiart, Wrong, 1967, Published 2013, Last edited 2020 Nov 4, Visual Art Encyclopedia. “wikiart.org/en/john-baldessari/wrong-1967”