Sharpness and Other Bourgeois Concepts

Naming a few, just for fun

“nicely composed, but blurry”

“Sharpness… is a bourgeois concept.”

– Henri Cartier-Breson, 2002

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Other bourgeois concepts:

• the rule of thirds

• level horizons

• perfectly correct perspective

• golden hour

• screenshots of google street view

• stabilized video

• pictures of historic monuments

• disposable cameras

• ultra-protective phone cases

• mass-produced special editions

• close-ups of car headlights

• references to French philosophers

• random vernacular photos used out of context

• websites with weird cursors

• fake polaroid borders

• 3D rendered editorial illustrations

• large-format film edges

• essays in photobooks

• crunchy still lives of food

• pictures of gun owners

• Yelp reviews

• tripods

• pictures through rainy car windows

• pictures of houses with one light on at night

• unwrinkled shirts

• cold-press watercolor inkjet paper

• prints on acrylic

• prints on metal

• metal credit cards

• big prints

• vertical videos

• those backpacks you put your cat in

• “good” ai images

• “bad” ai images

• running for fun

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*No harm or insult is intended through the mention of any of the above stated concepts or practices. This post is made in jest, to poke fun at habits of which the author has taken special note – a number of which he himself is guilty of practicing. The author encourages you to make any thoughtful additions to the above list in the comments.

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