Cultural Style in Photography?

Interesting subject, Stephen, and one approached previously in different ways on this forum. Perhaps globalisation of culture will remove such distinctions, but I think not, as cultural differences have not been erased by it. Nor do I feel that the use of optical recording devices like the camera or pixel modifying devices like the computer remove what takes place in the brain of the Asian or American or European photographer, including cultural factors. We tend to mainly see in the press or other media images from mainstream photographers of each culture, who have crossovers or homogenised outlooks in regard to their objectives, and not so much the images from the more culturally based photographers and artists. Subject matter varies according to culture, and the differences may thus seem important on the surface, but does the way it is perceived change greatly from culture to culture? Possibly not. Time for examples, but I have to think about them first. Not so easy, as many examples simply show what the subject matter is and how it differs from culture to culture, but not how it is approached differently by the photographers of different cultures. On a vertically integrated cultural scale, putting a camera into the hands of a young child is likely to provide considerable differences to photos made in the hands of an adult photographer.

I agree that it is an interesting subject. However, we have some "difficulty". In music, for example, different cultures tend to use different instruments. That make them sound very different. You may say that Japanese music and French music differ a lot. But classical music for piano in France and in Japan don't differ much. In photography, nowadays, we almost use the same gears (5DII or D700?) and same software (Photoshop). It would have been more different if Japanese were mainly into B&W film photography and French were into HD Videos only. That is not the case

... " is it simply impossible to introduce this type of style difference ...?" You mean escape the obstructions and misunderstandings of cultural biases and prejudices? Yes, I think photography does this quite naturally. Isn't it wonderful? Something for the other arts to aspire to.

On the other hand, what a viewer brings to a picture, what he can and does choose to see or not to see ... about that, we can't do very much.

because the output tends to be directly related to a machine based input

Hmmm.... and I thought the brain behind that machine had got something to do with that output ;-)
I agree with what Arthur brings up. Style goes well beyong the camera, the lens, the film, the software etc. If you feel your style is defined by the exact recording medium you use, the paper you print on and what's more, then I think you fail to understand the image as an expression of who you are. And each of us, we're a product of the culture(s) in which we grew up, in which we live and the other cultural expressions we encounter.
Symbols are the easiest example, as well as values attributed to some colours (virgin white and mourning black or purple are distinct western concepts, for example). Facial expressions, gestures, significance of certain events - it all differs between cultures. Photography does not escape these notions - not in the photographer's intent, nor in the viewer's reception.
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Julie, how do you believe photography does overcome these cultural biases and prejudices, in ways other arts cannot? And are there only obstructions and misunderstandings in it, or can these biases and prejudices also carry their own significant meaning?

John Tran - I wonder if 'classical' is in itself a constraint, music from different cultures will have it's own 'classical'. While we recognise particular musical instruments as being indicative of a particular culture, do musicians adapt these to play music of their own cultures? Can we go so far as to say that the photography process (excluding digital art) is insufficiently versatile to allow for cultural cultural style to develop?
Julie Heyward - "Isn't it wonderful?" - Definitely not in my book . Simply consider how rich the art world is with the huge diversity of output from different cultures using the same medium. It's the differences that make the world beautiful - whether individuals can accept the differences is another thing, but that's down to individuals.

I have been told that I 'read' pictures left to right, and as a consequence I tend to construct them this way (lines leading in or out) because I read the written word left to right- I've also been told that those who read right to left will read their pictures right to left, I have to presume they will tend to construct their images right to left as a consequence - if this is so, is this not a cultural difference in itself?

Wouter, I don't think it "overcomes" them. They are just left out; photographs happen before ...

Stephen H., photography allows infinite difference. Cultural difference boxes it in.

I think the differences are more generational than cultural. As to whether those differences represent a global cultural shift remains to be seen. But I suspect the cultural homogenization that is occurring from global media gives us a more vertical set of cultural differences.

As a man in my early 60's, the world I grew up in, and the realities of my existence, are radically different from those of my children. That can easily be seen in our wedding photos. MY wedding album from 40 years ago is full of staged, almost ritualistic photos. OUR wedding photographer, a man, maintained a studio and had a heavy capital investment in that studio and medium format photo equipment. His wife acted as an assistant.

My Daughter's wedding album from about 8 years ago, is full of casual photos that are in more of a photo-journalistic style. It is significant that the photographer, a woman, worked as a newspaper photographer and showed up with 2 DSLRs and a bounce capable flash and one portable light stand with slave flash. She had no assistant, and when she needed a 2nd pair of hands, she asked someone from the crowd to help out. The guests were not uncomfortable doing this since the principles that she was using were not foreign to them.
My grandchildren's world is even more foreign to me, and as foreign to my kids as theirs is to mine.

Julie H - "You mean escape the obstructions and misunderstandings of cultural biases and prejudices? Yes, I think photography does this quite naturally. Isn't it wonderful? Something for the other arts to aspire to."

Do you mean your own cultural biases? How does photography launder that out?

What's does acultural photography look like? Any URLs?

I'm not saying culture is by itself a dominating factor, but it's there. Culture and language can define the way we see things, our perceptions of color, people, mores, lifestyles, time/space and more. There are a lot of factors involved in how an individual sees the world at a given moment. Plus some people are passively processed by their culture, and others resist and deliberately cultivate themselves. Or, as in many cases today, they're multicultural in a myriad of proportions.

And, no, this is not to say that acknowledging one's culture renders them an instant bumpkin or provincial.

To the OP's original question, I'm not sure we can hide our own cultural influences, though every artist struggles with this if and when the happy moment arises when they go from regional to national, and suddenly, they try to deny/wash their culture off.

I very much agree with Arthur above. Those that have made the effort of digging down in the vast literature on cultural diversity would know that we are not witnessing a decrease of cultural diversities in the world. On the contrary; cultural specificities are being enhanced and increasing, maybe especially because of globalization. That we all consume "global" products and use global tools (together with various degrees of national, regional, local and home-made products) does not make cultural diversities disappear. To a large degree such global products are provoking an even greater need for putting to the fore the specificities of individual cultures.
This has an obvious effect on creative expressions,including photography. I admit , however, it is not easy to put the finger on what makes Chinese arts different from, say, Russian, although the cultural differences are there for all to see it.

I think one of the reasons why it has become common to denounce the existence of cultural differences in arts is the world arts marked. There are surely Chines artist that aim at the global marked, and often with great success. Their work can to a certain degree be in line with what occidental artist present. Compare Jean Michel Basquiat (he world's best selling artist) with Fanzhi Zeng (number two !): The first born in Brooklyn, but with Haitian and Puerto Rican family background, and the second, born in Wuhan, China and presently working in Beijing. Their work is surely of great difference, but cultural differences would be difficult to detect (I'm sure great specialist would contradict me here).

My own work in photography and other fields is for me clearly rooted in my North European cultural framework and marked by the religious, philosophical and historical context. It is not a "box" I'm imprisoned in, but the resources that find their expression, or not, in what I'm trying to do, also in photography, like this! I do not act within these roots, as a box, but with reference to the roots. To understand me as photographer, would be to understand my roots - with all appropriate modesty (modesty is part of my roots, by the way, for those that wonder!).

I notice of course the often repeated rejection of cultural diversities in photography, by our American friends. I have come to the conclusion that it is part of the American exceptionalism. A blind spot !