ARBITRARY IMAGES STRATEGY   (AIS)

...when first arriving in Prague I started to develop the Arbitrary images strategy.
I chose a location where I would like to go, or chose one randomly by using a map. Then I set a 
stop watch to go off in pre chosen intervals (depending on the distance of the excursion), strap my 
camera around my neck and go.
The alarm will go off  (fks) every fifth minute and I will then have to press the shutter release of 
the camera. I am not allowed to look in the viewfinder of the camera or place it in any other 
direction whatsoever, what is to be depicted by the camera is what is in front of it when 
the alarm goes off. Nor am I allowed to make any settings or adjustments on the camera, 
the settings should be as automatically as possible and be identical throughout the whole excursion.

There are many variables on how to execute the strategy, if you are to stop moving 
or keep moving in the moment of shutter release and the adjustments of camera settings such 
as shutter time, focus and focal length. These decisions shall be made in advance and kept 
persistent throughout the whole excursion.

An important part of the work is a written text of general principles, rules and guidelines for the 
execution of the strategy. How to deal with the different variables and rules for the photo-
graphers and cameras course of conduct is more thoroughly explained in the arbitrary images 
strategy guide”.

John Baldessari has a work called "trying to photograph a ball so that it is in the center of the picture".
The work consists of 38 color images where the photographer attempts to do exactly what is 
illustrated in the title of the work
With that and other photographic work Baldessari tries to escape from the traditional rules of 
photographic composition.
He executes the work according to rules laid down in advance and as a result Baldessari liberates 
himself of any compositional decisionmaking. The imagemaking process in no longer determinated 
by craft skills or formal innovation but rather by the strategic abandonment f conventional rules.

As in Baldessaris work the arbitrary images strategy is an attempt to escape from the conventions 
of photography and to make the photographer as mechanical as the camera.
One thing is to remove the photographer from the photographic composition, another and perhaps 
more important is to remove the photographer from the process of choosing what is to be depicted.

The AIS derives from a notion that the world is full of potential images. Who am I to choose what 
is to be depicted.
It is also an investigation on what are an interesting photographic image and the necessity of 
the photographers vision.

(The following images are extracts from three different excursions)

EXTRACTS FROM THE “AIS” GUIDE___________________________________________



General principles:

#1 Arbitrary images is a strategy designed with the intension of removing the photographers
creative influence and skills from the image making

#3 You shall not under any circumstances pursue any creative decision making. The resulting
imagery shall be a result of the photographers and the cameras mechanical behavior.



Specific rules / course of conduct/guidelines:

#1 The images will be a result of preset parameters such as distance/duration and time intervals.
You will make use of an alarm clock during the process.

x Choose a traveling distance/duration and direction of your preference.

x Set the alarm clock to ring on intervals of five to fifteen minutes. The intervals should be
the same throughout the whole trip.

x The distance and intervals should be planned so that the excursion will result in at least
10 images.

#3 The cameras course of conduct:

x The cameras settings (shutter, aperture, focus) shall be set to automatic. The focal length
should be predetermined.

x All settings shall be constant throughout the excursion.

 

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