Garden Gate – © John Neel
Although it is difficult to avoid the cliché in art or photography, it is possible to transform a cliché into something that rises above what we expect.
A cliché or cliche … is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, rendering it a stereotype, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel.
We are all guilty of shooting cliché imagery. Sometimes we just can’t help ourselves. The cliché seems to have been ingrained into our DNA. It somehow becomes implanted in our memory and therefore we are attracted to them. They seem like a good idea. We shoot many of them simply because they are in fact beautiful. A waterfall or a sunset is nothing short of marvelous.
The world is amazingly beautiful. It is full of magnificence and wonder. However, the fact that so many images have been made of that type of subject makes most of them less original than creative. The cliché is what we see in most tutorials and books about photography. It seems to be the subject that most image makers want to shoot. But, the cliché is weak in imaginative thought in that it is done so often and by so many. Photo shooters seem to love imitating what others have already done.
In many cases, the cliché becomes a stereotype. Stereotypes are those cliched concepts that we fix to certain types of situations, people, or things. Stereotypes are generally oversimplified generalizations that may have demeaning racial, sexual and socially unacceptable implications. Stereotypes are commonly used in advertising imagery to sell goods to a particular demographic. Even worse, is the cliché that is hyped, because it exploits the stereotype and suggests an concocted hyper-reality that does not exist within the actual subject/subjects depicted. It is fiction at its worst.
Difficult as it may be, the idea in photography as in language is to at least try to avoid the cliché. It is also possible to utilize them in ways that add to or enrich the meaning.
When approaching a subject, you might consider the possibility that it could easily become a cliché. The goal is to rise above the cliché or the stereotype. One way to do that is to make them the subject of your work.
A photographer who uses cliché and stereotype well in her work is Cindy Sherman. Her works are an attack on the stereotype. In her case, she makes us consider certain stereotypes as being demeaning.
“Although Sherman does not consider her work feminist, many of her photo series, like the 1981 Centerfolds, call attention to the stereotyping of women in films, television and magazines.
Cindy Sherman… is an American photographer and film director, best known for her conceptual portraits. … Through a number of different series of works, Sherman has sought to raise challenging and important questions about the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art.” Source – Wikipedia
Novelty done twice is no longer novel.
What is a cliché? Anything that has been overused in art or language is considered as cliché. Examples include such imagery as: Pictures of fast cars, birds sitting on a rail, cemeteries, wedding pictures done in a traditional manner, semi-naked girls or muscle guys on the beach, naked girls, glamour poses, the hand shake, selfies, Niagara Falls, most waterfalls, the politician kissing the baby, most sunsets, most tourist shots, and so on.
Advertising relies on the cliché as a way to grab attention and as a device to instantly communicate a concept in order to sell whatever they want to sell us. Examples might be: an executive driving a Lexus, the Mona Lisa as the symbol for all art, a gallery or museum as symbol for quality, a woman using a vacuum cleaner, dishwasher while working away in the kitchen. More explicit use of cliché might include sexual innuendoes and sexist or racial undertone. There are many others. In advertising, the cliché is most often a stereotype.
Generally, the cliché reduces the original or novel idea into something crass, tiresome, mundane, meaningless or insignificant. The cliché is easy to fall into when we try to shoot images we like, which others have already done a million times before.
Cliché and stereotype can be dangerous territory for any artist. The immediate effect can be seen as timeworn, commonplace, predictable, unoriginal, cheesy, boring and so on. These are not descriptions most artist’s care to impart. Yet what hasn’t ben shot that is not a stereotype? Not much. The thing about cliché and stereoptypes, is to make them work for you.
I believe that the dangers of cliché can be circumvented if we are aware of its presence. Although it is difficult to avoid the cliché in art or photography, it is possible to transform a cliché into something that rises above what we expect. By that, I mean we can still shoot subjects that fall into the area of cliché by capturing those subjects in some kind of unique way. How that is done depends on the subject, timing, composition, the photographer’s intent and a number of other factors. Basically, we have to add some kind of twist in order to alter the image in a unique way.
Ultimately, it is the photographer who needs to recognize the potential of a particular moment. It is his or her responsibility to avoid typical representations and the likelihood of producing uninspired and unimaginative photographic likeness. The photographer needs to somehow use his/her skill to transform the subject into something profound, less ordinary, more intelligent and ultimately thought provoking. The goal is to use photography to inform, provide clues, and impart truth.
Here is a recent post that is related: Banality and Cliché in Photography
Note: Cliché as subject matter of photographic work is a concept that I hope to cover as another topic for another post.
Soon, I hope to discuss another important photographic term – The Metaphor.
Please have a look at some of my other posts here.
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