Michael Wolf: "A Series of Unfortunate Events"

Photographer Michael Wolf’s recent Honorable Mention from World Press Photo for his Google Street View-gleaned A Series of Unfortunate Events has been attracting some aesthetic discussions.

Here’s Wolf’s side of the picture:

I use a tripod and mount the camera, photographing a virtual reality that I see on the screen. It’s a real file that I have, I’m not taking a screenshot. I put the camera forward and do an exact crop, and that’s what makes it my picture. It doesn’t belong to Google, because I’m interpreting Google; I’m appropriating Google. If you look at the history of art, there’s a long history of appropriation.

Do you think Wolf’s Street View images deserved honorable mention? Thoughts?

[Image via]