Food for thought

[ann]

Thought some of the "old" folks would get a kick out of this, and perhaps even some younger people who have a background in photography.

It really isn't about digital , but didn't know where else to place the thread.

Photographers You Should Ignore | www.portable.tv | Fashion, Film, Music, Art, Design, Online Video

 

[KenC]

Interesting view of some influential photographers and how they may be influential in the wrong way, but of course that's often true of all sorts of art. Some people seem to think they can do "action painting" a la Pollock just by squirting paint randomly onto a support rotating on a turntable. Eggleston in particular inspired a lot of junk photography - I'm not even sure about some of Eggleston's own work.

 

[Derrel]

A truly excellent list of old-time photographers whose work ought not to be emulated by the up and coming generation of photographers. I really enjoyed reading the witty text that went with each photographer's name! Some funny, and wryly observant commentary by Mr. Formhals. Wonderful link, ann!

 

[fjrabon]

basically this is ;ignore every famous photographer you've ever seen" which in a way is good advice. But I think it's overdone here. Study all these guys and girls, see how they did what they did, learn how to incorporate their tricks, but ultimately, build your own style. These photogs were great, because they crafted a style better than anyone else had ever done that style (if anyone had done it at all). They shouldn't be ignored, they just shouldn't be aped either. Don't copy Ansel Adams, because there's already been an Ansel Adams.

 

[ann]

I know, what isn't mentioned and for new comers it may or maynot be important; that these people were leaders at the time and like all things have been copied over and over for many years and now could be consider a bore. Perhaps for us "old farts" that is what is so assuming about the questions "how do i get this look". Which usually is something long ago from the past that has made another appearance due to the digital age.

I particular was fond of the street photographers as that has been a hot topic lately.

 

[Derrel]

I think the actual article under discussion has one hugely valid guy to ignore: Henri Cartier-Bresson and his "decisive moment" theory, and his extreme ONE-LENS mentality...he used the same focal length for almost 99% of his images, for his entire career. Yes, the same focal length, over and over and over and over, for thousands of images. Boring as hell. Visually stultifying. He was a street shooter, by there were other shooters equally as talented, and IMHO, even more talented. People like Alfred Eisenstaedt for example. Alfred Eisenstaedt - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Formhals says in his text, before HCB came along, street photography was wide-open and had a lot of different types of photography in the genre, but HCB's vast popularity has caused many newcomers to emulate the man's narrow,restrictive, rather predictable style. Imagine a guy who touts using a 50mm lens for 99% of all images made over four decades...that's hegemony...it's also a lot easier to mentally frame an image when the field of view and the fore/back-ground relationships are as dull and boring as they are from a 50mm lens...

Some of the other "street" shooters that came before HCB created work that was more-compelling, more-varied, and flat out "better", in my opinion. Pick up the new HCB book Portraits, and look at how very average the man was as a portrait shooter. What HCB established was a concept of one specific moment being better than any other, and also, basically the idea that one would skulk around with a 50mm lens and wait for people to make a shot interesting by virtue of shooting at weird times...contrast his work with that of say, Brassai
Brassaï - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and the reasons Formhals admonishes people NOT to emulate HCB become pretty obvious. It is not that these old, mostly dead masters are bad artists, but their life and times,and their type of work, are simply not possible to re-create,and frankly, who would want to become just a re-hash of somebody else???

 

[KmH]

and frankly, who would want to become just a re-hash of somebody else???

Amen!

 

[ann]

:thumbup:

 

[fjrabon]

I've taken one thing from HCB, that I think was a valid lesson. Sometimes, for a certain shot, imagine it, and wait for it. I don't really incorporate much of anything else he taught. And to be sure, he wasn't the first to come up with that idea, he just probably exemplified it better than anybody else. I think for him, the fact that everything he shot was the same focal length, kind of illustrated the point. That it was the moment that matters most. I think that's how i approach the greats. Try to find that one thing that you can use. Know when to use it. Don't copy their whole style. HCB really taught/is teaching me the art of anticipation. I probably would never take it to the extremes he did, but his main point is a good lesson that's still relevant.

I think the whole problem with the greats is people tend to want to take it to one extreme or the other. Either completely ignoring everything they taught us, or mindlessly, inferiorly copying it. Take their lessons to heart, but use your own ideas as your ultimate guide.