Dear fellow members,
Before covering the Gallery submissions this week - this should be easy,
since there are only three pictures, one of them being mine - I want to
express my outrage at what is currently happening with the PF list.
What...???? Only three pictures were submitted to the
Gallery this week. This has to be a joke! There was a time when it
could take two weeks or even more before my submission eventually made it to the
Gallery site.
What .. is .. going .. on ... ????
We find time to send postcards and discuss at nauseam the price and quality
of printing postcards here and there through the web when these printing sites
disappear by the dozen each week to be replaced by new names...
Is this what the famous PhotoForum list run by
an incredibly dedicated senior Faculty member of the world-respected
Rochester Institute of Technology is all about????? I just
can't believe it. Would I want to invite anyone of significance to join
the list at this moment? Would any Faculty member encourage their students
to do so? I don't think I need to write the answer!
Just look at the three postings on the Gallery this week:
- Marilyn Dalrymple - Green and Blue
Green and Blue indeed: that is the color of my face as I write
this. With due respect, Marilyn, allow me to shake you up: I have
seen your work over the years and recall the portfolio you showed us whence you
won your fellowship to the RPS. Did you need our help to choose the
pictures you submitted? Not a bit! Now, how do you think this
picture compares to your RSP portfolio? I hate to say this (and you
probably know it too) but this picture is confused, with lines going in
every which directions and there is no focal point for the eye. You
are a terrific photographer, Marilyn! Never let your own
critical judgement allow you to be satisfied with this level
of work.
- Pini Vollach - Street Shot
Street shot... ??? ... Where is the street?
What is this picture about? I look at it and I see a series of horizontal
lines that have absolutely no meaning to me. Are they prison bars?
Railings? A closed garage door? Is this an abstract shot? ... You,
and only you, know. What is the significance of this image? All I
know about it is extraneous. A scene shot in south Tel-Aviv.
Does this tell me anything about the situation there? About
the feelings of the photographer? Pini, with as much due respect as
for Marilyn, I want to really shake you up. You have shown much better
work. This should never have gone past your own critical
sense.
- Guy Glorieux - THE LOVERS
The Lovers... Waoooo! (and with big caps, at
that...!!). Now we are getting somewhere ... aren't
we!!!?? What? A colour photograph turned B&W
with the computer (well, I happen to be the only one who
knows for sure because I did it). But it has been so
badly tortured with CS that is looks like one of these continuously
refurbished 80-year old millionnaire lady on the strips
of some resort beach. Is this all you've got to show,
Mr Glorieux? Clap, clap, clap! This is a failed attempt at
turning a back-lighted sun-drenched picture into a front-lighted,
dramatic sky picture. Dear fellow members, remember to keep this
picture for your students so that they can understand what never,
ever, ever do with CS2.
To compound the situation, the photographer provides extended
details in the form of a long history course without ever/ever mentionning the
picture he is showing....!!??? Interesting details but quite irrelevant to
the subject of the PF list.
Now perhaps we should turn to those that have not shown any work this week
on the Gallery.
(The group is far too large, of course... The list below is
only indicative of what could have been seen on the Gallery. ):
- Herschel Mair - RPS Portfolio
A first-class collection of pictures which presumably was
deemed inappropriate for the PF Gallery by the photographer. Yet,
he needs the assistance of PF list members in selecting the pictures
he intends to submit to the Royal Photographic Society. Is this you,
Herschel????? What??? If you can be a winner and a teacher, why do you
need us to choose your portfolio. Only you can do it. I won't give
you any help, but I sure hope you show us the final portfolio the
moment you have been appointed a Fellow of the RPS...!
- Rich Mason - Was a frequent contributor, now comments on the greenery of
electronics..!! Nice...??
- Alan Zinn - When did I last see an AZ panoramic?
- Jeff Spirer - Where have you disappeared, Jeff?
- Dave Small - Comes and goes (mostly goes...)
- Jim Snarski - It was nice to see you last week, but where do you keep
hiding.
- Bob Talbot - Comes and goes (mostly goes)
- All those that have left the list - Where have they all gone?
- Those that have not submitted and are not mentionned should not feel
exonerated from this curse...
Dear friends, the PF list and the associated Gallery has slowly
turned into a Social PhotoClub! We are in grave danger of
disappearing. I have seen this process at work with one of the most
excellent grouping of photographers in Montreal (the Zoum Club). The group
has disappeared because its best members progressively left and, at
some point, the core of excellent photographers was insufficient to keep the
momentum. This is called the Grisham Law in the field of economics
(google search for more info) and it leads to disaster.
The story is that bad pictures chase good photographers out of
the list and at some point, the process becomes irreversible. We are
well into this process.
Folks, ask yourself this question: How long will Andy keep running
the PF if this is all that we can come up by way of visible
work? Remember: Andy disappeared earlier this winter for
health reasons and the list came to a virtual standstill.
If we fail to revamp our commitment, each and everyone of us, to
- posting truly excellent work on the gallery week after week; and
- generating discussion and debate around these images; and
- attracting once again new excellent members,
then I would'nt even put a single kopeck that this
list will still be around by the end of the year.
And then, what do we do? Search for a better group? Gooood
luck!
Regards,
Guy Glorieux
