Subject Matter - was Re: Brutal Review of PF members exhibit on March 16, 2013

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



Martin Parr on subject matter:
"I looked around at what my colleagues were doing, and asked myself, 'What relationship has it with what's going on?' I found there was a great distortion of contemporary life. Photographers were interested only in certain things. A visually interesting place, people who were either very rich or very poor, and nostalgia."

On Mar 21, 2013, at 12:25 PM, Hostway wrote:

Recently, I asked an art director friend if he had viewed my recent work online.
He replied,yes,but that he didn't get the pictures of barren landscapes.
He knew about the extended project I have been working on, the images just didn't
Float his boat.

I did not have a negative feeling.  I just realized that some people will love my
Work and other, not so much.  I can't make art to please other people.
I can only rely on my own creative drive.

As for Jan's comment, I agree, pictures of poor village people in afganistan  reek
Of elitism.  Don't get me wrong,  there are great images out there.
I believe that it's more important to focus the camera on our own citizens.
Sure I can have empathy for the afgani villager, yet the message is more serious when
The hungry little girl live just a couple miles away.

I'm not sure this is a yuppie thing.  I think it might be the seductive nature  of cliche.
Immersed in mass media, many shooters are recapturing archetypal images embedded 
In mass media over exposure.  

In fairness villager grab shots have been part of the American travel slide show since the first camera went on safari.

Allan

On Mar 21, 2013, at 6:46 AM, Jan Faul <jan@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


One of my objections to photographers shooting the locals while traveling is that there is a preponderance of smiling faces aimed at the camera while we as viewers do not know if they are smiling because the photographer has just given them $50, promised them a trip to Disneyland, or other inducement to smile. I dislike portfolios of brown-skinned foreigners smiling  at the cameras it reeks of everything bad about Yuppies.


Jan



On Mar 21, 2013, at 9:32 AM, Emily L. Ferguson wrote:

A FB friend of mine just posted an entire portfolio of some 80 photos of Nepal and Tibet.  There was not one single scenic in it, only two of a person in context.

The entire show was portraits of "native" people, almost all of them smiling for the camera.

Nepal.  Tibet.

(And not one of any monk immolating him/herself either.)

(At least my photo only got demerits for not having birds!)
--
Emily L. Ferguson
mailto:elf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
508-563-6822
New England landscapes, wooden boats and races
http://www.landsedgephoto.com
HOT OFF THE PRESS! SAILING SEPIA IMAGES VOL II:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/elfpix
Check out my Spring daily photograph project at:
http://tinyurl.com/3a6m7g6
And Summer:
http://tinyurl.com/22juo5s
Autumn now complete here:
http://tinyurl.com/26pdgz9
Winter concluded here:
http://tinyurl.com/2co5wkg



Art Faul

The Artist Formerly Known as Prints
------
Stills That Move: http://www.artfaul.com
Camera Works - The Washington Post
art for cars: panowraps.com
.







[Index of Archives] [Share Photos] [Epson Inkjet] [Scanner List] [Gimp Users] [Gimp for Windows]

  Powered by Linux