Re: IS PHOTOGRAPHY OVER?

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On Mar 11, 2014, at 9:55 AM, Randy Little wrote:

Its just easier then it used to be.  Its not like masking a localized Color correction are new.  They are just easier.  I do feel like photography is in the same place painting was in the 60's though.   Where if you can get good PR for your poor craftsmanship you are just an amazing Low Fi artist.  I guess as an always a student of the pictorialist I just don't see the issue accept in the case of Journalism where it will get you fired for ethics violations.  


IF I had it to do over again, I would have hired a great publicist or bought full page ads in Art News to run until the orders began coming in. There days one also has to hire reviewers to give good headlines. Winning is all about marketing. 

Jan



   



On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 9:40 AM, Jan Faul <jan@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Mar 11, 2014, at 3:29 AM, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:

Photojournalism as a whole is a BIG field; if the statement doesn't
apply to that entire field, then it doesn't appply to "digital
photographers by and large".

I guess you’ve never looked at the numbers. Do you have any inkling of how many 35mm camera bodies were sold from 1950 to 2001? How many DSLR’s were sold between 2001 and 2010? The numbers are both in the millions with the fitst being in the very low millions (the age of film) and the second being so many millions it is difficult to fathom how so many pro-am cameras are out and about in the hands of amateurs. Lenses are a whole other matter, as the numbers of red line and gold line lenses are staggering. Good luck getting the numbers from Canon and Nikon as I imagine they actual production figures are more secret than the nuclear weapon launch codes.
Until about 10 years ago, I had 50,000 competitors worldwide and that was fine. I knew nobody with more than one or two really long and amazing telephoto lenses like a 600mm f4 and a 300mm f2.8.

Now it is 2014. I know 20 amateurs (doctors, dentists, surgeons, brokers, executives) with more than one $10,000+ telephoto lens which they use exclusively on vacation in Africa, Central America, Asia, Antarctica, or an Aegean island with a beach full of naked young men and women. Every shot they take is washed through PS. If you’ve ever been in a medical office with pictures of wild animals on the walls, the shots were made by the guy at the top who just got back from another trip to Africa where he made thousands of really boring shots of lions feeding and/or hippos bathing.   
Why would a dentist need a $25,000 zoom lens if he did not believe he could be a better photographer than a pro who sits in a blind for weeks waiting for an eagle to hatch? This is the gimme generation of folks who used to be adults and have discovered their chosen careers are b-o-r-i-n-g. They want the satisfaction which comes from creating art even though they haven’t done the legwork. By and large they believe PS can massage their crap and make them famous. 
Right this minute there is a medical professional in Georgetown massaging 3500 fresh off the memory card photos of African wild dogs for his boss so that one of them can grace the wall of a waiting room. 
Across the country, there is another similar person massaging thousands of shots of naked young men and women for use in a flotilla of web sites featuring skin. There used to be 500 porn stars and now there are tens of thousands and all are washed through Photoshop.



Art Faul

The Artist Formerly Known as Prints
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Art for Cars: art4carz.com
Stills That Move: http://www.artfaul.com
Camera Works - The Washington Post

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Art Faul

The Artist Formerly Known as Prints
------
Art for Cars: art4carz.com
Stills That Move: http://www.artfaul.com
Camera Works - The Washington Post

.

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