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Relieved to find I'm not the only one who finds McCurry's work too 'good'. The surface is seductive in a McCurry and the pictures beautiful to the extent that it's difficult to go any deeper.
The most disappointing photobook I have bought is 'Here Far Away' which was highly recommended on TOP. The pictures are clearly examples of very good photography. of a kind that a certain subset of photographers admire. But hell, it's a boring book. I've looked at the book twice. The second time to see if I'd misjudged it. I hadn't.
Cole is right perfection is boring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mqtc2Z3K8o&feature=youtu.be&t=3m54s
The McCurry Takedown
Seems like the entire photo world—or that subset of it that cares about pictures, anyway—is talking about Teju Cole's article "A Too-Perfect Picture" at the New York Times Magazine. In reviewing Steve McCurry's new book, India, Cole calls McCurry to task not just for taking pictures that "are st...
What else are they taking all those captures for, anyway?
"I don't like work - no man does - but I like what is in the work - the chance to find yourself. Your own reality - for yourself, not for others - what no other man can ever know. They can only see the mere show, and never can tell what it really means."
Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
What's the Purpose of Taking More Photographs?
The so-called "digital tsunami" has unleashed an unprecedented number of new photographs on the world. It's marvelous, literally—in the sense that it's something to marvel at. Doesn't even need to have a number attached, because the numbers are past human scale—untold billions, trillions even. I...
You'll be watching test match cricket next. Five eight-hour days (including lunch and tea breaks) of slow intrigue bordering on tedium interspersed with fleeting passages of excitement that might well end in a draw.
But the tactics, the ebb and flow, the turning of a match on a single ball bowled...
I you think YouTube can waste hours of your life, cricket can waste years of it! :-)
Open Mike: Hal and Marilyn's Money Exercise Part II (And Some Other Off-Topic Items)
The other day, in Part I, you took an imaginary $20 million and wrote a list of what you're going to with it, spending half on yourself and half on others or on charities. You might have noticed that performing Part I—if you actually put pencil to paper—brought up a few insights. Part II is this...
Sounds perfect for a one lens/one camera/one year challenge.
The Fuji XF 90mm ƒ/2: Sharpest Lens Ever
The World's Best three-wheeled car. You will love yours! The several times you drive it! I'm currently shooting Fuji, although my weakness for IBIS is exerting a gravitational pull back toward Sony that I might not be able to resist forever. Fortunately, 2016 promises to be a good year for Fuj...
Make 'stuff' and forget about pigeon-holing it or yourself.
Quote o' the Day: Don McCullin
"The trouble with photography is that it’s been hijacked by the art world. I’m a photographer. I’m very happy with the title. I’m not an artist." —Don McCullin - Posted by: Mike (Thanks to John Denniston) Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Righ...
"A well-lit incoherent frame is crap. Coherence of construction is where most amateurs (and even many "pros") are very weak."
What he said.
To Begin With...
Re the discussion the other day about "Mastering Photographic Technique," if I were going to write a book with that title, this would be Chapter One: Pay more attention to the light. It's all you ever photograph. That's the whole chapter. Aren't you glad you got me started? Mike Original content...
Well I listen to all kinds of music...
I didn't take to your recommendation but didn't give up and found A Rush and a Push and No Rush No Push No Cash to my liking.
Thanks!
Open Mike I: The Mash and the Fury
C60Crew is back in a big way, opening up my mind and embiggening my ears. Legendary DC dj Kim (aka KK), who hasn't been on the radio in decades but whose voice is still sometimes recognized around town by deep savants, has dished up some delights for our delectation. Here's the page. Everything ...
This interested me:
http://www.americansuburbx.com/2015/08/asx-tv-paul-graham-at-pier-24-the-whiteness-of-the-whale.html
Around the Web, Briefly
Courtesy Meagan Abell Who is that? "Woman" as an archetype has a very powerful hold on human beings' imaginations—for all people, perhaps especially men. We did a post about this in 2007. Stephen Edgar, in Ireland, was trying to find out more about an unidentified woman in some old slides. Now...
The artist might qualify for an honourable mention - http://www.darwinawards.com/stupid/
When Art Goes Wrong
A Scandinavian art student had a scare when the making of an art video went wrong. With a video camera running, 26-year-old London-based artist Hilde Krohn Huse hung herself upside-down by her ankle from the branch of a tree, naked, with her face in the grass below. The intention, Huse said, was...
Talking of Martin Parr - http://www.martinparr.com/2011/photographic-cliches/
The Worst Clichés
So I've got a question for you. What would you say are the worst subject-matter clichés in photography? I'm trying to come up with a list. I'll start [my openers were the first three —Ed.]: Sunsets Flowers Cats Homeless people [Martin] Selfies [Jim Simmons] A pier and a lake [Rodolfo Canet] Str...
Why street?
For most hobbyist/amateurs (whatever the term is) 'street' takes away some of their biggest problems: thinking of a subject, having to decide what makes a good picture, technique.
There's no fretting over 'what can I photograph today?' The street is always there, always changing and often close by.
Given that most of what passes for 'street' photography on the web appears to be random photographs of people on streets the need to try to make pictures which tell a story, provoke thought or document a moment appears to have vanished.
The pictures don't have to be perfectly framed or level because that adds drama or immediacy to them.
Why street? Because street photos look like snaps and anyone can take snaps.
Why Street Photography?
Gordon Lewis, Jesus Saves. One of the reasons I love street photography is because you can never tell when you might turn a corner to discover a scene like this. I’d give anything to know what telephone numbers Jesus would have stored on his cellphone. - A Guest Post by Gordon Lewis "Street" i...
This video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfmiYG0FZ5k) has softened my attitude towards Ballen and his work. So thanks for helping me find it.
Asylum of the Birds
Roger Ballen's Asylum of the Birds got a lot of attention last year. I haven't see it. (U.K. link.) Roger Ballen, spread from the book Asylum of the Birds Photography is a sprawling province; and sometimes I suspect myself of squeamishness...I seem to keep away from various extremes. There are...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGbw-cz35qo
Moose's Question
Moose asked an enigmatic-sounding question in commenting on the previous post. "What is success?" A very interesting question, I thought. k4kafka answers it in his comment to the same post: "How about 'Stop making ART...start making MONEY.' Now that's a T-shirt!" Okay, making money...certainly o...
I too admire the photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson but have come to realise that I prefer those of Kertesz because they don't seem to be trying as hard to be great pictures.
The two books which motivated me when I picked up a camera were Andre Kertesz: Sixty Years of Photography (which has the couple looking through a fnece on the cover) and The English by Ian Berry. I still refer to them both 35 plus years later.
Random Excellence: André Kertész
Copyright the Estate of Andre Kertesz, courtesy James Hyman Photography, London André Kertész, Self-Portrait, 1926 I like, admire, and enjoy Mozart, but love Haydn. The Papa Haydn of photographers was André Kertész, who was born in Hungary but lived in Paris between the World Wars and, after f...
I've made a few books using Blurb now and while the photo reproduction and so forth is fine for my own use, and to hand round as an example of layout to others, I couldn't bring myself to actually sell them for profit.
The binding doesn't instil confidence in me that it will hold up - I'm sure repeated wide opening will prove fatal. By the time a mark up is added the prices are higher than many 'real' books - which they don't match for overall quality and handling experience.
I would suggest making a proof copy using the cheapest paper and binding option (maybe with reduced page count) before making the finished article with high grade options.
The Blurb Experience
In response to the "Strong Color" post featuring Rodger Kingston's book Looking for Edward Hopper, Chester Williams wrote: Rodger, how has the Blurb experience been for you? Was the printing and color reproduction to your satisfaction? I was very impressed with your images. Here's Rodger's answe...
I reckon that if a picture is good enough you don't notice whether it's in colour or black and white.
Color Pictures vs. Pictures in Color vs. Pictures of Colors
People think I hate color, which is not true. (What's true is that I love B&W.) However, it does depend what kind of color we are talking about. There are some distinctions I think need to be made that often aren't. A few personalized idiosyncratic definitions here: A color picture is a photogra...
A few times I've set a camera with an EVF to shoot black and white in raw (EVF shows B&W but the file retains colours) in order to try to make black and white pictures. Every time the pictures have looked better in colour. I must have stopped seeing in black and white.
As an aside, I believe Martin Parr used black and white proofs to make the selection of pictures for The Last Resort. In some cases, maybe a good picture is a good picture if it is in mono or colour, and no matter how it is printed?
Gadfly Gives Up or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Digital Black-and-White
Test shot converted from a Fuji X-trans file Digital took black-and-white away. To me it's the biggest change about the Digital Transition (which I define as 1994–2011). "Black and white are the colors of photography," said Robert Frank. That "are" would now have to be changed to "were." I've m...
What else? Take a job as a nanny and have your work promoted after your death.
I'd hazard a guess that all serious artists make their work because they are compelled to do so and always find a way to do it. For most making a living entirely from their work is an unlikely pipe-dream.
What Else?
I was a little surprised by the blowback from the Commentariat over Aaron Greenman's self-publicizing efforts. My question is simple: what else? That is, what's the alternative, if you want to make a name for yourself as a non-commercial photographer, other than doing your best at taking an ener...
It's probably assign of the times that this needs to be suggested as an exercise. When I got my first camera I only had one (50mm) lens for over three years because that was how it came and I couldn't afford another one. Then I had two lenses for the next ten years or so.
Thirty odd years on I have a stack of lenses but feel I can manage with the same two focal lengths I used to use - 50mm and 28mm. Maybe I conditioned myself to see that way?
The Digital Variant: One Camera, One Lens, One Year
[Note: This is meant to be an exercise; it's only a suggestion; and it's intended only for those to whom it appeals. See here. —MJ] In 2009 I published here an influential essay called "The Leica as Teacher." I advocated a learning exercise in which a photographer would use a Leica with one lens...
"If you're editing whilst shooting you just ain't in the zone."
When you are in the zone you are seeing and shooting clearly and instinctively. You are editing instinctively too because you just don't take the shots which will go straight in the trash. That's what being in the zone is about - everything flows without your usual cock ups.
What you end up with will still require further editing after the fact, but being in the zone when shooting means it's going to be tougher to sort the wheat from the chaff.
IMO.
Open Mike: The Zen of Shooting
(Or "photographing," if you object to the verb "shooting." Shooting to me means the act of handling a camera to actively take pictures, whereas photographing is a slightly broader term. But it's up to you.) Check out this comment from yesterday, by Paul Parker (here are some of Paul's pictures):...
Was it Jane Bown who said she only took two pictures on a portrait assignment because no matter how many she took the first and last were always the best?
Sure saves a lot of editing.
Open Mike: The Zen of Shooting
(Or "photographing," if you object to the verb "shooting." Shooting to me means the act of handling a camera to actively take pictures, whereas photographing is a slightly broader term. But it's up to you.) Check out this comment from yesterday, by Paul Parker (here are some of Paul's pictures):...
Now you've sampled soccer, it's time for cricket.
Not the helter-skelter of a one day match, or twenty-twenty which is over and done with in two or three hours tops, the real thing. A five day test match, preferably rain affected so there is nothing happening (no players on the field, even) for hours (or maybe days) and the result is a drawn match in front of a crowd of dozens. Now that's a sport worth watching.
Sunday Open Mike: Lunatic!
My latest lunatic picture (lunatic being defined as one suffering from the intermittent insane belief that the moon is a good subject for photographs). I went outside to take a picture of the full moon behind some picturesque clouds, but then the clouds moved away and the moon started setting ...
I'm with Tom Wood:
“The important thing is not to have an aim, I just go out the door and, whatever’s real, I try and deal with that.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/10589764/Interview-Tom-Wood.html
Sunday Open Mike: Lunatic!
My latest lunatic picture (lunatic being defined as one suffering from the intermittent insane belief that the moon is a good subject for photographs). I went outside to take a picture of the full moon behind some picturesque clouds, but then the clouds moved away and the moon started setting ...
Not here, there
http://lumbypics.blogspot.co.uk/ Continue reading
Posted Jul 10, 2014 at Dave's blog
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Perhaps it's wiser for photographers not to show their 'working out' if they crop and clone to make their pictures? Unless that manipulation is an integral part of their general working practice - Gursky.
Intention and Integrity
Elisabeth Spector wrote an excellent response yesterday to DD-B's post about the evolution of the Lincoln Memorial print. Since then, several people have "piled on" and agreed with her that they don't like some of the changes Ctein and DD-B made to the picture. (I do, but that's beside the point...
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