Overrated photographers...

rxmd said:
Arguing that considering something overrated is automatically driven by jealousy is a bit of a jaded position in itself, don't you think?
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Not really.

Liking one photographer, and not caring about another photographer's work is one thing. But saying somebody is overrated implies he doesn't deserve the credit he received. Which is a judgement I am betting nobody here would do at another photographer's face. Insulting, really.

I don't care as much about many of HCB's photos as others here. I would never say he is overrated though - and in what way ? His photos over-priced ? His influence on photography in general (founding of Magnum, etc.) ? His fanatic following by the Leica crowd ?

I do like Adams a lot, and not only for his printing or invention of the zone system. But because it is obvious how much very hard work he invested in getting some of his photos just right, for me to enjoy even today. My favorite example is "Tetons and The Snake River". Just look at the light .... far from trivial. For Juan who was looking for a few words to characterize Adam's as a photographer: perfection, patience and timing. Funny that other people might use the same words for HCB :)

Roland.
 
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Lilserenity said:
If they haven't they should!

As Juan has already said, Ravillious. A true gem of a photographer, and one whose work I deeply appreciate having grown up in and around the county he photographed, well for a bit of my childhood anyway,

Vicky
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Hi Vicky... Great you lived there like Ravilious! Amazingly beautiful land as seen on his photographs!

Now I see where your taste for precious nature and light comes from...

Cheers,

Juan
 
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ferider said:
Not really.

Liking one photographer, and not caring about another photographer's work is one thing. But saying somebody is overrated implies he doesn't deserve the credit he received.

I don't care as much about many of HCB's photos as others here. I would never say he is overrated though - and in what way ? His photos over-priced ? His influence on photography in general (founding of Magnum, etc.) ? His fanatic following by the Leica crowd ?

I, BTW, do like Adams a lot, and not only for his printing or invention of the zone system. But because it is obvious how much very hard work he invested in getting some of his photos just right, for me to enjoy even today. My favorite example is "Tetons and The Snake River". For Juan who was looking for a few words to characterize Adam's as a photographer: perfection, patience and timing. Funny that other people might use the same words for HCB :)

Roland.
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Hi Roland,

Now I feel a bit guilty... And your example is no doubt one of the most amazing compositions in all landscape history by anyone... It's just my fault expecting more human content... I give you the reason: Ansel is so great he can be truly moving and act in our souls... I just feel sad and full of envy because we pass so quickly, but nature's beauty is so lasting... Apart, who am I to say anything about him if I never got to shoot a landscape as good as the ones he did? Especially that image makes me drool...

Cheers,

Juan
 
I'll play...

Annie Leibovitz

I think her work is mediocre. Her name gets her access though.

I guess it's one of those cases where she's just been doing it so long.
 
ferider said:
Liking one photographer, and not caring about another photographer's work is one thing. But saying somebody is overrated implies he doesn't deserve the credit he received. Which is a judgement I am betting nobody here would do at another photographer's face. Insulting, really.
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Well, the opening posting to this thread simply defines "overrated" as "those we don't consider as great as others seem to consider them".

Does it indicate jealousy not to consider someone as great as everybody else considers them?

Is it insulting?

I don't care as much about many of HCB's photos as others here. I would never say he is overrated though - and in what way ? His photos over-priced ? His influence on photography in general (founding of Magnum, etc.) ? His fanatic following by the Leica crowd ?
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As far as my opinion is concerned, I think I made that clear enough. The influence on photography I see; but the photography itself doesn't impress me as much as it impresses others. So, that makes him overrated in my book.

Does that mean I insulted him? Or anyone else? Does it mean that I'm jealous of HCB? Can't think of anything more absurd at the moment, sorry.
 
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chris000 said:
I'm not a good enough photographer to make that kind of judgement about another, so I will restrict myself to saying that there is one whose work some rave about but which I have never understood:

Martin Parr
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I see Parr and Eggleston as counterparts. Parr I generally get. Eggleston, I largely don't. Except for the tricycle picture.
 
malland said:
In my view, Ansel Adams is overrated in the sense that, among people in the States without knowledge of photography, he is the quintissential photographer. While his prints are technically brilliant only few of them are great photographs. A few years I saw a large retrospective exhibition of Lee Friedlander in Paris, which had a room of prints shot with medium-format of some of landscape subjects that Adams made famous: they were much more interesting and better photographs than those of Adams.
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I agree with this although I also agree with Chris Crawford's comments on Adams. Is that possible? I had the fortune to see one of Adams exhibitions in my early 20's. It was and remains the single greatest photographic inspiration I have experienced.

What I really feel is over rated is the collection of work from photographers in the first half of the 20th century. These people were pioneers and so of course their work should be remembered. I own several books of photographs from the "greats" and I love many of the images. But I regularly see collections of work from living photographers that I think is much better. Comparatively speaking, these more recent photographer's do not, and I suspect will never, get their due.
 
rxmd said:
As far as my opinion is concerned, I think I made that clear enough. The influence on photography I see; but the photography itself doesn't impress me as much as it impresses others. So, that makes him overrated in my book.

Does that mean I insulted him? Or anyone else? Does it mean that I'm jealous of HCB? Can't think of anything more absurd at the moment, sorry.
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Agree completely!

Bresson is "Holey" somehow. And that's exactly why i mentioned him as beeing overrated!
His pictures do not move me half as much as the pictures of Andre Kertesz, another underrated Photographer who was a big influence on Bresson.
 
J. Borger said:
Agree completely!

Bresson is "Holey" somehow. And that's exactly why i mentioned him as beeing overrated!
His pictures do not move me half as much as the pictures of Andre Kertesz, another underrated Photographer who was a big influence on Bresson.
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Kertesz was outrageously good, over the course of his entire life. I feel as though Kertesz provides the bridge betweeen Paul Strand and Josef Koudelka. Those three might be my very, very favorites.
 
rxmd said:
Well, the opening posting to this thread simply defines "overrated" as "those we don't consider as great as others seem to consider them".
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Personal likes and dislikes are up to each of us, of course. Fine.

However, absolute statements like this ....

rxmd said:
Ansel Adams …. was influential as a printer and the Zone System had an impact on large format photography, while his photographs are not particularly outstanding.
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... are wrong and condescending.
 
The interesting thing in this thread to me are the relatively unknown and commercially unsuccessful photographers who imagine themselves in a position to judge which well known and commercially successful photographers are overrated.

That is like Holgas judging which Leica lenses are sharp.

Stephen
 
"Kertesz was outrageously good, over the course of his entire life. I feel as though Kertesz provides the bridge betweeen Paul Strand and Josef Koudelka. Those three might be my very, very favorites."

This is insightful ...
 
J. Borger said:
Bresson is "Holey" somehow.
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No, that would be what they call in the US "Swiss cheese." Or "pegboard."

Last time I saw him, H C-B was not wearing his halo. But no doubt he is now up in photographer's heaven albeit with his pencils and sketchbook.

Seriously, what a shame about the choice of word, "overrated." It seems to imply condescension and I do not believe that was the OP's intention.
 
CameraQuest said:
The interesting thing in this thread to me are the relatively unknown and commercially unsuccessful photographers who imagine themselves in a position to judge which well known and commercially successful photographers are overrated.

That is like Holgas judging which Leica lenses are sharp.

Stephen
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INDEED!!! ;)
 
CameraQuest said:
The interesting thing in this thread to me are the relatively unknown and commercially unsuccessful photographers who imagine themselves in a position to judge which well known and commercially successful photographers are overrated.

That is like Holgas judging which Leica lenses are sharp.

Stephen
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You do not have to be a moviestar to discuss movies :rolleyes:
 
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