Himalayas

[jtm6]

... enslaved through fear of death to the monasteries ...

I've heard this from others who know a lot more about Tibet than most people. There are some interesting stories about the well-connected family of a famous, exiled Tibetan.

 

[fstops]

When it comes to pictures of mountains a sharp and well exposed image is the way to go, because mountain air is crisp and clear and there is nothing fuzzy or sentimental about mountains.

 

[funkydog]

The effects are not as heavy as straight out of Hipstamatic but they're damn sure as fake as I could make them.
Like memories, nostalgic, all filtered and biased.

Nice! Very natural looking even if the scenes, as you remember them, did not look like that.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I've heard this from others who know a lot more about Tibet than most people. There are some interesting stories about the well-connected family of a famous, exiled Tibetan.

You'll also hear a lot of it from people who swallow Chinese propaganda wholesale.

Was Tibet perfect? Far from it. As HH Dalai Lama said, "Did our country need purifying? Yes. Did it deserve what China did to it? No."

Cheers,

R.

 

[Colin Corneau]

It all boils down to like or don't like the technique. I use Hipstamatic occasionally and that's the trick - you can't use it for everything or in place of a solid set of skills and having something to say.

But the world's a big enough place to have more than one way of doing something. I'm sure there's a group of people harrumphing about 35mm format instead of 4x5...progress marches on.

Let's not forget: this guy made it there. We didn't. He wins from that alone.

 

[benlees]

Confused as to the meaning of the words "fake" and "trick(ery)" used in this thread? As some one who does not suffer from colour blindness I find the use of black and white to be a stylistic intrusion worthy of the most Romanesque punishment the internet can dish out!:angel:

That said, i agree with jsrocket, post #7.

 

[Pablito]

Today the only skill in photojournalism required is the skill of being there and there usually means some war zone or disaster era or some place where tourists cannot travel.

Wow... a wholesale condemnation of contemporary photojournalism.

 

[heed]

The Damon Winter piece was a marketing work of genius for Apple.

If you go to Afghanistan and embed with soldiers, even if you take pictures with a pinhole, the pictures will be 'compelling' because its a war zone.


Today the only skill in photojournalism required is the skill of being there and there usually means some war zone or disaster era or some place where tourists cannot travel.

I'm not so sure I agree with this; I've tried to be a good photojournalist and even conflict photog from time to time and can't seem to get the speed and timing down well.

When it comes to pictures of mountains a sharp and well exposed image is the way to go, because mountain air is crisp and clear and there is nothing fuzzy or sentimental about mountains.

I totally agree, and this is what I strive for with all landscapes. Except when you're trying to create a quaint or mysterious feeling for the viewer. Not usually my cup 'o tea, but I've been known to add a bit of grain from time to time. 😀

Here's one from a recent language preservation project with the Nosu people in SW China. I feel like adding the grain back in produced an image that gives a certain feeling, so I guess I can't throw stones at the Instagram hipsters too much:

 

[emraphoto]

The Damon Winter piece was a marketing work of genius for Apple.

If you go to Afghanistan and embed with soldiers, even if you take pictures with a pinhole, the pictures will be 'compelling' because its a war zone.

Today the only skill in photojournalism required is the skill of being there and there usually means some war zone or disaster era or some place where tourists cannot travel.

forgive my tone here but this is a load of bollocks that i hear tossed around by folks who have no idea what they are talking about.

 

[Pablito]

forgive my tone here but this is a load of bollocks that i hear tossed around by folks who have no idea what they are talking about.

I heartily agree!

 

[Paul Jenkin]

I've seen a lot worse - usually the migraine-inducing, tone mapped / HDR stuff that looks like some mad painting-by-numbers cartoon. Loads on Flickr - often accompanied by comments like "Awesome processing" and "Kool colors, man".

These Holga / Hipstamatic shots aren't my cup of tea but there's a lot of "straight" shots that are simply record shots and it's nice to see someone trying a more interpretative approach - even though it's not always to everyone's taste.

 

[alun severn]

Yes - how to make the timeless trivial and ephemeral....

 

[Colin Corneau]

I think it's fair to say a man of his accomplishments didn't *just* take an iPhone to such a remote place that required so much time and effort to see. Going on that assumption, then, this series was just some of the work produced there.

So he tried something new. In a unique and wonderful place. That's 2 checkmarks in his favor, right there.

I was in Nepal myself this past spring. I took a Hasselblad, an XPan and plenty of film too. And I also took my iPhone and took hundreds of photos with it...including with the Hipstamatic app. It's a tool, in the toolkit we all choose to carry.

 

[semi-ambivalent]

I think this must be the answer. For me, it's an inherently interesting subject, spoiled by a 'LOOK AT ME! AREN'T I CLEVER!' style of photography. Possibly because that is all the photographers has to say?

Cheers,

R.

It's like the song "500 Channels and Nothing's On". Media Corps are desperate for content of any kind. Those snaps got on to BBC and mine didn't. I don't give a rip. I'm embarrased I even clicked on the link.