16-year kid shames me and probably you too

[Lilserenity]

Dear Brian,

I second every word of that -- though I have to agree that personally, I find the young man's photography more interesting than the young women's, possibly because I like his captions.

I'm also a bit puzzled about the 'obvious Photoshop tricks' comments made by several. If they succeed as pictures (or as captioned pictures), what of it? To me, the quality of the photography stands out a good deal more than the post-processing. Clearly I'm looking at the wrong things!
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I have to agree with Brian and Roger on this. @There is a sour undertone of green glare emanating from some of the responses here.

And as clichéd or not as it may be, it is pretty contemporary. I think the young man's alright!

Vicky

 

[Richard G]

I like him. He reminds me of my daughter, 17. No doubt self taught, a good eye, a good brain and a passion. He loves his kid brother. That's beautiful. Young people are fantastic. I teach mainly 20 and 21 year olds. It cheers you up to see what the future is bringing.

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

looks like the standard populist flat portrait photography you are being bombed with on deviantart every day. these pictures evoke nothing in me, most certainly nothing new or special.
sorry, I'm absolutely not impressed (and absolutely not jealous either 😉 ) there's thousands like him out there.
now alec soth's 7 (!!!) year old daughter, she DID impress me.


don't get me wrong, of course he has the right to do what he wants in photography, and I wouldn't want to take that away from him.

 

[Lilserenity]

there's thousands like him out there.
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There's thousands like us out there, everywhere. The difference sometimes lays in the ego's willingness to acknowledge it.

 

[jesse1dog]

He's young: he has enthusiasm: he is producing: and he is posting: so please don't knock. Of course you won't like everything that he does or likes - why should you? He is in his world not yours! Perhaps he is posting too many images but he is looking for reaction to his efforts - he is learning too. Isn't there at least one of his photos where you stop and look and say maybe I wouldn't have done it like that - but that's an interesting result. What I might have tried to do is .... and we look and learn ourselves.

jesse

 

[thegman]

I'm not going to comment on the photos themselves other than to say that I think there is good and bad in there. I think more telling is the attitude towards them here, I wonder if the comments about the pictures would be the same had the photos been by a seasoned regular here?

Actually, I don't wonder that, as it's as clear as day the attitude would be totally the opposite. I think Vicky, Brian and Roger have it totally on the money that there is more than a massive helping of envy on show here.

Garry

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

There's thousands like us out there, everywhere. The difference sometimes lays in the ego's willingness to acknowledge it.

oh I do think there are thousands of us out there, but I never said we were special, did I? 😛

 

[varjag]

Seriously?

Yes, there is a whole Flickr genre of "melancholic teenage chick self-portraits". I don't care what she won, it's not art.

If it was a male depicted, none of you could've cared less about it.

 

[Frank Petronio]

Well... when I go to visit some of the naysayer's websites and Flickrs I can't help but think they're being a bit too stingy and defensive.

We could send him a Leica so he could start photographing signs, shadows, pattern studies, old cars, and women unaware from behind....

 

[wgerrard]

Having taught photography at a couple of colleges, I love the way some young people take to photography like a duck to water and make amazing and fresh images.

Imagination goes into hiding with age.

[EDIT: We should also be careful to judge his photos as photos, not as photos from a 16-year-old teenager. There's no reason why adolescents can't take great photos. Leaning on the age bit can sound condescending in a reverse sort of way.]

 

[Lilserenity]

oh I do think there are thousands of us out there, but I never said we were special, did I? 😛

Neither did I, but we all start somewhere, I started trying to emulate something even when I was young and with a crappy point and shoot, it takes time to develop, in fact we never really stop although some develop and change faster and more frequently. At 16, you can hardly expect someone to be completely leftfield, they are starting from a baseline of what they like, and in time if they really get into photography, they'll start showing their own verve on things.

I think it's just a bit harsh to expect the majority of youngsters seriously digging photography at 16 to be all doing something well outside of contemporary fashions, what is current is where they are at whether manufactured or not, the imagery and world around us shapes us, and the contemporary look of 2010 has influenced him -- but if he and others continue they will begin to diverge and find their own twist on things, it takes time, knowledge, experience and experiences for it to happen.

Everything is a variation on a theme that has been done before, giant leaps very rarely happen.

Vicky

 

[Lilserenity]

If it was a male depicted, none of you could've cared less about it.

Oh I don't know....

Maybe it's just me but I hadn't really thought about the gender of the depicted, just the look and feel of the photo as a whole, surely everything in the frame should be what makes the impression, not just one component part?

Vicky

 

[OurManInTangier]

I can't help but agree there seems to be either some level of envy or perhaps some of us forgetting what being a teenager is 'all about,' experimentation, copying and expanding on the ideas of others etc etc...though having just turned 37 I realise every day how easy it is to forget what it's like being a teenager🙂

Essentially, if I had his technical skill when I was 17 I'd have been overjoyed. As for the girl who got the fashion ad gig, as a jobbing freelancer I say well done and good luck...and yes, I'm envious of that but in a 'good way' 😀

 

[Roger Hicks]

'Envy' doesn't really occur to me. They're not the sort of pictures I shoot now; they're not the sort of pictures I shot in my teens; why should I envy him?

Perhaps I think he's better than he is (whatever that might mean) because I'm not exposed to Flickr and teenage advertising (or indeed, much advertising of any kind), but equally, a lot of pictures 'look alike', and it's only the photographer's eye that lifts them above the run of the mill. I think I see that eye in that young man (as I say, less sure about the young women) BUT as I said before, I think his captions/titles are at least part of why I admire the pictures.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Leigh Youdale]

Are you kidding? They are not amazing young photographers, just cute chicks with cameras that show some skin on flickr.

My first reaction to this post was "And what's wrong with that?" but a moment's reflection actually made me realise that it's a mistake to be so dismissive. The actual point is more subtle if you think about it.
Consider whether, at the same age, you were putting out a similar volume and quality of images (even considering the constraints of the gear you were using then).
I know I wasn't, and to that extent I'm impressed by what these kids are doing. I say, "go for it" and forget about put-downs from the grumpy old men on RFF.

 

[shyoon]

If it was a male depicted, none of you could've cared less about it.

Like this, and this?

I think all of the young photographers discussed in this thread are great, regardless of whether the models are males or females. If I had their talent when I was 16, let alone now, I'd be pretty happy.

 

[OurManInTangier]

Roger - I hope you don't think I was pointing you out in particular? I was infact only pointing to a general tonal undercurrent from a number of posts. Your initial post made me think you felt the very opposite to envy.

Apologies if this is my mistake

 

[SimonSawSunlight]

Neither did I, but we all start somewhere, I started trying to emulate something even when I was young and with a crappy point and shoot, it takes time to develop, in fact we never really stop although some develop and change faster and more frequently. At 16, you can hardly expect someone to be completely leftfield, they are starting from a baseline of what they like, and in time if they really get into photography, they'll start showing their own verve on things.

I think it's just a bit harsh to expect the majority of youngsters seriously digging photography at 16 to be all doing something well outside of contemporary fashions, what is current is where they are at whether manufactured or not, the imagery and world around us shapes us, and the contemporary look of 2010 has influenced him -- but if he and others continue they will begin to diverge and find their own twist on things, it takes time, knowledge, experience and experiences for it to happen.

Everything is a variation on a theme that has been done before, giant leaps very rarely happen.

Vicky

I most certainly hope you are right (and as I said, I wouldn't want to stop him from doing what he's doing), but for now I feel just bored by this kind of photography, I do not think it's 'great'.
Roger might also have a valid point, if you're not exposed to this kind of stuff all the time, it might look a little different to you.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Oh I don't know....

Maybe it's just me but I hadn't really thought about the gender of the depicted, just the look and feel of the photo as a whole, surely everything in the frame should be what makes the impression, not just one component part?

Vicky

Dear Vicky,

Yeah, it's just you. Most of the other posters on this thread are male and many are middle aged or old.

My own feeling, though, is that people who like pics of pretty girls can find them in all stages of dress and undress, so there's got to be a bit more to it than that -- and while I'd not go as far as Eugene, I don't think there is much more to it than that in some of the young women's pictures.

Some of the young man's girl-in-a-cornfield pics are ones I wouldn't have minded taking of my girlfriends in my 'teens, so in a sense, I suppose I envy him those, but to be honest, apart from stirrings of nostalgia, they didn't do a lot for me. A lot of the other stuff was . . . well . . just good photography. Even if it's derivative, it's very GOOD derivative, and quite honestly, I found a lot of it less derivative than a lot of what I see here on RFF.

Cheers,

R.

 

[newspaperguy]

OMG - I feel so old!