Conservative Photography

Oops, I was also going to say that I am British even though I live in the Netherlands. Even more strangely, I have both qualified point-to-pointers (ridden in fox hunts, for the sake of clarity) and studied politics.
:)
 
Michael Markey said:
Yes they did when they were actually hunting.
The hunt monitors do still take pictures in order to ensure that the hunts are keeping within the law.
They do that ,often, from a discreet distance.

That is somewhat different from the pictures that I take which depict it as a social activity.
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Dear Michael,

Which is important!

Cheers,

R.
 
MartinP said:
I didn't bother posting before as the discussion was rather pointless, but we should recall that the OP is from North America so the words conservative and liberal have completely different meanings to the same words in British-English. This is not the first time things have got mixed up as a result.
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Dear Martin,

Not completely. "Conservative" is still identified with the right in both countries, and although "liberal" means almost nothing any more as a political party in Britain it still has connotations of the left, and has done for some decades. In France... well, that's another matter. Here it means 'on the economic right'.

Nor do I agree that it is "rather pointless". How can it be pointless to use photography to promote something you believe in? Hence my suggestion that we have a "Helping people with your photography" forum.

Cheers,

R.
 
I always thought of there being a big difference between 'conservative' and 'Conservative', and between 'liberal' and 'Liberal'. For the non-Brits, the capitalised versions are political parties in the UK which, although changing through time (Tories and Whigs), do not necessarily match the general political-theory implied by the lower-case words.

Didn't the OP ask for help with illustrating North American conservative successes? There were rather few posts in that sort of direction I thought! I think I even saw some posts related to conservation projects in here somewhere . . .
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Michael,

Which is important!

Cheers,

R.
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Dear Roger,

Both aspects.

The activity is equally important to both the social life in rural communities but also to the rural economy.

In exchange to being allowed to ride across the land the hunt traditionally collected fallen stock which the farmer would otherwise have had to dispose of commercially thus incurring additional cost.

This point was not lost on the Labour government who brought in the ban under the guise of animal welfare.

The then Labour minister , Ben Bradshaw , declaring the ban as "pay back for the miners".

The implied intent being to damage the rural economy.

As far as the hunt monitors are concerned I`m afraid that for some it`s merely an excuse for violence and there have been fatalities.

I myself avoid the politics and simply try and portray it as it currently stands , a two hundred year old English tradition.
All be it in modified form.

From the old class warrior perspective I`m afraid the ban has back fired and the activity is more popular than ever largely because its safer.

Scent trails are laid over a pre determined course.

As far as the poor old fox is concerned I`m afraid its also backfired.

I don`t think hunts were all that effective as a means of control but in their absence most foxes are now shot.

More effective but also more indiscriminate.

Best

Michael

PS ...let me repeat hunting is not an activity that I`d engage in and therefore not the motivation for my photography.
 
Roger Hicks said:
Dear Michael,

Great! At last a self-confessed conservative photographer of conservative subjects -- and one who is probably doing a lot of good. Do you arrange exhibitions or the like?

Cheers,

R.
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... I've even known him to buy coffee for the plebs! ... and even Irishmen on occasion :eek:
 
Roger Hicks said:
So: let's take our "1099 employee". Where does he/she live? What are his/her economies and (if any) luxuries? What hours does he/she work? What happens when he/she is sick? This can all be photographed.


Cheers,

R.
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I'm not sure how mean heart strings a photo essay of people living in nice upper middle class homes and driving nice cars would tug on. Because that's pretty much what a photo essay of "1099 employee(s)consultant(s) that works at the kind of places I work at would show.
Can't speak for other types of business but at the place I work the people that work as 1099 do so because they've run the numbers and decided the extra $10-20K, per year over working as a W2 employee is worth having to pay all their own taxes.
As far as getting sick goes, not sure what you know about employer provided heath care in the US but a good number of these plans offer coverage for not only the employee but their spouse and kids. So given the fact that they're already covered under their spouse's plan some people will choose to work as 1099 due to the higher pay vs a W2.
Note while its not an official term "1099 Employee generally refers to a consultant that work's for full time (2080 a year in the US ) for a single employer client, while a 1099 contractor/consultant means some one that works for multiple clients.
 
charjohncarter said:
Yes. But there are many places where photography can be presented that represent a Libertarian view. Example, my sister-in-law is presently passing from cancer. I have not been able to post much because my wife and I have been driving constantly to LA to visit and help her and her young son. As we live six hours away we can't be there on a daily basis.

She was a non religious member of a Bunko group that was associated with a church. Those wonderful women have filled the space that we haven't been able to fill. So here is an area where the OP could view a conservative photographic opportunity.
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Religion and church are not inherently conservative be it social or economic conservatism. Read Edmund Burke. In fact one an argue that the selfless act of social grace and charity exhibited in your personal example are anything but conservative by nature. Conservatism is a big tent, and selfless, social acts rub many an economic conservative the wrong way who see this as a waste of scarce resources that can and should be applied via a profit motive because "the market solves everything".


That's a very poignant example you give. Defies easy labels.
 
Aristophanes said:
Conservatism is a big tent, and selfless, social acts rub many an economic conservative the wrong way who see this as a waste of scarce resources that can and should be applied via a profit motive because "the market solves everything".
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Indeed so ... I`m using the term in its original sense and not in its modern political /economic sense ... which I reject.
 
Mcary said:
I'm not sure how mean heart strings a photo essay of people living in nice upper middle class homes and driving nice cars would tug on. Because that's pretty much what a photo essay of "1099 employee(s)consultant(s) that works at the kind of places I work at would show.
Can't speak for other types of business but at the place I work the people that work as 1099 do so because they've run the numbers and decided the extra $10-20K, per year over working as a W2 employee is worth having to pay all their own taxes.
As far as getting sick goes, not sure what you know about employer provided heath care in the US but a good number of these plans offer coverage for not only the employee but their spouse and kids. So given the fact that they're already covered under their spouse's plan some people will choose to work as 1099 due to the higher pay vs a W2.
Note while its not an official term "1099 Employee generally refers to a consultant that work's for full time (2080 a year in the US ) for a single employer client, while a 1099 contractor/consultant means some one that works for multiple clients.
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Is that legal? As the IRS themselves say in http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small...ndent-Contractor-(Self-Employed)-or-Employee?

Consequences of Treating an Employee as an Independent Contractor

If you classify an employee as an independent contractor and you have no reasonable basis for doing so, you may be held liable for employment taxes for that worker (the relief provisions, discussed below, will not apply). See Internal Revenue Code section 3509 for more information.

In other words, there are at least three separate photo-essays here:

(1) Our unfortunate manual labourer

(2) Our cheating pseudo-consultant (pictures illustrating how he/she doesn't actually differ from an employee)

(3) Reductions in tax revenues, resulting in reduced public services (part of a wider essay on the social consequences of tax avoidance/tax evasion)

Cheers,

R.
 
Michael Markey said:
Dear Roger,

Both aspects.

The activity is equally important to both the social life in rural communities but also to the rural economy.

In exchange to being allowed to ride across the land the hunt traditionally collected fallen stock which the farmer would otherwise have had to dispose of commercially thus incurring additional cost.

This point was not lost on the Labour government who brought in the ban under the guise of animal welfare.

The then Labour minister , Ben Bradshaw , declaring the ban as "pay back for the miners".

The implied intent being to damage the rural economy.

As far as the hunt monitors are concerned I`m afraid that for some it`s merely an excuse for violence and there have been fatalities.

I myself avoid the politics and simply try and portray it as it currently stands , a two hundred year old English tradition.
All be it in modified form.

From the old class warrior perspective I`m afraid the ban has back fired and the activity is more popular than ever largely because its safer.

Scent trails are laid over a pre determined course.

As far as the poor old fox is concerned I`m afraid its also backfired.

I don`t think hunts were all that effective as a means of control but in their absence most foxes are now shot.

More effective but also more indiscriminate.

Best

Michael

PS ...let me repeat hunting is not an activity that I`d engage in and therefore not the motivation for my photography.
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Dear Michael,

It was "Which is important!" (agreeing with you), not "Which is important?" (questioning your choice of subject matter).

I also completely agree with you about hunting; and with Wilde for that matter. The fact that they are "the unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable" does not give me the right to stop them, especially if I am a townie with no real idea of what the hunt involves. Banning the hunt was pure class warfare. I will change my opinion on this when another 'sport' involving the torture of animals for pleasure is made illegal, namely fishing.

And so we have both 'left' (me) and 'right' (you) united in our views upon what some on the left persist in trying to pass off as a right-wing issue.

Cheers,

R.
 
But it's also passed off as a 'town v country' issue. I am a country boy, who grew up in the Dales. I, and many other country folk, find hunting revolting and despicably cruel.

However, that's not what we're debating here.
 
Rodchenko said:
But it's also passed off as a 'town v country' issue. I am a country boy, who grew up in the Dales. I, and many other country folk, find hunting revolting and despicably cruel.

However, that's not what we're debating here.
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Indeed. But it would be interesting to see two photo essays, from similarly skilled photographers, one trying to make the case for hunting, one trying to make the case against. I think either could be done.

Cheers,

R.
 
Rodchenko said:
I believe they could. And there could be a number of similar images, which in each context would carry a different message.
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Absolutely! We're back to captions again. It's easy to see what the pro-hunting side would leave out, though: foxes torn to pieces and blooding, for a start. What would the anti-hunting side leave out? This takes us back to the relationship between a 'neutral document' and 'propaganda'.

Cheers,

R.
 
Playing devil's advocate for a moment, I'd expect the anti-hunting piece to leave out the participation of ordinary people. It's easy to get opposition to champagne quaffing toffs on horses.
 
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