David Alan Harvey on a slippery downward slope?

[ywenz]

I've always enjoyed DAH's old work, which in my opinion are some of the best photojournalism styled work ever. I just looked thru his more recent stuff and they looked amateurish to me at best. They seem.....very "photo-blogish".. What gives? Anyone else feel the same way? What do you think is missing from his new work?

new stuff:
http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/FramerT_MAG.aspx?V=CDocT&E=2K7O3R1DIFVX&DT=DOC

old stuff:
http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/TreePf_MAG.aspx?ID=HAD

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

A Leica?

He's using Nikon pro-sumer digital cameras now exclusively. Has been for at least a year or so.

I, respectfully, didn't find his work that appealing to begin with, so it is hard to tell what slope he is on ;-)

 

[ywenz]

His new work does have that dreaded "digital" look to them. That is not to fault the equipment though because I've seen other extremely visually appealing digital work. Looks like he is not using the equipment correctly...

His Nigeria shots look very unimaginative, almost to the point that they all loook like 'point n' shoot' jobs... sigh..

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

His recent work in NG Traveler does indeed have that "point n shoot" look to them. Maybe photogs like rock stars lose some of that young hunger that used to fuel their creativity.

Look at the recent 'work' by Billy Joel, Phi Collins, Peter Gabriel, Paul McCartney, compared to their younger days. Arguably even U2 has lost some of its edge (no pun intended).

 

[x-ray]

I don't see any major difference in his current and his older work. The new and old are very fine images.


http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=790229

 

[sf]

is there any other kind of slope?

😀

 

[ywenz]

The old work incorporated a lot of the environment into the picture. A lot more attention on how the shadows and lighting of the environment work in conjunction to form the final image. His human subjects blend into the image and become part of it. The new stuff are just random shots of people, without much emphasize on the environment, with many tight portrait shots and extensive use of flash. Maybe it's just the nature of this particular project... however, I do recall seeing another recent series by DAH that were just as dissapointing.

is there any other kind of slope?

😀

Maybe my geometry is not as sharp as your's, but a slope as I understand it - is the deviation from horizontal. 😎 However, a slippery slope would almost always mean down, thanks to the forces of gravity... hmpff! 😡

 

[kbg32]

I don't see any difference either. Pretty tough to tell on the web what was shot digital and what wasn't.

 

[JoeFriday]

I first looked at the older stuff and thought it was very good.. then looked at his newer stuff and it looked flat and uncomposed

so I went back to the old stuff and looked at it closer.. there seems to be a wide range of quality to the older stuff.. some of it similar to the new stuff.. not very captivating and poorly focused.. but on the other hand, there are a few images that I think are outstanding.. compared to the new stuff where I didn't see anything that held my interest

so I'd agree that none of his newer stuff (at least from the examples shown) compares to at least some of the pre-digital work

 

[RayPA]

I don't see much difference in the "look" of the images. I wasn't familiar with his work, so I looked at both the new link you provided as well as the older work in the Classic Harvey folder. His work has a certain "gloss" to it, which is constant between the the new and the old. I agree though that his newer stuff seems less inspired, with a "just for the record," "been here, what's nex?" point-and-shoot look to it.

thanks for posting the link.


🙂

 

[ywenz]

his old stuff is poetry and his new stuff is a users' manual

If you wanna compare portraits to portraits...

old
http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/F...tfolio_DocThumb&V=CDocT&E=2K7O3RJTNV6S&DT=ALB

new
http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/F...atures_DocThumb&V=CDocT&E=2K7O3R1LFYMG&DT=ALB

young DAH > old DAH...

oh yeah some new shots from mardi gras... weak as well.
http://www.magnumphotos.com/c/htm/F...atures_DocThumb&V=CDocT&E=2K7O3R1HR64E&DT=ALB

 

[DougK]

On the whole, I like his older stuff better as well. His newer stuff, while still good, doesn't "WOW!" me very much; it's more of an "Oh, that's nice" feeling.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

It looks as though he used late afternoon sun for alot of his older stuff as far as lighting goes. His new stuff seems like a tighter crop and more flash/less natural light.

Todd

 

[John Camp]

Part of the difference seems to be subject matter --- his newer stuff seems to be more "official" if that makes sense. The older stuff was more like he was hanging out with the local fashionistas, who are good photography material, looking for that one really good shot; and now a lot of them seem to involve a "story," where he has to produce something. Just IMHO.

JC

 

[saxshooter]

His new stuff seems like he is stopping people in the street, positioning his off camera strobe (or assistant does it) and takes their picture. His old stuff looks more like hanging around, maybe a picture will happen.

I find it interesting that his portfolio has a section called "Classic Harvey".

 

[Trius]

Yes, the later stuff (I'm referring to the portraits) is tighter, "in your face", but it is actually less intimate, less revealing. There is a connection to the subject in the older shots which is missing in nearly all of the newer ones. My opinion that it is Harvey who has definitely changed; he's less involved, and it shows.