HCB: "I don't Like Photography, I never have"

Chriscrawfordphoto said:
In the late 1970s, HCB largely stopped photographing so that he could concentrate on painting and drawing, which he considered to be superior forms of art. Too bad, he was a much better photographer.
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Totally agree...

BTW i remember it´s said about Diego Velazquez the same thing....he never liked painting he saw this practice as a media to climb in the imperial society of that time....it´s also said as soon the emperor gave him a noble title he left brushes and oil colours for ever...

:)
 
When people become famous/well regarded for something it can be a galvanizing thing for the person in question. They might embrace it or reject it.

At the risk of being overly aphoristic I will say that there are people who enjoy doing a thing and then there are people who enjoy whatever it is they are doing, more or less.

Bob Dylan is a case study in this phenomenon. Giving flippant answers to interviewers, mocking the proceedings of press conferences, "going electric" and so on. HCB will say pointed things like this because he knows he will be taken entirely too seriously. What he's really thinking is "I enjoyed photography at one time, but as far as someone like you is concerned I might as well have never done it, so I'm just going to feed you bull****."

This kind of attitude denotes a level of self-awareness and I respect it. While I can't help but admire certain people I think it's important to vigorously prune the creeping vines of pretension around people.
 
Keith said:
I don't understand why in our little world here at RFF, some people have a problem with anyone refering to themselves as an artist rather than photographer. Especially with the insinuation that it's pretentious ... that's a damned condescending attitude IMO.

This turned into a dumb thread really quickly! :(
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In my experience, Keith, many folks who fancy themselves "photographers" are indeed a pretentious, arrogant, and condescending lot. A quick perusal of many threads here has done nothing to dissuade me from that view.

It's interesting how people can become condescending through labeling and perceptions about ownership of some item or another. For example, if I tell you that I own a yacht (and I do,) that immediately conjures a stereotype in most people's minds. That stereotype is likely that I'm wealthy, probably educated in some Ivy League school; and undoubtedly a snob. If I add that I shoot Leica exclusvely and I have three bodies, that stereotype is further reinforced.

None of that stereotype is true; my "yacht" is a 1996 21' sailboat that is a trailer-sailor, and gets used on lakes in the Midwest U.S. I paid a little over $6k for the boat, motor, and trailer. My education is from a very humble college in SoCal... and yet pretty much everyone who read my first statement would see the stereotype in the last paragraph if I said "I own a yacht." As far as the cameras, I have an M9P, an M8, and an M4-P. The M9P was an extravagant buy at $5k for me, the M8 was $2k and I essentially got the M4-P for free after buying it as a package deal and selling off the accessories. Five of my eight lenses (I've said this before) are CV and the other three '60s vintage Leitz Canada. Yet the immediate stereotype exists.

HCB was very much like many of us... interested in a variety of disciplines and became really good at photography through daily practice; nothing any one of us here couldn't do if we could support ourselves financially while doing that. He has become legend because he was talented, the times he lived and worked in, and because of the sheer volume of his work.

As Major Tom's post above indicates, too much is made of quotes from famous people taken out of context, just because they're famous and the public assigns too much significance to them because they're famous. Being famous doesn't make you right, or even important. It just means lots of people know about you.
 
hepcat said:
In my experience, Keith, many folks who fancy themselves "photographers" are indeed a pretentious, arrogant, and condescending lot. A quick perusal of many threads here has done nothing to dissuade me from that view.

It's interesting how people can become condescending through labeling and perceptions about ownership of some item or another. For example, if I tell you that I own a yacht (and I do,) that immediately conjures a stereotype in most people's minds. That stereotype is likely that I'm wealthy, probably educated in some Ivy League school; and undoubtedly a snob. If I add that I shoot Leica exclusvely and I have three bodies, that stereotype is further reinforced.

None of that stereotype is true; my "yacht" is a 1996 21' sailboat that is a trailer-sailor, and gets used on lakes in the Midwest U.S. I paid a little over $6k for the boat, motor, and trailer. My education is from a very humble college in SoCal... and yet pretty much everyone who read my first statement would see the stereotype in the last paragraph if I said "I own a yacht." As far as the cameras, I have an M9P, an M8, and an M4-P. The M9P was an extravagant buy at $5k for me, the M8 was $2k and I essentially got the M4-P for free after buying it as a package deal and selling off the accessories. Five of my eight lenses (I've said this before) are CV and the other three '60s vintage Leitz Canada. Yet the immediate stereotype exists.

HCB was very much like many of us... interested in a variety of disciplines and became really good at photography through daily practice; nothing any one of us here couldn't do if we could support ourselves financially while doing that. He has become legend because he was talented, the times he lived and worked in, and because of the sheer volume of his work.

As Major Tom's post above indicates, too much is made of quotes from famous people taken out of context, just because they're famous and the public assigns too much significance to them because they're famous. Being famous doesn't make you right, or even important. It just means lots of people know about you.
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Yes I agree that he was not concerned with labels as most of the really great ones aren't. We seem to be consumed with them. Is it a photograph or is it digital art? Is it a street image or a________? It really doesn't matter. Whether or not it is a valid visual statement is, in my opinion, all that matters.

Another out of context quote by Adams and unfortunately what he hoped would become less prevalent has become more.
"Lets hope that categories will be less rigid in the future; there has been too much of placing photography in little niches-commercial. pictorial, documentary, and creative( a dismal term). Definitions of this kind are inessential and stupid; good photography remains good photography no matter what we name it. I would like to think of it as just “photography” ; of each and every photograph containing the best qualities in proper degree to achieve its purpose. We have been slaves to categories, and each has served as a kind of concentration camp for the spirit.”-Ansel Adams
 
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