NYT Discovers "The Regulars"

[furcafe]

I agree. Though on 1st glance, this easily could be taken to be a "anybody could do that" project, I think a great deal of thought & preparation went into it.

Reminds me that a few years back another bartender/bar owner/photographer, published a book (or had a show?) of images of his clientele. IIRC, the bar was in NY or NJ & the photos were B&W & from the 1960s-80s.

The images are thoughtfully crafted in many ways.

1. They do NOT look like they were shot with a point and shoot with a built in flash. The lighting is very carefully worked out so she gets exactly the look she wants. She used a strobe, obviously, but there is some kind of diffusion of the light source, perhaps a bare bulb flash unit in a white reflector or some other device to add subtle diffusion. Also, the light source is too high up for it to look like a built in flash. It may evoke the look of on camera flash but the images lack many of its telltale signs like glossy skin reflections, red eye, etc. Seems very sophisticated to me.

2. She is thinking a lot about depth of field; the pics are riveting in part because the faces are sharp but the hands, the stuff in the foreground are not. Also because of her careful use of lighting, those objects that are closer are not washed out as they would be with on-camera flash.

3. Her images are full of art historical references. I thought immediately of the portraits by Titian; got out my Titian book and the similarities to some of his portraits is really striking. Try google images if you don't have a Titian book. Also the depth of field/ focus play reminds me somewhat of Vermeer. These characteristics are too consistent to be chalked up to conicidence. I think she knows, and appreciates art history.

4. The glance, the humanity, the loneliness and isolation of the individuals. Perhaps the most important thing.

5. The prices: So what? One image is already sold out. As for buying Cartier-Bresson prints, any photo dealer can tell you that finding a good Cartier-Bresson print is very difficult. They are few and far between. There are, however, many, many poorly printed HCB prints out there - and signed ones too. For $2K you are paying more for an autograph, you'd be extraordinarily lucky to get a good signed HCB print for $2K.

6. (Disclaimer) - The above statements are my opinion, my opinion only.

 

[rbiemer]

I love seeing good prints but I can afford many more good books than I could good prints.
I also make a conscious effort to look at work that is the least like mine and books are an easy way to do that; galleries and museums are few and far between up here but I can buy books fairly easily. And the tiny local library is part of a bigger pool of libraries and has access to lots more books than it has "in stock".
Looking at photos on line mostly isn't too satisfying for me: those images seem more like a synopsis of the print. Useful, I suppose, to sort out what I might like to see in person but not fair to the photographers--I know I'm skipping some stuff on that basis that probably is really good "live".
Rob

 

[vrgard]

I see it!

These are the people you see at the bar all the time, often times alone, often times chatting with each other, or chatting with the bartender. Whenever you go to a bar you will see them. You know each one has a story, but that story will never be told to you.

The ones that intrigue me are the ones who sit alone at a table at a bar where there's a band, nursing a beer, and are obviously totally lost in the music. They seldom interact with the others, but are most definitely into it!

Don't mean to quibble with you DMR, but it seems that we're talking about two different things. I was talking about the images themselves (as is apparent from my statement you quoted: "I just don't see it in these images."). Yet it seems that you are talking about people that frequent those sorts of establishments. And them I get!

And thanks, Pablito, for your thoughtful explanation of why you get these images. That was helpful to me in understanding why others may get, or perhaps better stated, appreciate, these images. But as much as I might respect them from a technical perspective they still don't resonate with me. Fortunately, we don't all have to like the same thing.

-Randy

 

[rbiemer]

Hmm, I haven't actually bought any in a few months--working my way through the library here--Photography After Frank looks pretty good and when I searched Amazon for it there were some other books that appeal.
I also see what Hamilton Books has, though lately not much for monographs, etc. mostly various, slightly out of date, digital How To titles.
I generally hesitate to get involved in these discussions: I don't have the vocabulary nor the education but this has been rewarding for me.
Rob

 

[rpj]

My daughter used to tell me about "the regulars" that she served when she was a night bartender. From her stories, I imagine that they looked somewhat like these people (except her customers were older and less well dressed). When she told me that she was quitting her job to go to nursing school, I asked her why. Her reply: "Dad, I am tired of poisoning people."

I will probably buy the book.