Photographers you don't really "get" ... and why you should

[RdEoSg]

Ok I'm going to list something that isn't a photographer, but you will know what I mean anyways...

I don't get Holga and lomo photography!

I know I should. I know its about just shooting and not being restricted to rules and so forth. I know its about the art and not about having the most expensive, best, whatever gear on the planet.

Hell I even own a Holga and want a lomo. But I don't know why!!!!!! Some of the stuff is so boring and annoying. I swear every time someone comes into the store here asking if I sell them the first thing I think to myself is "great, another imitation photographer who will never learn the art"

EDIT: Thats a good way to think of it. Would I buy a book of someone's work or not. I don't have a lot of books on one specific person. Most of mine are on ideas or topics. I don't even own a mapplethorpe book. But then at $75 a book, That's a lot of film or paper or part of a voigtlander lens or something too!

 

[rool]

Sometimes I hate HCB too...

 

[AOI Photo]

aaarrghhh! Say it ain't so! She's One of my favorites! 🙂 BUT, I know people who share your opinion! 🙂

🙂

Yeah I know many who love her, but to me her photographs look like badly composed snapshots. And often seem to glory in others misfortune, rather than just record it. I can't even say why it seems that way to me, it just does.

But that's what makes any artform fun. If we all agreed how boring it would be, and how few professionals there would be too.

 

[RdEoSg]

Andres Serrano.... definatly at the bottom of my list.. mostly where I walk on..

 

[chris91387]

Hell I even own a Holga and want a lomo. But I don't know why!!!!!! Some of the stuff is so boring and annoying. I swear every time someone comes into the store here asking if I sell them the first thing I think to myself is "great, another imitation photographer who will never learn the art"


hmmm, first time trying to post a quote from a previous post. not sure how it will look so let me apologize in advance.

i do have a lomo, holga and diane and what's cool, to me anyway, is the element of surprise. i don't shoot enough to be able to totally predict what will happen. the light leaks, poor focus, lack of any real control of exposure, etc give me a sense of freewill and not caring. with my slr's and rangefinders i'm more methodical and try to previsualize. with the toy cameras maybe i'll get one really cool/fun picture from a roll. and to make it more "fun", i only buy expired film from ebay.

lately i've been packing one toy camera and one "real" camera when i go somewhere. if time permits i'll grab the plastic and fire off a couple to see what happens.

- chris

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

Maybe i'm in the minority here but i happen to like the works of Arbus, Witkin, Parr, McCurry, Gibson, Weston, Adams and Michels. I've followed their work for many years in various books and publications.

 

[FrankS]

I just checked into Andres Serrano, and wish I hadn't. Definitely not for those weak of stomach. Give it a pass and do yourself a favour.

 

[DougK]

I just checked into Andres Serrano, and wish I hadn't. Definitely not for those weak of stomach. Give it a pass and do yourself a favour.

Too late, you made me curious and I looked. You're right, I wish I hadn't.

 

[Flyfisher Tom]

Ok guys, now I'm curious ... is it blood and guts sort of stuff?

 

[FrankS]

One shot was called death by fire and i think it was part of a charred corpse. Fun stuff like that.

 

[RdEoSg]

Ok guys, now I'm curious ... is it blood and guts sort of stuff?

Does a crucifix in a jar of piss meet your fancy? It's titled Piss Christ.

How bout a book titled Fisting... you can use your imagination there 😉 I suppose everone should see his work once so they can object properly but yea... make sure it isn't time to have a meal first.

As for the holga etc. Yea I can understand and appreciate someone using it that knows photography and so forth, its just the people that have no idea what photography is, what 120 film is, what an aperture and shutter speed is etc. But they still say its art.. Boggles the mind to me.

 

[Paul1287]

Wish I had read frank's post before googling Serrano...ugh. Good thing I ate already.

Aaron Siskind is another I don't get and I think is terribly over-rated. Sally Mann is up there too. Most collodion photographers these days either worship her of absolutely hate her. I lean towards the latter.

I have to agree that Bert Hardy was an amazing photographer. Not a BS artist like Witkin or Serrano or whoever...just a solid documentary photographer. HCB had his brilliant moments but a lot of it was just sort of "there."

Of the currect photogs...Nachtway is a fave. I definately "get" him.

 

[Taqi]

Re the Holga, Lomo etc - I just look past the marketing & hype - a good picture is just a good picture: the camera used becomes just a lump of metal, glass & plastic, and it melts away into the past.

 

[RdEoSg]

I agree... but its not a good picture because of the camera 😉

Nachtway.. awesome. Anyone seen "War Photographer" Documentary about him. Pretty cool too, they attached a camera right to his camera, so you can actually the moment he took some of his great shots.

 

[James Burton]

...convey the unifying principles

Euch!! I'm not sure what unifying principles there are in a bunch of pictures.
Personally I tend to only 'get' a small fraction of each photographers output.
Maybe half a dozen HCB, One or two Friedlander etc. Usually when I 'get' a single photograph I jump for joy. Maybe my expectations of myself are lower because I havn't been trained in art analysis, and because my design and camera skills are self-taught.

Specifically, I rather like Brassai, but many of his works I just don't get.
All of 'Paris' I like but most of his other stuff leaves me cold. Doisneau is another. I like quite a few but not as many as with Brassai.

There's also something else: like most art, when photography reached a stage of maturity, it seems to have turned into itself...

I think that's because of the technique. I takes maybe 20 years to learn to paint, you can't afford to get tired of the technique, but operating a camera is reasonably obvious to a child, once you get fed up with taking a particular type of photograph you quickly move on. Once you've tried all the available camera techniques you need to move onto more intellectual techniques like 'self-portrait' and other relfective ideas where the camera becomes part of the process. Can't really quite do that with sculpture, painting and other forms of expression. Here's a poem about the poet writing a poem about themselves writing a poem...

Also photography is analytical rather than synthetical. It is about taking things apart (selecting from the panorama of real life) rather than constructing from building blocks. The aims are at 90degress to most expressive arts.

Nice discussion.

Thanks,
James

 

[bobomoon]

Maybe i'm in the minority here but i happen to like the works of Arbus, Witkin, Parr, McCurry, Gibson, Weston, Adams and Michels. I've followed their work for many years in various books and publications.

Actually, I kinda dig Adams and went to his traveling show in Boston last year and I really liked some of his experimental/chemical work. I guess I just said Ansel Adams to be contrary. It just made me think of the big hubbub he made over Eggleston's first big MOMA show. Why someone should like something or why someone should not like something seems so slippery.

BTW Simon I noticed you didn't mention Eggleston in your list 😀 .

 

[wlewisiii]

Actually, I kinda dig Adams and went to his traveling show in Boston last year and I really liked some of his experimental/chemical work. I guess I just said Ansel Adams to be contrary.

Just for future food for thought for you, the work by Adams that I've always found far more interesting is his portrait work. He's not known for it, but some of the ones I've seen of his - the shot of Steichen (sp?) coming down the staircase or Joyce Yuki Nakamura at Manzanar (I'll leave the politics out... 🙁 ) are far more interesting to me than 90% of his much more famous landscapes.

Just a thought.

William

 

[Ducky]

I've read the Diane Arbus Biography twice over the years. We both grew up in NYC (diferent sides of the tracks) and were on the streets of Manhattan at about the same time. She carried a camera, I carried a briefcase. Other than that, I think she is over rated and most of her stuff was snapshots. It was new at the time but today only hype keeps her rep going: That and her estate which owns all coptrights.

As far a Holga etc. is concerned, try googling a site for "non-photography". Amazing what people can sell as new and original.

George

 

[bobomoon]

Just for future food for thought for you, the work by Adams that I've always found far more interesting is his portrait work. He's not known for it, but some of the ones I've seen of his - the shot of Steichen (sp?) coming down the staircase or Joyce Yuki Nakamura at Manzanar (I'll leave the politics out... 🙁 ) are far more interesting to me than 90% of his much more famous landscapes.

Just a thought.

William

I agree with you there William.

Adams was an interesting complex cat.

 

[Simon Larbalestier]

Re the Holga, Lomo etc - I just look past the marketing & hype - a good picture is just a good picture: the camera used becomes just a lump of metal, glass & plastic, and it melts away into the past.

I'd agree here and i really like using a Holga.