The Problem with Modern Photographers -- And Your Problem Probably Too (I'm Guessing)

[Roger Hicks]

Dear Nick,

When setting up false dichotomies in order to stir controversy, it is often as well not to be too detailed and specific, to say nothing of long winded.

There's an excellent idea in there but you over-cooked it and it curdled.

Cheers,

R.

 

[zuiko85]

What means these words; jpeg, sliders, RAW, & Lightroom. Never touched any of those things. Well, maybe jpeg, I will take a 'for the record' shot on my phone occasionally.
Do have piles of negs though. Most of them just junk. Used to shoot a lot, on a Pen F half frame no less. Now too old and too wore out, that and at $5 or $6 a roll I just cannot afford to smoke through 100ft of Tri-X in a couple of days or a week like I did in my youth.

No, nowadays you might find me out with a tripod and home made 4X5 using photo paper for a negative and contact printing (but I would like to move up to 8X10, the price of used film holders in that size is holding me back). Fancy lenses though, series 5 or 6 close up lenses rigged up on a lens board, stopped to f45 or maybe f64, not bad for a single element. Lets see, ISO 6, ….mumble mumble,....take of lens cap...one thousand one, one thousand two, one thou...…...

 

[Yokosuka Mike]

I shoot like Raid Amin.

Ditto! I shoot like him too!

 

[Calzone]

Just wanted to post that Pete Souza reported shooting over 2 million shots over an 8 year period when he was White House Photographer under the two terms of President Obama.

Interesting to note that his kit was two Canon DSLR's when he could of chosen any camera. The reason stated was that the Canon had the quietest shutter.

Over those 8 years Pete stated that he only took one sick day and one week's vacation. At this interview I attended at Photoville two years ago Pete owned up to being a bit burnt out and needing a break. He discussed some of his iconic shots and gave the interesting backstories behind the shots.

This featured some of the shots that were going to be in a book that had not been published yet. Lucky I was a volenteer at Photoville and got the early invite. This venue filled fast and only about 600-700 people got into Saint Ann's Warehouse to be part of this event.

This is the real world as far as modern photography, and Pete Souza took it as far as he could. My problem is that I don't think I could of done what Pete did.

Cal

 

[willie_901]

I will begin producing sloppy, ill-rendered images immediately.

Nothing says "I don't care – why should you?" as well as an image that is purposefully displayed well below its full potential.

 

[Mcary]

From what I've read it seems to me that WES shot a large amount of film and also spend a large amount of time in the darkroom in order to produce prints that met his exacting standards.
WES W Eugene Smith.

 

[NickTrop]

Dear Nick,

When setting up false dichotomies in order to stir controversy, it is often as well not to be too detailed and specific, to say nothing of long winded.

There's an excellent idea in there but you over-cooked it and it curdled.

Cheers,

R.

Roger! How ya doin' pal???? Hope you been well. Nothing worse than being curdled 🙁 Oh well, Ill keep your advice in mind next time I set up another false dichotomy.

N

[Edit -- right after I typed this I got a cup-o-Joe. In what can only be described as a case of incredible serendipity, I poured some 1/2-and-1/2 into the coffee and it curdled. Past the freshness date it was. I can't remember the last time something curdled on me. True story. ]

 

[tunalegs]

HCB and AA aren't the only successful photographers, nor are they polar opposites. There have been successful photographers with methods everywhere in between, and beyond.

Ultimately the only thing that matters is making an interesting photograph.

 

[Calzone]

From what I've read it seems to me that WES shot a large amount of film and also spend a large amount of time in the darkroom in order to produce prints that met his exacting standards.
WES W Eugene Smith.

M,

WES is a photographer who not only was a great shooter, but also a great printer.

I'm kinda obsessed with him.

Kinda finny but he also was know for shooting all kinds of cameras.

Sadly eventually at the end this celebrated photographer was black balled because he wanted editorial control of his work.

My friend Louis Mendez back in the day when he was a kid hung out and met Gene during the time of the "Jazz Loft."

Cal

 

[rbiemer]

I am allowed to drive, but like many color blind people, I have learned that (in the USA) red is always on top and bigger than the other traffic lights. There are a few states where the lights are sideways and red is the same size as the yellow and green, and in those cases, red is always on the left. At least, I hope it is.

I have never sailed a boat, but yes, it is true that if I were to try to get a pilot's license, I would be restricted to daylight flying only. The lights on the runways would be a mystery to me.

The Tipperary Hill neighborhood in Syracuse, NY has a traffic light with the green light at the top and the red at the bottom. When the intersection this light is on first had a light installed--in the 1920s--local youths objected to having "British" red above "Irish" green and broke the lights. And continued to do so until the city decided to ignore( or maybe get a waiver?) state law and put the green on top.

Rob

 

[darya151]

First of all, OP needs to study Inner Silence and how some of the portraits were taken.

Second, lets just cut this ... about HCB.

2a. He was not printing, because he has best printers working for him. And he knew what and how he wants it to be printed.

2b. HCB was not snapping as OP might assume. HCB was constantly training his senses and vision. He was drawing in sketchbook. And he has education in art (painting, perspective) and was surrealist by his circle and humanist by his views. It means the VISION and SENSE.

2c. It is known what HCB would select the scene and wait for the trigger.

2d. AA is nothing but home cat, comparing to HCB. It is HCB who followed Chinese Red Army for months. At the war. And HCB knew what is war. It is HCB who took Gandhi last picture in one hour before Gandhi was gone. It was AA who was casually traveling in USA. HCB was first photographer to bring real life pictures from countries AA never been.

Sorry, can't stand lack of knowledge.

BTW, HCB went to the AA land and his landscapes of America are way more alive and interesting comparing to AA rocks and trees. IMHO.

Thank you for articulate observations of HCB's vision and courage, his artistry and humanity. We need more of this!

 

[Mcary]

M,

WES is a photographer who not only was a great shooter, but also a great printer.

I'm kinda obsessed with him.

Kinda finny but he also was know for shooting all kinds of cameras.

Sadly eventually at the end this celebrated photographer was black balled because he wanted editorial control of his work.

My friend Louis Mendez back in the day when he was a kid hung out and met Gene during the time of the "Jazz Loft."

Cal

Cal,

WES has always been one of my favorite photographers. remember discovering his work when I first became interest in B&W photography back in the mid 70s.

Mike

 

[willie_901]

HCB and AA aren't the only successful photographers, nor are they polar opposites. There have been successful photographers with methods everywhere in between, and beyond.

Well, in at least one way they were polar opposites. After the 1930s.HCB delegated printing to others. For instance, Voja Mitrovic printed HCB's work from 1967–1997. Georges Fevre, Pierre Gassmann, Philippe Jourdain, Toros, Daniel Risset also printed for HCB (link).

For the most part, AA didn't. But he did have assistants and he trusted at least one of them to print some of his work.

Ultimately the only thing that matters is making an interesting photograph.

Absolutely.

What remains is deciding at what point optimizing rendering aesthetics has diminishing returns.

In a way this is similar to Winogrand's "monkey problem" –*achieving harmony between content and composition.

Some are tempted to use ultra color saturation, tone-mapping or other rendering methods to distract from mundane composition. Others justify neglecting rendering aesthetics when composition is remarkable.

 

[NickTrop]

Well, in at least one way they were polar opposites. After the 1930s.HCB delegated printing to others. For instance, Voja Mitrovic printed HCB's work from 1967–1997. Georges Fevre, Pierre Gassmann, Philippe Jourdain, Toros, Daniel Risset also printed for HCB (link).

For the most part, AA didn't. But he did have assistants and he trusted at least one of them to print some of his work.

Absolutely.

What remains is deciding at what point optimizing rendering aesthetics has diminishing returns.

In a way this is similar to Winogrand's "monkey problem" –*achieving harmony between content and composition.

Some are tempted to use ultra color saturation, tone-mapping or other rendering methods to distract from mundane composition. Others justify neglecting rendering aesthetics when composition is remarkable.

Exactly.

Someone "gets it". Thank you.

 

[Archiver]

On an extreme end of spray and pray, I recently printed a series of images that were taken from video. I went through a lot of footage and found good frames which would look halfway decent as still images. The video was shot on a Panasonic GH4 in 1080p, so the image itself was only about 2mp in size. The images were cropped to 3:2, processed in black and white with a lot of dodging and bit of burning. They printed at A3 and looked fantastic.

Would the image quality been better from a 8, 12, 16, 24mp camera? Yeah, sure. But this process proved to me that it is more than possible to create decent photographs from video stills, and at 2mp resolution at that. Things can only get better from there.