Thorsten Overgaard's ebook. Any opinions?

Bille said:
In all fairness, his photography is good.
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Well, that's debatable, but I think you'll find that if the OP pursues the suggestion of many others here and researches some very good photographers (for example from Magnum), as opposed to self-aggrandizing salesmen, his photography will improve exponentially.
 
Vobluda said:
Ha ha very funny and very true.
However as an American the author of the article doesnt know that:
- having "von" in between names is common, you dont have to be rich aristocrat for that, you can inherit it
- from economical point of view EU is one country, beside new coming countries you can work in any of those countries and you dont need work permit
- many countries, not only EU, has between themselves contracts that are enabling double paying of the income taxes, they are payed only once
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Yes, and let's not forget that it's a blog post, a world where the number one goal is the same he's accusing Overgaard of: self-promotion. You've got to ask why someone would expend so much effort running down someone else. Not saying it's not true, but it is the Internet, after all.

John
 
I am by no means defending TO, what is coming from his camera is pure rubish and his marketing is fraud.

johnwolf said:
Yes, and let's not forget that it's a blog post, a world where the number one goal is the same he's accusing Overgaard of: self-promotion. You've got to ask why someone would expend so much effort running down someone else. Not saying it's not true, but it is the Internet, after all.

John
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Wow. Interesting thread.

I used to visit Thorsten's old site. Back when he was just a photography enthusiast. He used a bunch of Leica film gear, and showed some lovely pictures. The best of them were personal, family shots, and they often demonstrated some nice qualities of equipment i was researching at the time.

At some point, though, things changed, and he began to promote himself on a level not commensurate with his actual talent or work. I don't know what scientology has to do with the New Puffery Thorsten, but yeah, i gotta agree — him doing workshops as some manner of expert or "master" is laughable.

If the article linked above is accurate, the story of Thorsten is kinda sad, but representative of self-invention in the internet era. Everyone with a blog or website is an 'expert,' and it's sad how easy it is to convince an audience that there's value there, when there are so many ways to learn better lessons.
 
johnwolf said:
Yes, and let's not forget that it's a blog post, a world where the number one goal is the same he's accusing Overgaard of: self-promotion. You've got to ask why someone would expend so much effort running down someone else.
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I agree. I thought Thorsten Overgaard's scientology leanings were pretty obvious and his self-promotion, whilst irritating, is probably no worse than that conducted by the other well known "Leica bloggers". The rather juvenile tone of this lavidaleica piece seems to say more about that blogger than it does about Overgaard.
 
johnwolf said:
Yes, and let's not forget that it's a blog post, a world where the number one goal is the same he's accusing Overgaard of: self-promotion. You've got to ask why someone would expend so much effort running down someone else. Not saying it's not true, but it is the Internet, after all.

John
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Besides driving traffic to the aforementioned blog, it seems to me the information could save some readers from disappointment (especially with regard to spending money and traveling to a workshop).

And no doubt one could find authentic glowing reports from satisfied workshop customers somewhere out there.

I don't see how having more information about investing time and money is a bad thing.
 
The one truthful idea (though there were many) that I came away with is that there are many IT guys that want to teach photography. Personally, I have run into a number of them. Their classes consist of a walk in the park, photographing trees and flowers and then they demonstrate how to upload the photos onto a computer and correct them with photoshop. I knew a few people who took those classes and when they asked what were the numbers on the lenses for the response was either they did not know or that it does not matter. I have found that this site and others are more valuable.
 
I have mixed feelings about Thorsten the photographer vs Thorsten the self-marketer. I don't agree that what comes from his camera is rubbish - I think that some of it is quite good and well accomplished. His articles about cameras were very helpful to me when thinking about buying a M9, and he does seem capable of improvement in his work.

He's had a short film made about himself called 'A Life With Leica', in which he talks about photography and teaching others. I have mixed feelings about this, because on one hand it's a obviously a promotional marketing piece, but on the other, it's being presented as a documentary. It would be a different matter if it was openly acknowledged as a marketing film.

I am, however, quite disgusted by the 'flim flam' article written about Thorsten. Such a vituperative, nit-picking smear-job speaks volumes about the writer, far more than about Thorsten himself. The writer of that smear-job has his own blog about Leica equipment and uses Leica to promote himself, so there's a form of pot calling the kettle black at work. No other Leica-related blogger has done anything like that. As annoying as Ken Rockwell is, or bouncingly self-promoting Steve Huff is, you'd never see them singling out a 'competitor' in the blog market and attacking them.
 
Archiver said:
No other Leica-related blogger has done anything like that.
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Chris Weeks isn't exactly a Leica-only blogger, but is a working photographer who sometimes uses Leica. He's also taken shots at Overgaard:

http://35lux.tumblr.com/post/24213204652

But then again, there are other known online photographers who've taken shots at Chris Weeks. It seems like a natural law of the internet, that once you start participating on the internet, you will compare yourself with others who also participate ;)
 
Bit late perhaps, but in the fall of 2013 I was supposed to attend the the Tokyo workshop (I live there and I had fallen I love with my Leica M6), but I got sick and had to cancel the workshop. Thorsten claimed a full-refund deal so I asked him for my money back with a nice, polite letter, but it took me about 3 months and about 20 emails to get my money back. He told me many times that he hadn't received my mail because of traveling, but seeing him post blogs every week makes a total bull**** scam. Just wanted everybody to know. Apart from this he might be a nice guy, but...
 
DavidKKHansen said:
Chris Weeks isn't exactly a Leica-only blogger, but is a working photographer who sometimes uses Leica. He's also taken shots at Overgaard:

http://35lux.tumblr.com/post/24213204652

But then again, there are other known online photographers who've taken shots at Chris Weeks. It seems like a natural law of the internet, that once you start participating on the internet, you will compare yourself with others who also participate ;)
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Thanks for that link, I have followed CW off and on over the years and enjoy his work and commentary. He really hit the nail on the head with this post. It is astounding how hungry amateur photographers, and especially Leica followers, are for reading material. Anyone who can play to brand worship and get a few hits on a website can start making money selling ads, subscriptions, or workshops. They are everywhere - Leica sites, Canon sites, Nikon sites. Workshops to shoot snow monkeys in Japan, rocks in Arizona, tourists in New York and birds in Apache del LLama. Then there are the digi-subscription sites, e-books, etc.

This is the internet age- if you know little about photography, start a blog about photography. You can be sure that there will be enough people who know so much less that they will consider you an expert and buy your e-book. And you'll become famous!
 
Interesting thread. Over the years I have found Thorsten's website to be a useful repository of information. I am even mentioned in one of the pages regarding the Digilux 2. Him being a scientologist doesn't bother me any more than Steve Huff's paranormal oddities.

But Chris Weeks trashing Thorsten is priceless, when you consider that Weeks himself is not above self promoting beyond his own capabilities. I see his photos over the years and I see no improvement. He likes to talk himself and "his art" up, but the proof is nowhere in the pudding, to my eyes. Even Eric Kim, who used to be just as bad as Chrs Weeks in being a self promoter with almost zero photographic talent, has come a long way since he first discovered a Leica.
 
Too bad that this thread has degenerated into hearsay ad hominem attacks against Mr. von Overgaard. I've read many books on lighting AND I actually paid my own money to purchase von Overgaard's ebook on lighting.

Here's my unbiased opinion:

The very best book that I have ever read on lighting is
"Light Science and Magic", by Hunter and Biver.
It's about $38 on Amazon, but you should be able to find it in your school library.

Now, about von Overgaard's book. I wouldn't have bought it if he didn't have a 60% off sale around Christmas. That piqued my curiosity. The message of the book is this:

Have a large diffuse light as your main light, and add some non-diffuse side or backlight to add "sparkles" to the highlights. Overall, the contrast of your lighting should be on the flat side, as film or digital capture tends to increase contrast.

There - I've given you the entire message of his ebook, and saved you tons of money. Now you can go eat for another few days with the money I've saved you.

In my view, his pictures aren't bad. However, he writes in a semi-mystical style when he could have succinctly put his message into the 2 sentences that I just put it into. However, if you really want to know the how and why of lighting, get the Light Science and Magic book.

I don't like, know, or hate anybody. And I have no axe to grind, and no propaganda to push. This is just MY opinion.
 
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