gdmcclintock
Well-known
Everything is derivative of something. There is no more facile, if not invalid, criticism than the derivative label.
When The Wrong Advice Is Given...Or Good Pictures, Bad Timing
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Charlie Lemay
Well-known
I agree with Johny Scarecrow. Susan Sontag, in her book "On Photography," goes on at length about how putting any photograph in a frame on a white wall turns it into "art." These images have a lot of validity as beautiful documents, but there is no evidence in them of the photographer's personal vision.
Arno Minkkinen told me in 2006, when I took a workshop with him at Maine Media, that I could not do both traditional B&W work and digital collage. He said the digital collage was innovative and that is all I should be doing. I could not do both. I replied, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but I am doing both. You can't do both, because you have an art career. I am not interested in having ant art career, only making art, so I can do whatever I want." I don't think he was very pleased with my rejecting his advice, but if I had listened to him, my book "Seeing" would never have happened. I would not want to have missed that. I'm just not very good with authority, I guess.
Arno Minkkinen told me in 2006, when I took a workshop with him at Maine Media, that I could not do both traditional B&W work and digital collage. He said the digital collage was innovative and that is all I should be doing. I could not do both. I replied, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but I am doing both. You can't do both, because you have an art career. I am not interested in having ant art career, only making art, so I can do whatever I want." I don't think he was very pleased with my rejecting his advice, but if I had listened to him, my book "Seeing" would never have happened. I would not want to have missed that. I'm just not very good with authority, I guess.
gdmcclintock
Well-known
"These images have a lot of validity as beautiful documents, but there is no evidence in them of the photographer's personal vision." This statement is an oxymoron, as is Sontag's book, On Photography. Sontag's essays are more about her pseudo-liberal, upper-middle-class politics than photography.
Darshan
Well-known
Szarkowski was valid in his comments and criticism. Mr. Brown's work on a transforming neighborhood might not have struck a chord with Mr. Szarkowski during "that time" as there was nothing special, such things were happening at a lot of places around the US. Taking such photographs (not "street photographs") of present day NYC (or any other city) might not garner any interest now but people may take notice 30-40 years from now. These photos work for me because of the "date" and a few of them are executed nicely IMO. Now it's time for me and start shooting my neighborhood, I hope my negatives get "discovered" decades from now 😀. Kudos to Mr. Brown.
V-12
Well-known
In art schools or the media an opinion whether unleashed or delivered gently on a silver platter is an important thing to have. In arts schools students should be taught to have an opinion, to express it, and defend it.
But 'peers' suggests a like minded group, a clique, and if somebody with a healthy overview of the world lets rip and calls them all charlatans I don't see why that should be a problem, if they are grown up and with fully formed opinions they should be able to stand up for themselves as a group or as individuals.
The worst sort of 'criticism' is that found on camera forums, where patently rubbish pictures are routinely critiqued in every permutation that can be found to say 'awesome'. It shows the critic has no means to verbalise an idea, and encourages the photographer to go out and repeat the same rubbish.
V
kbg32
neo-romanticist
We are all products of history. We don't live or work in a vacuum. What always gets me are people who think they're original and don't know history. To produce something original, know history. Digest it, move forward. Work on what you know and where it comes from.
Sorry if it sounds like I am pontificating.
I think the best advice I ever read to aspiring artists having difficulty finding their voice, is work from your own experiences, what you know and feel. No one can reproduce that. Duplicate it maybe, but not the experience.
kaiwasoyokaze
Half Frame Goodness
I have to add, if you are also diagnosed with ASD (autism spectrum disorder or any kind of autism actually) then criticism is also very easily disregarded.
It's interesting living with ASD though.
Darshan
Well-known
completely agree with this
Charlie Lemay
Well-known
Everything anybody writes is opinion based on their personal biases imposed upon their experience. That should go without saying. Disagreeing with someone by labeling their view as opinion doesn't mean a whole lot of sense.
There is no such thing as objectivity. We just agree to accept a certain level of information as objective. Everything is always subjective. Think of hot and cold. We act as though cold were a real thing and speak about it that way. It really is just the relative absence of heat.
There is no such thing as objectivity. We just agree to accept a certain level of information as objective. Everything is always subjective. Think of hot and cold. We act as though cold were a real thing and speak about it that way. It really is just the relative absence of heat.
