Hi, Friday, February 25, 2005, 1:45:42 PM, Chris wrote:
>> Bob W wrote: >> >> They are good, competent photos, better than average, but really >> nothing special. It's standard English Tourist Board fare. > Can I ask, without aiming this at Bob in particular, why do people tend to > diss pictorialism as 'oh it's just a postcard'? No-one ever says 'oh it's > just another wedding photo' or 'just another fashion photo', yet these > genres seem hugely cliched to me. [..] Well, actually they do. I often say exactly those things about wedding, fashion, street and even press photography which has its own share of cliches. I don't necessarily say it to the photographer, though, because often it would be impolite. By the way, I don't think 'better than average' is 'dissing'. I do recognise the great skill a photographer needs to be able to do standard English Tourist Board fare. But it is just run of the mill stuff. Even when the mill is in Constable country, photographed under golden light while jolly peasants lead carthorses across the corn field. Consider the American versions of these cliches: that sandstone arch that's always being photographed, the valley where the rocks are all a kind of gold colour. Aspens. Mono Lake. Dare I say it - old missions. Book after book, website after website of the stuff. All technically skilful, well composed, nicely lit, but ultimately indistinguishable from each other. At least weddings and fashion have people in them! -- Cheers, Bob
