John, I think you're right. Too many people taking too many images now. I think we will see fewer, better images down the line. Regards, Bob S.
On Fri, Jun 13, 2008 at 11:40 AM, John Poirier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Bob > > I rarely use shooting lists, not for my current type of work. I've noted > that it's something stock photographers do regularly, though. > > What got me out of my lurker's cave was your comment about "looking through > the Magnum web site for inspiration and ideas". Looking at good work makes > a lot of sense, of course, for improving your skills any sort of > photography. I do it all the time. > > It did remind me of something that has bemused me of late. This is the > question of visual plagiarism. > > I have a very good visual memory. I've looked at several exhibits at a > local gallery recently that contained significant numbers of prints for > which my first reaction was that I had seen the image before. In some cases > I was even able to remember whos idea was being used. Cartier Bresson and > Arnold Newman came to mind. > > Over the last ten years I've increasingly had a sense of "sameness" about > images in mainstream photo publications. I find them quite repetitive, > essentially reworkings of previously published material. I also find it > increasingly difficult to distinguish editorial photos from the images used > to promote equipment, which are generally visually arresting but not > necessarily profound. > > BTW, my use of the term "visual plagiarism" refers to rather obvious > reworking of others' ideas rather than direct copying. > > Is genuine originality disappearing from the photographic mainstream? > > What are the groups thoughts on this? > > Cheers > > John Poirier > > > > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of >> Bob W >> Sent: June 12, 2008 1:49 PM >> To: 'Pentax-Discuss Mail List' >> Subject: Shooting plan >> >> >> Hi, >> >> I've booked a week's holiday in Fez for Sept/Oct, just at the end of >> Ramadan and in time for Eid al-Fitr. I had hoped to go for longer, and >> to get there on the train, but I can't spare more than a week so I'm >> flying there (I've paid extra to offset the CO2!). >> >> Anyway, I'm starting to make notes about what I'd like to photograph >> while I'm there, and I wondered if other people do the same, or am I >> just some sad no-life? >> >> When you go on a photo trip do you just wander around and leave the >> photos to the will of Allah, or do you deliberately put yourself into >> likely-looking situations? >> >> I normally put together a loose list of the type of shot I'd like, and >> the places to go where I think it's likely, but I make sure I can >> extemporise. So I don't usually get exactly what I wanted, but I do >> tend to get good stuff. For instance, in Romania I wanted funerals, >> and gypsy music. In the town where I expected to get good shots of >> funerals, I got nothing. But in the village where I expected gypsy >> music, I got a great funeral. >> >> At the moment I'm looking through the Magnum website for inspiration >> and ideas. I have been to Morocco a few times before, although not to >> Fez, so I know it's difficult to photograph there, probably more so >> during Ramadan, but I'm quite excited about it. >> >> Bob > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
