On Mar 14, 2012, at 12:06 PM, John Sessoms wrote: > From: "knarftheriault > > It seemed to me the sanctimoniousness ran both ways; that for many the image > was above criticism because of who took it. > > I wasn't around here when he died, but I don't consider HCB "little more than > a common street photographer". I think he was at least as good as Weegee. > > >> >> If HCB followed all the rules he wouldn't have been who he was. >> > > And who HCB was has nothing to do with whether it's a good photo or not.
There is also the very important question of who is looking at the photo, in what context the photo was taken, and in what context the photo is being looked at. If the photo is to show someone the bicyclist so that they can recognize him at lunch the next day, it's a terrible photo. If it's being used to show off the stairway hand rail, it could be pretty good. There are photos that I took several years ago of friends dancing, that they came up and effusively thanked me because it was the best picture anyone had ever taken of them dancing. They could show the picture to someone and that person could actually see what the dancing was about. Four years ago, just getting a photo without flash of someone dancing was almost enough for it to qualify as the best picture anyone had ever taken of them. Out of a night of dancing, I was lucky to get a dozen photos with image quality that I'd barely consider worth putting on facebook today. Likewise, the pictures that people snag for their facebook profiles are often horrible photos technically, but they capture a moment. One of my favorite photos of my sister, with her standing behind a horse my nephew was riding, was one she begged me to take off the web. I thought it was a beautiful photo of a woman who has gone through and survived a lot of struggles. She hated it because it made her look like someone does who survived a lot of struggles, rather than the youthful ideal of beauty that so many try to project. There is also the case of training your sense of aesthetic. The things that you like, or dislike, are often a product of your culture. Music and clothing fashion are two very strong ways that we identify someone from our "tribe". I enjoy rock from the 60's and 70's, a lot of techno and house is just background noise to me, a lot of disco and hip-hop are downright annoying. In a similar vein, when I started listening to blues, I loved Chicago electric blues, could not stand any of the acoustic delta blues. The people far more familiar with the music seemed to most love the music I most hated. After several years of listening and dancing to blues, I now appreciate a much wider range, though I still dislike the scratchy recordings of a toothless hobo beating on a tin can. Someone new to looking at photos might love the eleven exposure HDR that Dan posted, and not see any merit in the HCB bicycle shot. Someone who is just learning the technical side of the craft will look at HCB's shot and see the technical flaws, and only see that the rules are being broken without understanding the full reasons behind the rules. The things that make photography an art rather than just a science are the same reasons that none of those comments were inherently wrong. The same photo meant different things to each person. -- Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est -- 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.
