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Leica and digital: "To stand out as a 'great' takes a lot more today"


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This is one great thread. I typed a well-thought out answer and as I was getting ready to post it my cat jumped onto my keyboard erasing the output of my grey matter. So I guess my thoughts have already been reflected by others in sufficient depth.
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My professional work (prepress house) enables me to see a significant amount of

advertising photography before it is published. And it allows me to see the various

retouching steps involved. Nothing you see in an advertisement is real. In fact, they should

be called digital illustrations rather than photographs. In addition, most of the photos I've

seen are under exposed and sometimes out of focus. It looks like they were taken at great

speed to get as many exposures as possible in a short period of time. The clients would

rather spend the money on retouching than proper photography.

 

It make me glad that I took the fork that I did, and kept photography as a hobby.

Something that I can enjoy and not worry about making a living with. Just my 2 cents

plain.

Cheers

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Hi,

 

I actually believe the exact opposite to the OP's supposition to be true..I believe that today it is actually easier for any one 'great' photographer to stand out...I just think there are not many of them.

 

The reason why?

 

...I believe that although there may be more images around, I also believe that much of it is dross. I am of the opinion that the digital & photoshop age has encouraged many of todays photographers to adopt the 'machine gun' or 'fix it later' approach to taking photos, which actually results in poor technique and ultimately poor shots.

 

Many people today spend far too little time thinking about their work BEFORE they take it, then spend far too much time thinking about it AFTER they have taken it.

 

There are also far too many art colleges, lecturers and 'mentors' who seem to spend far too little time emphasising the importance of technique. So you have photograhers with plenty of creative ideas, but no clue about, or mastery over their 'tools of trade'.

 

...and I am constantly amazed at the number of very mediocre Leica 'snaps' that are crooned over on PN..there does seem to be some bizarre correlation made by some, that if it has been taken by a Leica then it must be good.

 

Personaly I think it would be a very good thing if we never knew what camera had been used to take any given photo...

 

cheers Steve.

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Steve:

I agree on 99% of your post but still believe the bar has been lowered and mediocrity is the new high standard. Look at some of the art photographers artist statements if you want to have a real laugh. It looks like schools are teaching BS writing and not technique.

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Thanks, dear PNers, some really interesting comments on the future of great

photography! Allen, I wouldn't get too downhearted about the state of

photography. If we are able to continue beyond postmodern photographers'

artist atatements, most of which as Don says are insulting to normal

intelligence, we might see a new leap in photography, beyond the simplisticy

of the f/64 movement, or druggery of Pictorialism, or Postmodern's "explain it

with an incomprehensible title", we might see a real flourishing, as made

possible by two things:

 

1. The artistic tool known as digital (or as the European's say a bit more

precisely, "numerical" photography) which opens up experimental

possibilities during the taking of an image,

 

and 2. The raising of the challenge bar, by the need to create things which

have not been done before and which can be done by photography (as

opposed to Photoshopery) . Perhaps some genius will pave the way to novel

and imaginative creative photography, in the same way as a Picasso or

Braque with Cubism to mention but a single example from the art painting

medium.

 

"Many people today spend far too little time thinking about their work BEFORE

they take it, then spend far too much time thinking about it AFTER they have

taken it."

 

Right on, Steven! The use of the mind is essential in the making of an image,

whether it be instantaneous and based on a combination of instinct and

experience (artistic preparedness) or slow and methodical. Many scoff at the

latter, but I know of several top artists that take a year to produce two

paintings. Why not a half hour or so in composing a static fine art

photrographic work?

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Greetings from the Seattle area, where in the winter, "It gets late early out here", as Yogi once said. Think of the products that photographers produce as transmissions, and consider who are the receptors of these products. I can't hold an American populace in too high a regard, when we have seen in the very recent past, a total 24/7 obsession with the likes of Anna Nicole Smith, Don Imus, and Paris Hilton. The dumbing down of the US, inspired in no small part by national leaders that can't form a proper sentence unless it is spelled out for them on a teleprompter in small words.
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Hi Kerry,

 

Not all of us Americans are possesed with Anna Nicole Smith, Don Imus and Paris Hilton, it

just so happens to be the fecal material that is forced on us by a press that is afraid to take

to task the national leaders who can't form a proper sentence. I hope I live long enough to

see the day when a generation has had enough and tries to take the Republic back like we

did in the 60's. But I digress as this has been a very good thread on photography. I still do

not believe photography is dead as all it takes is a generation to change things.

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