chris_jordan3 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 hey guys, here's a serious question that i'll probably overstate because i overstate everything (including that) but here goes: i have this judgment that there are WAYYY too many people out there taking the same photos over and over and over again, convincing themselves that they're "artists" but fundamentally missing the whole point of art. in short, a huge part of America's photographic scene is in a serious rut. <p> sure, shots of aspens and canyon country at sunrise are pretty, but that is ALL they are, and if this were any other art medium (painting, jazz, literature) the people who think that kind of work is "art" would be laughed right out of the game because what they do is so transparently formulaic, un-creative and derivative. All they're really doing is showing that they can competently and precisely copy the work of others. Where is the art in that? <p> Painters learn to copy the work of others as an exercise in technique, but in much of photography, copying the work of others seems to be the final goal. It's absurd! Imagine if there were thousands of writers out there who aspired to write books that read exactly like Kurt Vonnegut's novels, or thousands of jazz musicians whose sole goal was to sound exactly like Paul Desmond, or thousands of painters whose work looked EXACTLY like Andrew Wyeth's, so you couldn't even tell whose was what. it's hard to imagine such a scenario in the other art forms, and yet, i believe that's exactly what's going on in photography. You could borrow ten photos from each of a thousand nature photographers, and mix them all up, and you'd have NO IDEA which photographer took which picture because they're all exactly the same. <p> what will it take to get the photography community THINKING, working on new, difficult, challenging projects that involve introspection and sophistication, risk, experimentation and failure? there's a wild-ass beautiful universe out there, right in our own cities and backyards, and yet most photographers think they have to go to these few "special" pristine natural places at just the right time to take an artistic photograph. it's the saddest and most ironic thing to see the same old crap year after year being called "art"-- the same hackneyed photos taken at sunrise from the same worn-in tripod holes from the same places in the same national parks, all without an ounce of any of the ingredients that artists from other media would say are the foundations of meaningful art. <p> where is the satisfaction in doing that kind of work? why is the photographic community so stuck in this furrow? i think the current situation is worse than the pictorialist movement at the turn of last century, which in retrospect we all look at with a smirk because everyone was doing the same tacky-looking work and no one realized how bad it all was. a hundred years later, here we are repeating history, just with better technology. <p> please respond sincerely with whatever thoughts you have to offer, so long as they're well-considered (one-liners from the shooting gallery will not help anyone). <p> ~chris jordan (Seattle) <p> www.chrisjordanphoto.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b.d.trabitz___ Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Chris: Several points: The landscapes I create are mine. The light, the time of year, the decision when to press the cable release, the particular scene, and the impulse to set up are my personal decisions. <p> I also have a wonderful reason to place myself in areas I consider beautiful(with all the definitions that can be ascribed to the word) <p> Whats wrong with pretty? <p> Barry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_smith Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 You must frequent different galleries than I do or look at the work of different photographers. Either that or you read a new article or got a new book for Christmas. Yes, there is a lot of copying. This is true in any art discipline. Most of what passes for 'art' is lacking in many ways with few really creative individuals doing excellent work... as it has always been. It won't change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_strack Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Chris: <p> Here are my 2 cents. <p> In any artistic medium artists operate at different levels. When learning a musical instrument, the first pieces are hardly fine art, but they are to the student. And the simplest melody or photograph, when well executed, can be appreciated. <p> I think we all suffer from failure to appreciate fully that with which they are most familiar. So the beauty in our backyard goes un- photographed, while the national park we visit on a trip is new, exciting, and gets photographed, often, as you imply, from the same vantage point as every other tourist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_jordan3 Posted January 4, 2002 Author Share Posted January 4, 2002 Dan, what really got me to thinking about this was the recent threads where people ask "where should i go in New York to take photos?" Jeez, I wanted to grab them and shake them and say "in your own freaking house!!!!!" <p> I suppose you're right that it won't change; i just have the sense that it COULD. Other artistic media, such as jazz (which i am familiar with because i am a jazz pianist), operate at a higher level of excellence than photography, I think because there is a general creative drive and energy in the jazz community that seems to be lacking in much of photography. I don't know why though; or maybe i'm just wrong. <p> ~cj Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qtluong Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 I do exactly the kind of photography you describe. For me the satisfaction is in being in a variety of beautiful places, totally surrounded by the sights, smells and sounds of nature, and to create a pretty image which reminds me, and possibly arouses in the viewer, some of the emotions that the place gave me. It is to capture as much as possible of this visual excitement. Incidentally, if the same photograph has been made a million of times (see my Delicate Arch image), it is somewhat satifying for me to believe that my image might be among one of the hundreds better ones, for factors such as composition, perspective, timing, light, and the mere information density of the 5x7 format. Why is the community stuck in this furrow ? I suppose a lot of photographers are out there to please themselves (and apparently the viewers as well), rather than to create "art", whatever it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glenn_kroeger Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Chris: <p> Simple answer... people like such images. <p> I am looking at retirement communities for my mother, and yesterday visited an art center at one community where a painting class was held. Of approximately 30 paintings in the room, about 25 were scenics of forest paths, lakes, mountains, etc. Not a one was of an urban street or city scape. And people can paint anything they like. <p> For me, I enjoy being in such places, and the photography is the hobby that gets me there. But people who view and buy my works like what I capture. People see their own backyards, vacant lots, buildings, sidewalks, etc everyday. They have to look at that stuff but they don't have to like it. Ask 100 city dwellers if they would rather live in Jackson Hole and see what they say. <p> I think, experiment and take risks in my job everyday. I shoot scenics for a hobby, but I think, experiment and take risks there as well. For me, my LF photography is defined by the shots I don't take. Many times I will work with a scene for an hour or more, and finally decide there is nothing new or worthwhile there. So don't assume that every scenic was some thoughtless snap of the shutter just because you don't like it. <p> I am happy for you to stay in the city and experiment, and leave the wilderness to the rest of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugo_j._zhang1 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Same photo can NOT be taken over and over again, unless you are using an auto 35mm shooting out of the window of your tour bus. First and foremost, photography as an art is a very intense creative process and experience. It's a form of personal expression. If somebody happens to like my photo, that's fine. I care less if somebody say that my photos are just like others' photos. I know that's not true. Nature is infinite, thus the way to express it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_chmilar Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 On the other hand: <p> Let's say I take a blue dog teddy bear to all of my locations, and place it in every shot (ie. blue dog in "The Wave"). Then I make up a "profound statement" about it. <p> Now, I definitely have a "signature style". If anyone else does the same thing, it is very obvious copying. <p> Is it art? Is it just a gimmick? <p> It is difficult to develop a unique, recognizable landscape style, and not make it a gimmick. <p> Maybe I should just insist that the prints be hung upside-down. <p> This all leads me to another question: is there any landscape photographer whose work is immediately recognizable, based on style, content, location, etc? (If there is, then we can all start copying her/him ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
photomark Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 <i>convincing themselves that they're "artists" but fundamentally missing the whole point of art.</i><p> You're off to a bad start. There is no point of art. There are as many points of art as there are artists. I should stop here because the rest of your question rests on this one issue, but, like you, I like to overstate things.<P> <i>are pretty, but that is ALL they are</i><p> To you (and many others, I admit) perhaps. But I love seeing a well captured landscape--that's my business. Many are more that pretty to me. This is because I like being in a beautiful landscape. I love hiking to distant locations to find something beautiful, but I never think that I am the first one down the path. That doesn't stop me from going, however. <p> <i>Imagine if there were thousands of writers out there who aspired to write books that read exactly like Kurt Vonnegut's novels</i><p> There are<p> <i> or thousands of jazz musicians whose sole goal was to sound exactly like Paul Desmond</i><p> There are. Vonnegut, Desmond, and Wyeth are called geniuses for a reason. You can't expect that from everyone. There will always be those who forge ahead and those that follow. Sometimes those that follow end up outperforming the inovators. J.S. Bach was considered old fashioned in his day. Fugues were out, but he kept on writing them and transcended the entire genre. It doesn't happen every day, but it happens<p> <i>You could borrow ten photos from each of a thousand nature photographers, and mix them all up, and you'd have NO IDEA which photographer took which picture because they're all exactly the same</i> Speaking of Bach, how would you do if we played the same game with trio-sonatas written by baroque composers. Could you tell ten apart? (most serious musicians couldn't) Does this mean they are exactly the same? No. They are different but it is subtle. Does it make them bad art? No. They've lasted centuries and people still listen to them. If you listen enough you will be able to tell Handel from Bach, but you will still have trouble with ten different composers. The same is true in photography--even nature photography. David Meunch's work looks like David Muench's work. You can usually pick it out of a line up.<p> <i>What will it take to get the photography community THINKING, working on new, difficult, challenging projects that involve introspection and sophistication, risk, experimentation and failure?</i> A community does not do ANY of this. Individuals do. They are out there doing it as you read. If you look hard enough you will find inovators in every field. If you don't see good photographers doing the kind of work you value either you are not looking hard enough, or you have a unique vision in which case you should stop complaining and show us.<p> This subject has been beaten to death. If you don't like the work others are doing don't look at it and shoot the kind of work you like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doug_paramore Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Michael: As to whether there is a landscape photographer whose work is immediately recognizable, the answer is yes. Adams, Weston, Brett Weston, John Sexton, Clyde Butcher, and others. As photographers, we all see things in a different way. Everyone on this forum could go to the same site, shoot from the same place, and the pictures will look different. That is the individual artist, not duplicating because we are all different mentally. <p> Regards, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skygzr Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Hi Chris - <p> I'm a fairly conservative, literal-minded guy, and my pictures reflect this. I'm not likely to do a two-year study of "Sidewalks of Amerika" or photograph severed Barbie doll heads floating in pickle brine. For me, art is something I do to relax, and just maybe produce something that pleases me. I don't know that I want to be dangerous or edgy or ground-breaking. <p> Provacative question, though. Be prepared for lots of warm, roasty flames! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilhelm Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Not everyone can be a master. It would be a sad world if only Rubensteion and Horowitz and other legends could play Mozart and Beethovan. Most people who play the piano do it for their own enjoyment; they are not professional musicians. The same is true of photographers. I laugh at those who seek out the (virtual) tripod holes of St. Ansel in Yosemite, but I've done it and it gives me great pleasure to compare my vision with his. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_long2 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Chris: <p> When I read your post, I went to your website and viewed your images. (Good idea to increase those site hits!) After all, with a blanket condemnation such as yours, I figured that you must certainly be on the cutting edge of art photography. <p> Yet upon viewing your images, (which by the way are very good), I have to ask you this: Are you the first person to photograph moss covered trees in the old growth forests of the Pacific N.W.? No? Then why do YOU take photographs of pretty nature scenes that have been photographed before. Do your images scream "This photo was taken by Chris Jordan"? Is this art or another hackneyed interpretation of nature? <p> I suspect that you photograph these scenes because they appeal to you. Why we photograph what we do is a very personal, and at times, unexplainable decision -- something inside of us just "clicks." (No pun intended). We make photographs because there is something that lies before our eyes that appeals to us and sparks a creative interst, not because it meets some self serving interpretation of art ala Susan Sontag. If similar subjects have been photographed before, so what? If a person draws inspiration from a subject that helps them to grow in a way perhaps known only to them, who are we to say that their efforts lack meaning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin_kolosky Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 "Introspection", "Sophistication" "Risk" "Wild-Ass". Another attempt to define "Art" and photography with words. Such attempts, while interesting, will always fail (less than total agreement), as Art and Photography speak without words in a language all of their own. Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightcraftsman Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 "You could borrow ten photos from each of a thousand nature photographers, and mix them all up, and you'd have NO IDEA which photographer took which picture because they're all exactly the same. " <p> From 90 percent, yes. But in addition to those already mentioned, Charles Cramer, Jack Dykinga, Jeff Grandy, Kerik Kouklis, William Neill, Richard Newman, Rich Seiling... <p> I have recordings of "All Blues" in my collection from Miles Davis, Stanley Clarke, Freddie Hubbard, and Larry Coryell. Each is based on the same theme Davis wrote 40 years ago, but each has a unique sound and I enjoy listening to them all. Same with "A Night in Tunisia." Listen to Dizzy Gillispie's original and compare it with the versions Art Blakey and Randy Weston recorded. They're each uniquely beautiful. <p> As with music, photographic variations on themes carry their own unique beauty. Frankly, your diatribe says more about you than it does about the people you are judging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walter_glover Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Hi Chris & All, <p> Let me fan the flames, and after 13 days we still have plenty here in Sydney to share around. <p> I have visited your site, Chris, several times in recent months because I really admire your vision, your choice of subject, your acceptance of and fascination with your immediate environment. I find in your photographs inner connections that you must also bring to your music. Obviously the camera is simply another instrument to give expression to your thoughts and emotions. <p> In response to this no doubt a clamouring chorus will arise acclaiming the camera as simply an instrument of expression for them also. On that point they are probably right. Unfortanately, for the rest of us, the difference with regards many of the chorus is that they sadly have an inner connection to a vacuous abyss. They have nothing to say. Nothing of their own at least. Not that that presents any obstacle to the continuation of their soporific output . <p> By definition, ensuant to its title, this site attracts devotees with a fascination with the hardware of photography. In fact, very particular hardware. Pride of possession and the veneration of the covetted drive much of the dialogue. Photography as a facile folly and diversion to escape the pressure and humdrum of the daily round of the over-affluent. <p> Twenty-first Century visual hunter-gatherers bivouac in the wild to celebrate and indulge their primal roots capturing vistas and tableaux which, whilst numinously charged, are devoid of plot or intrigue and are, therefore, incapable of denouement. An inadequate reward to the enlightened viewer - merely the comfort and security of treading trodden ground. <p> Walter Glover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_jordan3 Posted January 4, 2002 Author Share Posted January 4, 2002 I realize my thoughts may come across as sounding elitist, which has prompted a lot of defensive responses, but i truly believe that "art" is NOT something that is reserved for the special few-- EVERYONE has a unique "vision" inside them, and the only ingredient necessary to release it is the willingness to show up and take the risk of knowing the Truth (whatever that is for each person). It's so sad that so few people are willing to go there, considering the incredibly rich rewards. But, I'll go away now because I can see that I've offended a lot of people. Apologies, and peace. <p> ~cj (Seattle) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echard_wheeler Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Chris, I gotta say I like what you had to say. Not being one to go on with a lengthy post. I have tasked myself to begin in my own backyard, literally, and attempt to find beauty. To force myself to be aware of the poetry around me. Be it my wife and daughter on the front porch, grape leaves on a fence out back, the way the light falls on my daughter's swing set. It's all right there under my nose. I am never, never bored. I bet there are legions of photogs doing this in their own enviroment everyday. Thanks for your pos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dick_deimel2 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Perhaps you have offended some people, but you also may have made others think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt_oulman Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 So many "Artists"..... so many important sounding words.....<BR> So many who are "making statements"... "expessions of inner visions"....<BR> All so much B.S. Of the probable thousand readers/posters here there may be an artist or two lurking - but please gents, let's be honest with ourselves!<BR> We are, at best, Craftsmen and Technicians of a PROCESS. We enjoy the PROCESS of photography, and we study and strive to produce a more technically perfect product, thereby reaffirming our proficiency of the PROCESS.<BR> We compare our results with those of the "masters" in an attempt to validate that proficiency (and all the time and money invested).<BR> An artist uses whatever tools are necessary to create the product that reflects "the vision". Whether that be $10,000 worth of computer gear, a camera - or crayons for that matter - or any combination of all media available. Because the VISION, the END is the primary goal - not the PROCESS of arriving there that we are so in love with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin_kolosky Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Walter <p> How much time did you spend with your Roget's Thesaurus before you wrote your comments? <p> Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emil_salek2 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Thank you, Matt, for your honest and lucid words. Compared to real masters of the processus of pictorial expression like van Eyck, van der Weyden or da Vinci, we cannot even hope to get there and achieve such intensity, corrupted as we are by today's culture of instant gratification. In this connection, what a shame that naive avidity to name oneself "artist", while "artist" is not a self-proclamed status but a recognition given by the(competent)peers, as somebody once nicely said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jorge_gasteazoro3 Posted January 4, 2002 Share Posted January 4, 2002 Look there is only one Michael Jordan, but that does not mean that there are not many other talented players. If we take Chris's statements at face value then I guess we should all stop watching basketball because the rest are not at the same level as Jordan. There are many "capable" photographers that are masters of the craft, but once in a while there comes a special "talent" that defines that generation, as Emile said, there was Da Vinci, there was AA or Weston. I dont think is a matter of photographing the same places, is a matter of being in the same places and "seeing" a different thing that defines that special talent. So unless you are one of those special people Chris, probably your phtography is as redundant or boring as ours... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emile_de_leon9 Posted January 5, 2002 Share Posted January 5, 2002 Hasn't it occured to you that our society is really screwed up artisticlly right now.With the extreame commerciality of all forms of art and few giants alive or incarnate to lead the way... we end up with mush most of the time. There is little support in the school systems and also little or no adult societal support...really no way for an artist to live cheap anywhere anymore and be and develop fully and artisticly ... so we suffer.Look what you have to do just to pay rent...not that these were not always a problem but its really bad now....and we can clearly see the proof artistically! A russian friend of mine commented recently that the art and music in the US is really bland and uninspiring generally.Look at the art and music and performance idioms of the 1920's through the 60's here....great creative stuff....nowadays....we have de-volved.We are asleep...and loving it.Jazz is the greatest musical form to come along in a really long time but now where are the Coltranes,Parkers,and other greats that other generations have created? We dont have any.We have much talent but not any need to use it.If times get really bad we might have a chance.We need a fire under our ass.I dont think this society is condusive to much creativity except in rare circumstances where the artist is supported one way or another.An artist really has to eat sleep and drink their art to come up with the goods...how many now can spend 12 to 15 hours a day on this? Not many these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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