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Elliot Erwitt said this last night


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In a question and answer session at his exhibition opening in Bradford last night, Elliot

Erwitt said the

following:

 

モDigital manipulation kills photography, Itメs enemy number 1.ヤ (Not referring to

Photoshop I don't think).

 

Asked about tips for starting out, he said, モStart rich..... The field is very crowded and

you should be aware that itメs not likely you will succeed.ヤ

 

モDigital is so simple. An image without effort.ヤ

 

モTo get a good picture, you have to have lots of bad ones.ヤ

 

モLuck is the most important factor.ヤ

 

モCommercial work is always shot in colour, personal always in B&W. Colour is descriptive,

B&W is interpretive.ヤ

 

モI shoot B&W because it looks better.ヤ

 

モAssignments are easy, (compared to personal work), they follow a logical procedure with

a known end requirementヤ.

 

モI like photography that captures the human condition.ヤ

 

Any comments?

 

Gary

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"Digital manipulation kills photography, It's enemy number 1"

 

Absolute tosh. And to back that up I have enlisted Ralph Gibson (a veteran Leica M and B&W photographer of equal stature to Elliot Erwitt in my humble opinion).....

 

http://bermangraphics.com/press/ralphgibson.htm

 

Especially the part where he says....

 

Ralph: "Photoshop is a magnificent, magnificent experience. I have a laptop at home and I learn new moves every night. While surfing I seek out Photoshop tutorials. I did all the scans for the book, モDeus ex Machinaヤ, and I did all the duotones and color seps in CMYK, everything. Photoshop enabled me to create and set inking levels that remained consistent throughout the entire book. The first page had the same density as page 768. For me, Photoshop is about unifying my body of work for either output to lithography or Iris prints. Now I want to introduce another idea here. I believe that the computer has evolved technology that has accelerated and enhanced the quality of the emulsions of our black and white and color films. "

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Trevor,

 

I should have made it clear that (IMO) his reference to 'manipulating' was to change the

substance of an image - adding a different head etc, rather than performing traditional

darkroom skills of colour balance, burning cropping etc.

 

But, he may not have been as everyone's line in the sand is different. Removing pylon

wires is OK by me, but he may have included that in his comment.

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No its not just another film v digital thread.

 

It goes to the heart of photography and how it is practiced. Its about process.

 

Digital is just another way of doing what can be done with film. But it has made certain techniques more accessible. In skilled hands a powerful tool. It provides unbridled freedom. That freedom has an edge. By that I mean there's a large amount of stuff done out there in the name of digital photography that's undisciplined dross. Basically unsupervised kids in chocolate shop syndrome.

 

C.

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trevor, that ralph gibson link was back in 2001.. I would love to here from him now.

I'm sure leica has or will provided him with a dm to play with.

sorry gary, but a lot of the quotes need more context regarding digital. but I didn't get the

feeling he was too deep.. I heard duane michaels a few years back and that was inspiring.

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sometimes when i dodge or burn too fast with the mouse in photoshop elements, my laptop crash...dunno why. Seems like it is getting sick of it and kills itself when that happens..

 

 

�Digital is so simple. An image without effort.� agree, but so what?

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I don't judge anyone on their list of awards or achievements given them by a comity who I don't know and who's opinions are no more valid than those of an illiterate Mongolian. Sorry they count for nothing in my world.

 

Gibson probably likes Photoshop given his terrible ability to dodge and burn, something in itself I don't really consider part of genuine photography. As for his technically good 'images', I don't really find them particularly inspiring.

 

As for Erwitt, he's one of few people who understands what photography really is, or at least oriniginally was, and doesn't confuse it with digital imaging.

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Glad to read that Elliot Erwitt is still running around making provocative comments, scratching your ears and making the fleas rise up in protest.

 

My favorite Erwittism is: モIt's just seeing - at least the photography I care about. You either see or you don't see. The rest is academic. Anyone can learn how to developヤ

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"I don't judge anyone on their list of awards or achievements given them by a comity who I don't know and who's opinions are no more valid than those of an illiterate Mongolian. Sorry they count for nothing in my world."

 

Comity... illiterate...

 

Point taken.

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Elliot remains one of my "heroes" of photography. I grew up with his work. Part of growing up is coming to realize that your heroes have weaknesses too. Some of his remarks quoted above are great and hold real truths. Others show a narrow minded dogmatism that I would just chalk up to his being "old school". Nobody's perfect, and his body of work stands for itself.
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