OT Photography you do vs photographers you enjoy.

[terry_rory]

I find the photography I enjoy doing myself is completely different to the

photography of others that I enjoy looking at.

 

My favourite photographers and the work I seek out in books, the internet,

exhibitions etc is a world away from the photographs that I take. (With a few

exceptions)

 

I don't find this a problem but I wondered if I am alone in this.

 

Do you seek out photography from others that reflects your own photographic

style or are the two completely different?

[Karim Ghantous]

Good question. I'll take anything that interests me (e.g. night scenes, small objects, nature). Usually people aren't involved. This is in contrast to one of my favourites, Cecil Beaton. However when I can find a suitable person to photograph then I'll use her.

 

Beaton hasn't influenced me directly - my way of shooting is different than his. But I'd like to eventually go in a different direction and get a bit fancier and get some interesting backgrounds happening. Something that Beaton might be proud of.

[oliverkurzemann]

hi

 

for me it�s a bit different now. what i enjoy the most is street photography. walking

around with a camera and observing what�s happening. i got a few assignments where i

thought. "oh god, this will be boring.." then i even started shooting a few weddings,

because it�s good money. whenever i went there i thought. " let this be over quick." but

as i said before, i see things different now. i try to shoot the jobs i get in a way that i enjoy

doing it. and i even like shooting weddings now. it�s a dream situation if you look at it

from a photojournalistic point of view. lot�s of people in one place, forced to be there,

drinking....

 

so i basically enjoy the most, that i can make money with something i love doing. and if

the jobs are really,really bad i always tell myself: "you could be sitting in a factory

assorting screws instead." then the joy comes back very quick..

 

oliver

[bill_thorlin]

I suppose I have wide-ranging, catholic interests ( jack of all trades master of none perhaps ). The main gaps are ( using forum headings as a classification basis ) street and documentary and, of course, formal weddings.

 

I do not find myself particularly seeking out work in those areas to look at except perhaps once in a while just to see if I am missing anything - a bit like reading one of the tabloids once in a while just for the experience ( before anybody gets really upset I do not mean that street and documentary is on the same level as the Sun ).

 

Perhaps I am just happy in my own little world and becoming a boring o.. f... :)

[fjords]

Mr. Hare I crafted a response, but when i hit submit every thing crashed and <a

href="http://www.photo.net/bboard-uploads//00GCWR-29645784.jpg">this</a>

mysteriously appeared on my monitor! (really!!)

[jimsimmons]

I take a lot of pictures similar to my idols - Eggleston, Friedlander, Meyerowitz - but I'm a sucker for any kind of photography that makes me wish I'd been there when "that Light" existed. Doesn't matter what the subject is or how it's treated, if it's magic light, I love it.

[al_kaplan1]

The pictures I enjoy taking are the sort of thing that I regret not taking in the past, the simple every day things that we find too commonplace to even bother with, places that are no longer with us. Things like the people we know, the waitress at the coffee shop, the coffeeshop itself, the camera shops that no longer exist, which is why I started that self-portrait series a couple of years ago. For too many years I photographed mostly what I was getting paid to photograph. I was out of the loop, the guy behind the camera, and wasn't choosing what was in front. An editor or P.R. director was making that decision.

 

A generation ago when kids were collecting comic books and trading cards I have no photos of my son in those stores. Now the stores are gone. I have no pictures of several local fishing tackle shops I used to frequent. They'll never return because Outdoor World and The Sports Authority control the market now.

 

I have tons of pictures of my first child Elena but far less of my son Jonathan.

 

I get a lot of kidding about my Monkey photos and self-portrait series but it's a way of making the mundane interesting to me. When some people saw my self-portraits with Monkey in the "new post office" (it's 10 years old now) they asked me if I had any pictures of the old one that I'd gone to nearly daily for 30 years. I didn't.

[terry_rory]

LOL Mr Doane.

 

Simple question really. For example maybe someone loves taking landscape photographs but has a bookshelf full of the work of street photographers.

 

I used my self as an example. As you well know, I am hopeless at the stuff featured in the S&D forum but find a lot of work there that I enjoy.

 

My bookshelf has very little landscape work in it whereas my neg files and hard-drive are full of landscapes.

 

I just wondered if I was alone in this and wanted people to talk about it.

[terry_rory]

Thanks Al.

[al_kaplan1]

When I was starting out my heros were HCB, W. Eugene Smith, and Bruce Davidson. What I really enjoy looking at are old Photography Annuals. I have a bunch of them from the 1950's and 1960's, mostly bought used years later. I guess it's the variety of viewpoints and styles that is stimulating.

[brambor]

I photograph things whenever I have a feeling that I will capture something interesting.

 

Currently I browse more of Rossler, Sudek, Koudelka, Kolar. All Czechs. Weird. I'm not the type to tote blood lines. (I'm Czech born).

 

I'm re-discovering color and considering checking out Jonas Bendikssen's new book. Satellites.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159711023X/ref=wl_it_dp/103-0289841-3913434?%5Fencoding=UTF8&colid=68C4ZREYQVUG&coliid=I1KPZW3G8QZJAO&v=glance&n=283155

 

 

I think the only genre I do not enjoy is fashion photography (Although I think some Helmut Newman's stuff is cool) and pure architectual photography. At this stage I find it just boring. I might change with age.

 

There is one style of photography I enjoy but haven't done yet. I love Sudek's still life shots. I would love to focus my attention sometimes in the future to attempt something of my own in this arena.

[johnny massey]

Peter, if you mean by 'canned war in a box shooters' the fluff from 'embedded' photojournalists of recent conflicts, then I agree wholeheartedly, but I still find the work of people like Larry Burrows utterly compelling. Johnny.

[brambor]

Here is another link to one of Bendiksen's essays I enjoyed very much:

http://www.jonasbendiksen.com/space.html

[michaelkh]

Great topic.

 

I find that most of my photos are of small details - not quite closeups. I think of them as

mini landscapes, in general. Generally they are in colour, though I've done more black and

white of late.

 

The dominant theme in the books on my shelf is people, though. Lee Miller, Julia Margaret

Cameron, Robert Frank, and Ansel Adams' amazing "Born Free And Equal", for instance.

Also, essentially black and white.

[charles_stobbs3]

I would say basically landscape, color. But this past weekend I went to the MFA in Boston, where they have two good ongoing exhibitions. One is Americans in Paris a collection of paintings by American artists in the late 19th and early 20th century who went to Paris to study. Looking at some of the pictures of street scenes and cafe life I wished I had been there with a camera. Also showing is a collection of color photos by Laura McPhee who took a large view camera to Wyoming. Her photos are all printed about 6' x 9' and I can remember them better than the paintings and yet I like the paintings better and would like to have a few hanging around the house. Maybe I should take up painting.

[thomas_sullivan]

wow Peter A.....Tasmania is one weird (but cool) looking place.......the Peter Dombrovskis photog.....that kelp shot of his is awesome.....heh.

[derek_stanton2]

Inappropriate use of The Bunny. I feel it's only fair that you surrender the JPEG, and pay us some sort of penalty.

[brambor]

Charles, I also went this Sunday. :-) Some of Laura's prints were magnificent and some quite remedial.

<p>

Shot from last Sunday. If you went with a family it might be you ;-) :

<p>

<img src=http://static.flickr.com/61/198034994_fb98f96234_o.jpg>

[Rich B NYC]

Good question, Trevor. Whether or not I actually have a "style" is an even better one. As with most amateurs, I'm more of a generalist than a specialist.

 

My favorite photographers are HCB, David Alan Harvey and Helen Levitt. Unfortunately, my talent for street/documentary comes up way short of theirs.

 

I also enjoy landscape/nature photography but, living in New York City, rarely find the time to do any. At least I can content myself by looking at the work of John Shaw, Jack Dykinga and others.

 

While I don't conciously try to emulate my favorite photographers, I do try to learn from them.

 

Rich

[seanb]

Like yourself, and probably most amateurs, my own stuff is mainly landscape and travel, and I have some books along those lines; from Ansel Adams to Joe Cornish.

 

Overall, though, my bookcase leans more towards street and documentary - emphasis on the documentary. The kind of work that Diane Arbus, say, or Mary Ellen Mark do is hard to do as an amateur; a pro will have a target market which gives them an reason for the work, even if it's just fine art sales. As an amateur, you are much less likely to gain access to the right subjects or have the time to spare for them.

 

I also have some books by the likes of Bob Carlos Clarke and others of that ilk, which is another avenue I have yet to pursue myself (although I am working on it).

 

I'd love to be able to shoot good street photos, but I don't really have the right stuff for it - too self conscious, mainly.

[christopher_a._junker1]

I really enjoy shooting auto racing, but I keep reaching on the shelf for Rosenthal's sailing photos along with Capra and Eisenstadt books. What I can do and what I like to look at are 180 degrees apart. Recent favorite is friend John Kosboth's flower macros.

[rick_keir]

<p>Two of my favorite photographers are David Douglas Duncan and Galen Rowell. I

don't shoot in a style that's very similar to them, because I do not travel in war zones,

hang out with Picasso, or climb Everest. Subject matter is a strong part of style: when we

think of the style of HCB, for example, we cannot extend it to macros or landscape work.

</p>

<p>My own style, such as it is, reflects that I mostly photograph the urban area I live in,

but I

enjoy the styles of many photographers who go places and lead lives unlike my own. </p>

<p>There's one photographer who has a "local style" that overlaps with mine, because of

similar subject matter: <a href="http://wisconsinhistory.org/whi/feature/

mcvicar/">Angus McVicar</a>, who photographed Madison for many years. There's a

great collection called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/029917820X/

104-7350182-1267129?v=glance&n=283155">"Double Take"</a>, where Zane Williams

went back and photographed the exact same settings and printed them side by side, so

you can see that changes that occured over more than 50 years. </p>

[fjords]

Mr. Stanton, erronious conclusions, are usually result of reading comprehension, (maybe

calcification of the pituiary: )).<p> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/

tetheredtothesun/">Intellectual</a> curiosity should not be <a href="http://

www.flickr.com/photos/23435213@N00/show">confussed</a> with ones' own artistic

<a href="http://static.flickr.com/34/103618134_041b599e20.jpg">expression</a>.

[charles_stobbs3]

Rene, we were there last Friday. Retirement has some advantages.

[blowingsky]

John Doan, Your pancake bunny has filled a huge gap in my ability to respond to people around me who think I have answers. I feel liberated. I've already handled 12 email replies using it.

 

Thanks!

 

--Surrounded by Idiots.