jon w.

Tony, I am a newbie and, like many, a great admirer of your candid or street photography (I'm also a new arrival in Sydney, so this adds an extra frisson: I'll look out for a man with a panoramic camera near the Opera House).

I'll comment on this photo because it hasn't attracted anyone else's attention, and because I actually think it's one of your more daring shots formally. You've taken the risk of imposing an obstacle to our vision (and thereby drawing attention to your own position), and cluttering up the frame. I presume the fence is also meant to draw our attention to the wood (?) piled in front of the men. It's not an 'open' photo. It doesn't offer itself up to you immediately.

And this leads me to a more general point - a criticism, in fact, although it might not seem a very important one to you. The photos in this folder are not, of course, 'poor imitations' of HCB: they are very good imitations, which show a wonderful sense of timing, technique, and an openness to the world about. But they do seem to accept without question or critique HCB's notions of what a photograph is for, what the photographer should be looking for, and how to decide when it has succeeded and when it hasn't. They are an endorsement, a celebration even, of the world and HCB's way of thinking about it.

Arguably, this isn't enough. Think of what Robert Frank, William Klein, Garry Winogrand, etc., did with the example HCB offered them. In the best of their work you get the feeling that they're renegotiating and reconsidering possible definitions of a good photograph (and thereby possible ways to relate to the world about) as they go. There is nothing taken for granted a priori. There's a great anecdote by Klein where he explains that after his first book won the Prix Nadar in France, he got invited to speak to American camera clubs on that basis, although they didn't know who he was or what he did. When he visited, they all wanted to know how he had managed to get published with such 'bad' photographs. They were completely baffled. And what I like about Frank's The Americans is that it's a work of critical intelligence, not a celebration, an attitude he took from Walker Evans, I think. And speaking of Evans, there's a sequence he took in the New York subways which is exemplary for what I'm trying to get across here. The pictures are (unavoidably) technically very rough, and they're actually quite boring to look at after a while, but they're hugely important in the history of photography, because by taking them Evans was trying to redefine the meaning of a 'portrait' in a quite radical way, and also to redefine what it means to take a photograph (he wanted to turn himself into a sort of roving photobooth).

In short, it's possible to use a photo to pose a question rather than make a declaration. This is what is missing from your work, I think. Now there are various possible rejoinders to this, the first of which is 'who cares?' Maybe you think HCB's approach is entirely adequate and doesn't need to be critiqued or reconsidered. The second would be that I'm not reading your photos properly and that you have been trying to do what I'm talking about. A third might be that you have better things to do with your time than worry about the essentially theoretical concerns of an academic like me.

Anyway, this one does ask some questions, which is why I'm giving it a 7/7.

And just to reiterate: the above notwithstanding, it's an amazing portfolio.

ditto other comments

This is great - the gestures are tentative, almost tender, which is a wonderful paradox. I once saw a shop assistant absently scratching her face with the detached hand of a mannequin, but didn't have a camera with me. Thanks for getting this related shot for me!

Very intelligently done. I like the weird relation between the foreground, the figure and the fuzzed up background (intended to help in dramatizing the theme?). The title, however, is maybe a little naive. Better without

Also, the space inside the restaurant is really interesting, not at all 'open' or obvious. A puzzle how to relate the various figures and planes to one another.

This too is very Walker Evans via Robert Frank (the fragmentation of the text, the great juxtaposition of the faces on the sign/poster with those inside), but so well done that I'm not inclined to complain. Another I would have given 6.5 to.

Well, this is amazing. A very common motif (someone photographing someone else), that all of us think we're being clever when we discover (until we see everyone else's version of the same shot).

But here it takes off because of the INCREDIBLE expression and pose on the guy's face. It proves that a good photographer can take a motif that's been cheapened by innumerable mediocre treatments, and make it fresh and interesting again.

And again, ultimately very ambiguous. As soon as you start to think about what's going on, it becomes a bit puzzling. Don't explain it to me.

This is great, but it's a bit too obviously a homage to Walker Evans to get top marks from me.

I'd have given this 6.5 if I could, but only because I'm reluctant to award anything 100 per cent (it comes from marking student essays - it's a basic principle that no one ever gets 100).

I like all the photos in this folder - and I agree with others that they strongly remind me of Robert Frank. This is one of my favourites: I like images that suggest possible connections but do not insist on them, that leave space for the viewer to join the dots. Cultivating ambiguity is a way of preserving a respectful distance or not intruding in too vulgar a manner. Of course, on one level, this has a clear and obvious subject: the man's getting his shoes shined, but that's the least important part of what's going on here.

This is a comment on the folder as a whole. It's so completely different from the stuff I do that I can't think of anything very intellgent to say about it, but it's really striking, obviously intelligent, and well executed. Some of it makes me uncomfortable, but in a good way, creepy like a well-made horror movie.

An INCREDIBLY dramatic photograph. Really stopped me in my tracks. And I too like the contrast between the flames and the silhouette (I don't know that s/he is 'serene', but certainly not in a hurry).

Yes, the car in the background is distracting, but then it wouldn't really have been possible to wait for it to pass, would it?

The moment is otherwise very well taken indeed, but I agree that on my screen it appears incredibly flat, to the point of being almost illegible. A problem with the scan, or underexposure in the original?

I really like this. It's very difficult to use such a wide-angle lens effectively, and I like the 'instant rapport' with the girls.

Alleys and tunnels aren't so original, but the exact structure of this one is more interesting than most.