Alec Soth, what do you think?

[mdarnton]

Something I always question about my own work is whether the representation of the subject is honest, and whether it's representative of the subject and the environment or whether the photographer is using subjects as props for his own drama. I'm not fond of the latter, more so when it's presented as some type of documentary rather than fantasy. Remember how a winner of World Press Photo 2015 was someone who shot a town in Belgium who was later accused of using photos from different towns, and misusing subjects to create his spurious opinion about the town in his essay? http://www.theguardian.com/artanddes...s-award-photos

I think Soth treads the fine line of doing that, which always leaves me uncertain about his work.

Here's a really good example I became aware of recently from another photographer: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mb...hw2o1_1280.jpg
It's a proof sheet of a very famous Diane Arbus photo that leaves me wondering how much of her work is documentary, how much pure opportunism and victimization of her subjects. I suspect the latter.

My criticism is just one opinion, coming from someone anchored in journalistic photography. The essence of what I'm saying is that the photographer has an obligation, I think, to make it clear whether he's doing documentary or fantasy, and always to avoid exploiting his subjects, in either case. I think, in that context, that Avedon clearly exploited his subjects, and I don't care for his work.

In the Richard Man context, I think the work you're doing is directly honest and non exploitative.

[Drew Wiley]

Soth to Hopper? Now that's apples to oranges, Kirk. Funny thing about Hopper (whom I admire greatly), is that he wasn't taken seriously at the beginning - just
too contemporaneous and allegedly deadpan. I had the advantage of hearing opinions about him from the previous generation of painters in analogous genre.
The new kid on the block, so to speak, whose work wasn't "socially relevant". He suffered over his paintings. Not spontaneous at all. Photography has to be just the opposite or it isn't photography. I don't know anything about Soth's actual mindset. Nothing much to say. Nice images. Don't care much for the pretentious staged
stuff in a prededing post, however.

[Richard Wasserman]

affectionados.

Affectionados. Brilliant, can I use this Kirk?

I'm a big fan of Alec Soth. I find his work to be very evocative and nuanced. He does not claim to be a documentary photographer. An interesting interview with him when "Sleeping by the Mississippi" came out—

http://www.aaronschuman.com/sothinterview.html

[Jac@stafford.net]

Izzit just me? Before this thread, I had never heard of Mr. Soth.

Yes, it is just you. In fact, of the hundreds of articles about Alec Soth you are mentioned very often as the only guy who never heard of him. Now that is ruined!

Looking back, I've known of Soth's work for longer than I thought. Time flies.

His photo of * Peter's Houseboat surprised me when it appeared. I live a modest walk from the place, and I have passed by it often. The area is Latsch Island, on the Mississippi River in Minnesota. His particular photo is the penultimate image of our small island community. (For another view see Drake Hokanson's (6x17cm) photo here.)

Back to Alec - to me his work brings a sense of loneliness, the Winter pictures and interiors in particular. It is very difficult to make photos of impact as straightforward and tightly constrained as his are. Simple is elusive. His work endures as a long series, each photo building a large, complex, rather dark, and to me, honest image. I could never own just one of his pictures or bare seeing one in isolation.

Thanks to richardman for starting this thread.

(* Actually the term is Boathouse here - a floating structure which originally stored a boat - a boat garage converted to a homestead.)

[Drew Wiley]

I'd like to see an actual exhibition, but wouldn't go too far out of my way to do so. Maybe I'd be more enthusiastic if I had a Midwestern background. And as far as his work in the South, it just doesn't hold that raw pseudo-amateurish charm that Eggleston's small camera work did. But this is a very tentative opinion on my behalf, largely due to superficial knowledge, since as you should all know by know, I don't accept the web as a judicious standard.

[axs810]

Izzit just me? Before this thread, I had never heard of Mr. Soth.

If you don't know of Alec Soth then check out his work online and watch this video and listen to him talk.

[AuditorOne]

What do I think?

He's a good photographer. I love his work but I can't afford it. As is true of most artists I admire.

Once in awhile I run into a good one that I like.

[AtlantaTerry]

Izzit just me? Before this thread, I had never heard of Mr. Soth.

OK, I wanted to be fair so I went to his website and looked at every photograph there.

First impression: snapshots, nothing special.

Then from what I read in his biography he shoots everything on 8x10" film.

OK, I can appreciate the effort that took.

My non-ivory tower lasting impression: snapshots using 8x10" film.

[AtlantaTerry]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/penultimate

penultimate
[pi-nuhl-tuh-mit]

adjective
1.
next to the last:
the penultimate scene of the play.
2.
of or relating to a penult or the next to the last syllable in a word:
In the wordappropriate, -pri- is the penultimate syllable.

[richardman]

And you? What do you think? I think this is an apples to oranges comparison. A better comparison might be Soth to Edward Hopper.

Dear Kirk, unlike (most?) people here, while I have a long term interest in photography, I have been more interested in the works of HCB, Eugene Smith etc. rather than large format photographers, until.. around 2012 when I picked up a large format camera. So to be honest, people like Sally Mann, Richard Avedon, Alec Soth, etc. were not in my radar. Indeed, I have to admit that I have not heard of Edward Hopper before. I will take a look. Although as Mr. Drew Wiley just remarked that in his opinion, that Soth and Hopper is the apples to oranges...

As to what I think, I have only seen Mr. Soth's work on websites, as I could not afford his books. As an aside, I am a book enthusiast - I have all of Salgado's books, most of HCB's, and Eugene Smith's etc. - but I do not "get" Stephen Shore. As I mentioned elsewhere, initially I didn't care for Mr. Avedon's work, mainly because of his reputation, but now I have grown to appreciate it very much... Anyway, that's really a long winded answer to say - Sleeping in Mississippi seems pretty good to me, not brilliant level, but pretty good. I don't quite get Songbirds. So just want to hear what people think.

There seems to be an undercurrent that I am trying to find faults or cut people down. That's not my intentions. I am looking for the good, and of course criticism, but not an unadulterated pile-on.

Thank you.