Criticising Famous Photographers

[paulr]

"Saying "this is what I saw" or "this is what this looks like (photographed by me)" isn't perhaps quite as simple as it sounds. It requires - for want of a better word - honesty - as well as a level of self-understanding, a certain amount of clarity, and a refusal to fall into cliche, convention or plagiarism"

it's much easier said than done. the difference between "this is what I saw" and "this is what I saw that reminded me of those other pictures that I saw at the museum" is huge. it takes a great deal of self trust to move away from mimicry and toward authentic responses to things.

there's a lot of gray area, too. at what point does does influence become mimicry? einstein said he saw as far as he did because he stood on the shoulders of giants. i like that as a metaphor for art as well. you couldn't be where you are now without the work you've studied and admired. but if you're true to what you see, now, from the place that other work helped you to get to, your work will not be mistaken for that other work. it will be something entirely different, with a life its own.

this may be one of the things that makes doing authentic work difficult--if your standards for what's good or acceptable are too rigidly tied to the work you've already seen, then work that looks different will strike you as a failure. it's a conundrum.

[Oren Grad]

it's much easier said than done. the difference between "this is what I saw" and "this is what I saw that reminded me of those other pictures that I saw at the museum" is huge. it takes a great deal of self trust to move away from mimicry

Nice point, I think there's more than a grain of truth to that, but...

and toward authentic responses to things.

...smuggling in "authenticity" adds yet another layer of baggage. It's remarkable just how many different assumptions and ideas are bundled into the let's-take-Art-seriously-establishment view of the world. I think many of those assumptions and ideas are quite reasonable and defensible, but they're neither obvious nor necessary.

[paulr]

yeah, "authentic" has a lot of baggage. i'm trying to use it in the simplest way i can think of ... to describe a response that is really yours and not just a repackaged version of someone else's. how you dance when no one's watching.

[darr]

jj: your idea would sell more copies than mine!

[John_4185]

Darr jj: your idea would sell more copies than mine!

Gosh, I hope not! Seriously, I believe there's a market for your image.

I'm pleased that you did not take it badly. I did check your website first and sensed that you had a healthy view of the world.

I find it interesting that pears so often depicted in a similar arrangement of three, but are still so very different.

[William Mortensen]

"... to describe a response that is really yours and not just a repackaged version of someone else's. How you dance when no one's watching."

I do get the feeling that much of art and photography is done to impress someone else... Nothing new, and perhaps an inescapable part of the human condition. Maybe on a less-cynical day I could just change "impress" to "share with."

[darr]

jj Darr: I'm pleased that you did not take it badly.

If you kicked my dog, I would take that badly, but not your creative work as I am opened to visual suggestions. Thank you for taking the time and sharing your talents and point of view. A few of us on this end enjoyed it well!