Overdone Cliche Subjects

[paulr]

I think any subject is still up for grabs. The unwritten gripes about all these subjects is really HOW you've seen them photographed. Probably a million times, exactly the same way, since 1930.

I happen to be sick of photographs of Wyoming's Tetons. I go there a lot, and i've been seeing paintings of them that look like Thomas Moran's, and photographs of them that look like Ansel's (which also look like Thomas Moran's) for most of my life. But a couple of years ago, when I saw Friedlander's photographs of them, I was thrilled ... here was work that came out of HIS way of seeing, not out of someone else's version of someone else's version of Thomas Moran. It was refreshing and inspiring.

But I still have pet peeves ... cliches that are guilty until proven otherwise:

1. Lighthouses
2. Sunrises, sunsets, or clearing storms
3. Closeups of any part of a barn
4. Closeups of anything made out of adobe
5. Anything involving an aspen grove
6. Anything involving Yosemite valley
7. Incan, Aztec, Mayan, or Druid ruins
8. Monument fucking valley. Or the equivalent. Or any view from inside a slot canyon.
9. Any mountain stream photographed with a slow shutter speed
10. Any Western sky, photographed with a red filter

And the all-time most heinous one of all:

11. Any "landscape with hot babe"

[tim atherton]

11. Half dome with clouds
12. Half dome without clouds

a bit small, but my favourite Half Dome photograph

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I think pretty much anything there is to photograph, at least in terms of landscape photography, colud be considered cliche in the sense that it's been done to death. As they say, there's nothing new under the sun. However, a more important question is what is the purpose of the photography? Only a very small proportion of photography is done to break new ground. Many of us like to photograph the cliches because it's fun! Cliches sell- people who view and buy landscape photography are drawn them- I think that's why they become cliches in the first place. If you're going to photograph any of the cliche subjects mentioned above, a good plan is to start with them and then find non-cliche images in the same national parks, monuments, or wilderness areas. There are a surprising number of non-cliche images waiting to be discovered adjacent to all the famous landmarks in the national parks!

And, since no one has mentioned it yet, the number one annoying landscape cliche of all time is the slot canyon (lower Antelope Canyon in particular!)

[robc]

4. Closeups of anything made out of adobe

does that include adobe photoshop?

[cyrus]

Everything that has been photographed already

Nah, I don't buy that. Everything in New York where I live may have been photographed - I'm convinced of that - but there are other subjects. A few months ago I saw a magazine - Lens Work? - with a portfolio of shots of hands holding little mouse pups, octopuses (octopi?) mermaid's purses, and other "baby" things. It was great. Who would have thunk of that? Not me because I was busy re-re-re-photographing the *&#% Brooklyn Bridge - again and again until I get it right.

[Darin Boville]

1. Lighthouses
2. Sunrises, sunsets, or clearing storms
3. Closeups of any part of a barn
4. Closeups of anything made out of adobe
5. Anything involving an aspen grove
6. Anything involving Yosemite valley
7. Incan, Aztec, Mayan, or Druid ruins
8. Monument fucking valley. Or the equivalent. Or any view from inside a slot canyon.
9. Any mountain stream photographed with a slow shutter speed
10. Any Western sky, photographed with a red filter

And the all-time most heinous one of all:

11. Any "landscape with hot babe"

Hey! That's *my* list! But you forgot "Surf with rocks"...

--Darin

[Artur Zeidler]

13... Old Spanish Colonial or white claperboard churches

[robc]

we've all done it, that is, we've all photographed cliched subjects, and will probably continue to do so. For me it was probably the "Angel of the North" and I went back and photographed it several times but the first time produced the best image. I was somehow drawn to it. It just happens to be the most viewed and photographed piece of sculpture in the UK. Just google it and see for yourself. There's approx 10,000 pics of it in google images...

It might be interesting to see what others consider to be their own most cliched subject and whether everyone else thinks it is cliched.

[paulr]

I think pretty much anything there is to photograph, at least in terms of landscape photography, colud be considered cliche in the sense that it's been done to death. As they say, there's nothing new under the sun.

But there are potentially as many new ways of seeing as there are people looking. The cliche is the familiar thing shown in a familiar way ... innovation in art has often come from the familiar thing shown in a new, highly personal way.

And, since no one has mentioned it yet, the number one annoying landscape cliche of all time is the slot canyon (lower Antelope Canyon in particular!)

See #8, above ...

[clay harmon]

Dude,

That is El Capitan, not Half-Dome. I'm a climber, I know these things.

a bit small, but my favourite Half Dome photograph