When everything becomes a cliche... perhaps, it's time to sell the camera equipment and take up acrylic painting?
It reminds me of the guy that says, "Nothing can be learned from an experience!"
Hmmmm.... hope I never get to that point!
Cheers
When everything becomes a cliche... perhaps, it's time to sell the camera equipment and take up acrylic painting?
It reminds me of the guy that says, "Nothing can be learned from an experience!"
Hmmmm.... hope I never get to that point!
Cheers
Life in the fast lane!
Okay here's my idea for the most cliche photo ever made. It would be an attractive nude woman on some snow-covered rocks by a river, posing in just the right "fine art" way, with some calla lilies nearby, and an old gas pump, a barn in the background, in Yosemite, at sunset, with a beam of light shining through a cloud, printed using the zone system. Aaaaaaah!
Originally Posted by chris jordan
You left out the cow skull she's holding skywards into the beam of light and the giant pepper looming in the foreground.
Keep this up, and making list of clichéd subjects will become a cliché itself!
Here's an example of how we can view "the thing" photographed differently. I have the issue of LensWork cyrus is talking about. I did not like the subject matter at all. The photography of that portfolio is technically good, but I think the photos are of dead fetuses. This was the only issue of LensWork I did not like. I guess it just hit a bad chord with me.
As far as Overdone Cliché Subjects goes, I think we are opened to shoot everything over again (and over again, etc.) in our own voice. You never know when someone can show you something ordinary in a new light. But what I grew tired of years ago and continue to be still today is color graduated over saturated skies. I think they started with the Cokin resin filters in the late '70s and grew into PS toolbox stuff today.
Don't even get me started with all the Adams' aspens mimicry - !! As for cars, barns and national parks - well, aren't those just the LFers equivalent of the 'sunset photo'?
I can understand that - one of the pictures looked strangely like a human foot - but since I was a Biology major in college, I personally have gotten over the yuck factor.
In any case, whether one likes the subject matter of that particular portfolio or not, my point was that there are so many things other than barn doors to photograph - if only we can break away from the cliches look for them!
In other words, instead of trying to re-do a cliche in a new and creative way (and generally still ending up with a cliche) there is a LOT of room to totally get away from the cliches all together - room that should be explored more, and artists who do explore this should be applauded more than those who take really terrific shots of yet more barn doors.
Of course having just returned from Rome and Venice where I took nothing but highly cliche shots, I don't pretend to be oh so creative myself.
Last edited by cyrus; 25-Jul-2006 at 19:12.
I always vowed that I would never photograph Tunnel View in Yosemite. Can't happen, I said. To do so would be abjectly imitative, artistically bereft, lacking in creative and metaphysical integrity. Plus there are all those damn tourists elbowing for that five feet of space where there isn't a tree in the way.
Then one day last spring I drove through that tunnel and, emerging from the other side, saw this huge clearing storm passing through the valley. Then there was a bright flash of color where the late afternoon sun briefly illuminated a bright rainbow on Bridleveil Falls juxtaposed against the dark valley beyond. But I was not going to photograph all this, of course. For that would have been abjectly imitative, artistically bereft, lacking in creative and metaphysical integrity. And I would never be any of these things.
As I nearly ditched the car in the Tunnel View parking lot, frantically unlimbered the 8x10 and, with tripod and film holder bags flying, ran to that five feet of space where there are no trees, scattering tourists along the way, I deeply pondered the philosophical implications of my apparent actions. This was strictly a test exercise, of course. I hadn't photographed for many months and needed the practice. Better hone my skills now so that, when there are original compositions to shoot, I'll be ready. Yes, that makes perfect sense, I thought.
Two months later, my test shot reappeared as a 30x40" print framed and matted on one of the major wall spaces in my house. And the funny thing is, no one who has seen it has ever remarked as to whether it was an original composition or not. They just assumed that it was. Absolutely amazing.
But, Eric, it WAS an original composition that YOU saw and recorded! ONLY you could have taken that picture in that specific way.
So, I'm not amazed at all!
I think all this "cliche stuff" IS more cliche than the most photographed subjects!
IMHO, if you can introduce something uniquely different (even, if only to you) into a previously photographed subject... then, it becomes an original! Not everyone will see a subject matter/scene in the exact same way.
Besides, for a person just getting into LF photography... can we argue that this would still be cliche for that person seeing a previously photographed subject matter for the first time?
Perhaps, this cliche stuff is a cliche ONLY because we've seen much of these subjects before... because we've been doing LF for a period of time?
I don't know!
But, this is just my 2 cents worth.
Life in the fast lane!
Golly gee whiz! It sounds as though many of you cannot stand the sight of even your own work! If your secrets about cliche works got out, the entire photo industry might collapse, and my gear would be worthless - please keep this quiet until I unload all my gear at high prices!!!
While covered, some specifics ( just kiddin' ) -
Intentionally blurred photos, or handheld Holga photos printed in any way
Platinum prints of two lone trees on a hill or of some place in Europe
Abandoned houses, with or without junkies and nude women
Photos of old naked people with tatoos
Old abandoned temples in the jungle
Naked native peoples of far off lands
Ultra high speed phtography of any kind
Any place legal to photograph without asking permission
Any place that is fun to get to
All low hanging fruit type subjects that can be photographed in LF
In fact, any and all large format photography
Any photo taken by a large format photographer
Any photo that needs any sort of explaination
Homeless people
Any part of a train or anything to do with railroads
Any downtown area, or any part of it
Anything anyone on this forum has thought of or will think of in the next 70 years
Anything that deserves printing in alternative process
I suppose snapshots are cliche too, if they share the story of a place and time visited?
Seriously, how about if all of you post a great photo of your own that is not cliche?
Jaded, grumpy old LF photographers! Bah! Humbug!
What you all say is true though...
P.S. Chris & Henry - due to many requests for the exact photo you mention, I'm in the process
of putting just such a photo together, and I already know many people who want
to buy it before I've even photographed it. It's a "request". Call me cliche, call me
cheap, but at least making that photo will pay some bills!!
Oh yes, more -
Any photo presented in Flash, Quicktime or with the photographer's name on it
Any photo showing the edges of the seamless
Silhouettes
Anything with or without amazing shadow detail
360 degree panoramas
Aerial photography
Underwater photography
And most of all,
Heads on a stick, people on white or black background!
Last edited by Ed K.; 25-Jul-2006 at 20:07.
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