Our old friend Chris Jordan

[Doug Dolde]

It IS a pretty disgusting read.

Bragging about charitable giving shows it's an ego exercise, not done because one cares about the cause.

[claudiocambon]

I agree with others that this thread turned out pretty lousy. Rather than scream back at those who were belligerent, though, I would instead admonish the rest of us, myself included.

We have to keep our eyes on the prize. This thread should have been about Chris' work, about what in our minds specifically does and doesn't work, even whether in our eyes it does or doesn't work at all, one would hope explained as concretely as possible. Instead it became a shouting match between, on the one hand, an angry forum member who projects his own bitterness at his own lack of success onto the work, as well as the photographer himself, and, on the other hand, the rest of us, who, understandably, felt the attack was ridiculous, and that it should not go unchecked. Heck, it got so bad that even the photographer himself felt the need to defend himself.

I think the key is, somehow, to ignore these ad hominem attacks, and to keep the pace of the discussion going, hard as that may seem. As much as we may feel urged to say, "How dare you?" to such posts, what happens in the end is that the discussion becomes derailed.

A bunch of people are reading in a library. Someone comes in and starts screaming. Everyone else ends up screaming at this person to stop screaming. Everyone is screaming, and nothing gets done. No one wins.

[Marko]

This is one of those forum arguments in which most participating come out smelling bad

That's because at least one participant here "argues" in the same manner as upset chimps do. Same sensitivity, same methods, same results.



The simplest way to not come out of a thread like this smelling bad is to peruse the ignore list.

[chris jordan]

Okay Jorge, send me your private email address and I will tell you the amount that you are now obligated to donate to charitable causes. You are in for some financial stress (or not, depending on whether you keep your promises).

And, guys, I'm sorry I got myself baited away from the conversation about my work. Jorge gets me every time with his negativity; I'm always oversensitive to being attacked about my integrity. Anyway, I hugely appreciate the comments of the rest of you, including the not-so-positive feedback from a few.

Check me out on Stephen Colbert on October 10th!

~cj

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

I doubt it Jordan, I doubt you have donated over 100K, so here is my address which you could have gotten from the profile. rossorabbit@hotmail.com

And you are lucky I match you after that, I am not just a charlatan who decides on a good hook so he can sell work, there is a difference between doing this for a few years to get publicity and one doing it all of your profesional career out of convition, but you very conveniently ignore this.

[paulr]

I have put my money where my mouth is, for 25 years, so no, I have no need to match you I know what I have done and it is easily verifiable. Do your contributions match the $100000 I have donated in time? But I will tell you what, I will match you on the amount over $10000 that you have donated...deal?

The accounting will be tricky, because someone will have to determine if work done with Rollins Environmental and Laidlaw counts as money for or against the environment ....

http://www.movementech.org/EBIC/pubs/laidlaw.html

[Juergen Sattler]

Can't you guys just stop this nonsense? Who are you trying to convince, other than yourselfs? It's great that both of you have donated cash and/or time to good causes - so why care who gave most?

[Vaughn]

Thanks, Chris, for your great work. It is appreciated.

Hope I can see your prints someday!

Vaughn

[Ron Marshall]

Chris, I enjoy your work very much. It raises awareness and stimulates discussion. The benefits accruing from it cannot be measured in monerary terms.

[Andre Noble]

Ansel Adams had the right idea. I can't relate to Chris's newest, esoteric stuff.