Is Photography screaming?

[Struan Gray]

I think that subtlety has always been a minority taste, and that inconsequential worrying about the anonymous bulk of misled others a majority one. :-)

Terrible is the temptation to do good....

[Marko]

so of course we get good at tuning it out, so we don't go crazy. and of course they get better at crafting images that scream louder, and that can be takin in with a shorter glance.

the casualty of this may be people's appreciation for subtlety. When I see someone glance at a body of work that deserves hours of investigation, i wonder if media culture is to blame.

But it is not only images that rise in numbers and get louder - everything is these days. We live in an increasingly fast times with more information coming at us faster then ever before, but we still have the same brains.

Good work may indeed constitute less than 10%, but the 10% that has become available for inspection has grown exponentially, hence a huge portion of that also needs to be filtered out to fit our physical abilities.

So as not to go crazy, we learn to skim and glance and determine very quickly what deserves more of our time for a second look.

[domenico Foschi]

the casualty of this may be people's appreciation for subtlety. When I see someone glance at a body of work that deserves hours of investigation, i wonder if media culture is to blame.

I agree, but it also might be the usual chicken and the egg story.
Is it the media responsible for lowering the standards or they are just providing what the public seeks: fast acting evasion and distraction from reality?
Or as it usually happen, might be a combination of the two.

Evidence of what you say, Paul, are the two most diametrically opposite reactions I have had showing my work.

I was sitting with a friend and his family and I was showing them a print I was delivering to a client,at the same time their 5 years old daughter was expressing some frustration towards her mother by crying.
I though to include her in the converstation by showing her the image.
Her reaction was the best compliment I have ever had about one of my images: she stopped crying and looked completely absorbed in it and kept looking at it for a long time.
That was the good story.
The other.
I am scheduled for an appointment with one of the supposedly most "influential" galleries in Los ANgeles. I won't mention the name.
I had a portfolio of about 32 images.
This person browsed through them as I go through the general listing page of ebay looking for sweaters, saying words like" Oh I love this, Oh my God! Ooh and so on, as she was turning the mats.
It lasted about a minute, no joke.
It was infuriating, I wanted to yank the portfolio out of her hands and leave the premises.
I never contacted her again.
Yes, you need thick skin with gallery owners.

[domenico Foschi]

I think that subtlety has always been a minority taste, and that inconsequential worrying about the anonymous bulk of misled others a majority one. :-)

Terrible is the temptation to do good....

I agree.

[Patrik Roseen]

...

One possible solution might be the establishment of a a cooperative gallery, independently funded, where work could be shown without a primary concern for its saleability. I'm currently involved in setting up such a gallery as part of the newly formed non-profit Plymouth Center for the Arts in Massachusetts, hoping to attract those photographers interested in having a venue for high quality work who may not yet have established themselves with major galleries. Naturally, we hope for enough sales to keep the lights on, but are primarily interested in providing a means for showcasing the work of such photographers.

Dick, you should have added a screaming photograph to get more attention in this thread...

I think this sounds interesting. So how will you filter out good quality and whom to display. Might be worth a separate thread though.