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tim atherton
13-May-2004, 09:34
http://roarkjohnson.blogs.com/linktostrangers/

(series at the very bottom of the page)

Roark Johnson's Stranger a Day (with his Deadroff) photoblog

BTW - there are some quite interesting photoblogs out there

Bill_1856
13-May-2004, 11:39
Apparently this server was also built by Deardorf. The two pictures that finally loaded weren't anything special, unless you're a Disfarmer groupie.

Robert_4191
13-May-2004, 22:56
The server loaded with no problems for me for the page with all the images, though the main page of the blog sometimes loaded slowly. A lot of the portraiture at first glance is what might be considered stereotypical "large format portraiture" -- subjects standing and looking straight ahead into the camera with a little bit of stiffness. But there's a surprising amount of variety if you actually tried to look at more than two pictures, and I'm impressed with anyone who can take an 8x10 and find a stranger to shoot every day of the year...not every portrait is great, but a lot of them were enjoyable to look at and had many small details to appreciate, but then again, I'm a fan of people photography.

And on this forum, of all places, I would imagine that people would see beyond the large format stereotypes (too formal, too stiff, too perfect looking etc) and appreciate what interesting and subtle detail can be rendered for even the most ordinary of subjects with a large negative. I'm also not sure what these portraits of everyday Chicago people from many walks of life have anything to do with Disfarmer styled work...seems like a bizarre comparison to me.

Brian C. Miller
13-May-2004, 23:41
I must agree with Bill, the images are similar to Disfarmer: stiff, plain. The one of the old guy with the long beard interests me, but that's probably a biased opinion because I also have a beard.

Yes, Robert, I looked at all of them. And did you notice how some of them are vignetted at the bottom? I thought that was odd, myself. I imagine that the 8x10 must be a real ice-breaker in a conversation.

Actually, it looks like a lot of street photography. I'm personally not a connoisseur of street photography.

Donal Taylor
14-May-2004, 00:30
actually, while I don't think they are the worlds greatest photography, the idea is certainly interesting - and I thought the portraits were certainly better and more interesting than about 90% of the LF portraiture you see with it's staid and outdated formualic poses and lighting techniques.

honest and straightforward work which acutally says a lot about both he subjects and the photographer. And while there are similarities with Disfarmer - if "stiff and plain" is your take on him, you haven't really understood the work or looked at it very well.

In the case of this work, natural, honest and open is more of what comes across

BTW - where are the other photoblogs?