May/June issue View Camera Magazine

[dsphotog]

My copy arrived today.
The entire issue is a portfolio of unpublished images by George Tice.
Great stuff.

[msk2193]

Got mine too!

[Thom Bennett]

Yeah, this is wonderful stuff. Kudos to Steve for allotting an entire issue to Tice's unpublished work.

[Richard Wasserman]

I am a big fan of George Tice's work and was thrilled to see the portfolio.

[Joe O'Hara]

Agreed with above comments. I think VC Magazine should keep it up with the twice a year or so in-depth portfolio issues.

[Renato Tonelli]

Agreed with above comments. I think VC Magazine should keep it up with the twice a year or so in-depth portfolio issues.

I agree - the Caponigro and Tice issues are excellent.

[Mark Sawyer]

Agreed with above comments. I think VC Magazine should keep it up with the twice a year or so in-depth portfolio issues.

A second agreement. These issues are something very special.

[bobc]

You know, I was going to post a question about this issue but noticed that a thread has already started...

Good to see that several people have already commented favorably on the Tice portfolio. I've gone thru it a couple of times and re-read the intro. For me, I just don't see anything in any of the images. They all just seem very sub-par to me as my eye wanders thru each photo, looking for an object of interest without finding one. There's just nothing striking or tugging at me...

My question is, what is it that you see in the portfolio/images that stirs? I'm not trying to knock Tice or be critical. I'm asking so as to broaden my realm of interest and be less opinionated.

[Stephen Lumry]

Oddly enough, I skimmed the magazine when I got it and was not moved, however, I went back and read Michael More’s overview and it all kind of came together for me and after that I really enjoyed portfolio.

[John Jarosz]

For me, I just don't see anything in any of the images. They all just seem very sub-par to me as my eye wanders thru each photo, looking for an object of interest without finding one.

I have to agree. In fact I question the reason these are unpublished photographs. Now I suppose all of us have photos we personally like but others would be underwhelmed. Maybe that's why these photos were never chosen for publication - Tice (& Caponigro) like them but their editors didn't. Now some of them are quite nice, but there are quite a few I just don't get.

(Putting on asbestos suit now)

John

[Alan Gales]

I'll admit it too. I was not very impressed and disappointed that the whole issue was of George Tice. I was wondering what I was missing.

[Jim Graves]

I loved the photos ... it made me reevaluate how I look at ordinary scenes ... anybody can make Yosemite Falls look great ... but to find content, composition, and substance in ordinary scenes ... that's artistry.

And, some of the photos should be considered as parts of a group as well as individually.

Don't miss Michael More's introduction.

[Ed Richards]

They are subtle, and, as Jim notes, some work as a group. I am still learning to appreciate more subtle LF images, but I am still biased toward graphically strong images.

But no artist's work is going to be appreciated by everyone. A significant minority is the best you can hope for. If these are ones you do not care for, at least appreciate that they are well printed in the magazine and that in the future Steve may hit someone you appreciate. I subscribed to Aperture for a long time, and it sure printed a lot of well regarded images I just did not get.:-)

[Alan Gales]

They are subtle, and, as Jim notes, some work as a group. I am still learning to appreciate more subtle LF images, but I am still biased toward graphically strong images.

But no artist's work is going to be appreciated by everyone. A significant minority is the best you can hope for. If these are ones you do not care for, at least appreciate that they are well printed in the magazine and that in the future Steve may hit someone you appreciate. I subscribed to Aperture for a long time, and it sure printed a lot of well regarded images I just did not get.:-)



I subscribe to Aperture as well as View Camera Magazine. I agree with you Ed, there are a significant amount of images printed in there that I don't get either.

Maybe George Tice's work is just too subtle for me.

[Thom Bennett]

I think that the urban landscape, as depicted in work like Tice's, is very difficult to appreciate because it is not "exotic" (like a place you've never been) nor is it "grand" (like Yosemite). These are photographs that most of us would see similarities to in our own towns and cities and, therefore, don't seem exotic or grand. I think when Tice is photographing in places like his hometown of Paterson he is deliberately not looking for the postcard view but for more of a quiet and sublime view of a place. This is what I like about his pictures.

I'll admit that on first look through this issue I was baffled by some of the choices but on the 2nd and 3rd viewing I started seeing things that I would describe as visually poetic. For instance, "Alleyway, Dixon, Illinois, 1986" on page 56. If you look through the jumble of wires and the hard darkness of the shadows towards the end of this alley you see a sign that says "Riches." In this country we all have the promise of success and riches if we can navigate the prosaic landscape that we have built up around ourselves. Other images are simply graphically appealing; "Fairmount High School, Fairmount, Indiana, 1985" is, as More alludes to in his essay, an homage to Frederick Evans' cathedral photographs that Tice clearly appreciates and admires. But rather than a grand cathedral Tice sees the beauty of the space and light in a high school stairway. How very democratic of him.

Very few of the images are peopled and yet in each scene it feels as if someone has just left. I get the sense of Sunday morning in these pictures; the town is quiet, shops are closed, everyone is either at church or home in bed sleeping late on their day off. Or, perhaps more to the point, these towns have seen better days and are slowly dying. Either way, the scenes are very much American. Tice has preserved the look of a certain time and place that is now lost forever.

The best part of the work, for me, are the Lincoln pictures. It's easier to appreciate some photographs when you have a definite theme that you can wrap your mind around. Such is the case here. The image on page 38 of the Lincoln Memorial is sublime; perhaps our greatest President surrounded by the darkness of the Civil War and the very real possibility of the country being forever torn in two. This picture takes a cold statue and, by use of light and framing, moves it into another, more poetic realm.

Having said all this I do wish that Tice himself would have written some things about these particular pictures. But that is the great thing about Art; we all bring our own sensibilities, desires, and prejudices to what we see. And I, for one, enjoy and appreciate what Tice has accomplished.

[Louie Powell]

Normally, when a new issue comes out, I go through the previous issue to cut out images that I find inspiring to add to a book of my favorites.

But in this case, the issue will be archived in its entirety on the bookshelf in my darkroom. This is a classic!

Thanks, Steve.

[John Jarosz]

Having said all this I do wish that Tice himself would have written some things about these particular pictures.

Given the fact that these pictures are represented as unpublished photos taken over a long period of time, I agree 100% with the above. I would like to know why these were never published. Was that Tice's choice (were they never submitted for publication?) or were these photos simply not chosen by the editors of the publication they were submitted to?

I do like the alleyway, and the Mark Twain Hotel; most of my objections center around the houses, especially those with all the overhead wires and portions of parked cars. It's one thing to appreciate the architecture, but I imagine we should be talking about the photograph - the image.

OTOH, the wires in the Mark Twain Hotel and the alleyway are what make those photographs.

And yes, a lot of the photos in these two issues remind me of the things I see in Aperture, which I cheerfully admit that I don't "get". Never have, never will I suppose.

But commentary from Tice would have gone a long way towards evening out this collection.

[Brian Ellis]

Given the fact that these pictures are represented as unpublished photos taken over a long period of time, I agree 100% with the above. I would like to know why these were never published. Was that Tice's choice (were they never submitted for publication?) or were these photos simply not chosen by the editors of the publication they were submitted to?

I do like the alleyway, and the Mark Twain Hotel; most of my objections center around the houses, especially those with all the overhead wires and portions of parked cars. It's one thing to appreciate the architecture, but I imagine we should be talking about the photograph - the image.

OTOH, the wires in the Mark Twain Hotel and the alleyway are what make those photographs.

And yes, a lot of the photos in these two issues remind me of the things I see in Aperture, which I cheerfully admit that I don't "get". Never have, never will I suppose.

But commentary from Tice would have gone a long way towards evening out this collection.

I haven't seen this issue of "View Camera" but Tice is one of my favorite photographers and I'm very familiar with his work, especially his studies of New Jersey's urban landscape. These photographs aren't architectural photographs as such and the telephone wires, parked cars, etc. are an integral and important aspect of the photographs.

The following, from the introduction written by Brian Wallis to Tice's book "Urban Landscapes," might help in "getting" them: "These vernacular architectural styles possess their own separate histories, which are quite distinct from that of formal architecture . . . . Look closely at these pictures and you will see a precisely rendered record of the lives of thousands documented in the carefully made signs, buildings yards, and main streets of one single state . . . Everything seems arrested precariously on the verge of extinction, replacement, or eradication."

[John Jarosz]

Brian:

Good stuff. That's exactly what should have accompanied the photographs in VC mag. Now I still may not agree with the selection of photos for publication but I would have had a better explanation of why, plus I'd know that's exactly the way the photographer wanted those photos to look. (IOW, he consciously made the decisions about all those elements I'm not fond of.)

[speedfreak]

I loved this issue! The images are quiet and subtle, but full of character. They aren't in your face or immediately obvious. Like was said previously, they seem to have been taken on a sleepy Sunday morning, and even with the lack of actual people in the images, you can feel the humanism that these images and places are built upon.
In terms of the telephone and electrical wires, I think they are part of the image just as they are a part of the urban landscape. I've often struggled with the choice to include or do everything I can to exclude these seemingly "distracting" elements, but when looking at these images I came to the conclusion that they can totally work in the context of an image. I think that our constant exposure to these elements of infrastructure has made our minds somewhat blind to them, until we are removed enough ( looking through the lens of a camera) to finally notice and disagree with their presence. We are taught to eliminate these distracting elements from our images, but I believe with the right use they can be left in and eliminated by the viewers mind.

[lenser]

Sorry, but I glanced through it and then left it on the rack at Barnes and Noble with the thought that this is one reason to be glad that I buy off the rack instead of a subscription.

I buy the magazine for it's variety of styles and for the learning experience of the articles. While I enjoyed seeing both the Caponigro and Tice issues, neither supplied more than a passing interest in viewing the images and no need to own or useful instruction.

[gevalia]

You guys. I'm selective with VC so I picked up the issue in B&N, looked at it quickly and passed it over as an issue packed with mediocre images. Now I will have to go back buy it and spend time with it. Where is my scotch?

[Maris Rusis]

By quirk of fate George Tice and I are represented by the same gallery in Australia so I've had the nice privilege of looking at many of his best originals. The pictures in View Camera are definitely second tier work but still very good; much better than I could do with the same subject matter.

[Nathan Potter]

Maris, your comments are interesting. My impression was also that these are mostly what one would call "second tier" Tice. Nevertheless the collection was splendid in my opinion.

We must have an open mind when looking at these and they demand much more than a casual glance. The juxtaposition of separate elements within each image combine as a whole to form cultural icons of the times they represent. This technique is astoundingly successful in some of the images and of course less so in others. As has been mentioned these cannot be treated as blockbuster images but absorbed as an introspective experience, sort of a remnant of human ecology. The spread is large enough to really sense what Tice was after - I see his vision, I think as he would want me to see it.

Great thanks to Steve for putting this together.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.