Justin Lowery, the best landscape photographer of the current times?

[Merg Ross]

The superlative precludes a meaningful answer. There is no "best." However, there are many photographers of the landscape; some cater to the masses, while others work in near obscurity. Their worth is truly in the eye of the beholder.

On this subject, I am reminded of the letters between Ansel Adams and Edward Weston in 1945.

Ansel wrote: "I believe you to be one of the greatest artists of our time --- certainly the top man in photography."

Edward's reply: "I will not protest your appraisal of me, my work; I want to believe everything you say! --- even though I don't think there is ever a "greatest."

I agree --- and this is the beauty of the arts.

[Drew Wiley]

Thad - I was not speaking of plagiarism as just being able to pigeonhole something into a particular sub-genre, no matter how predictable or obnoxious or routinely gimmicky that genre might be. Thousands of people play Gibson guitars and are lousy at it; others might be good at it. And for sake of argument, let's say all of them happen to be blues players. That does not comprise plagiarism. But if someone plays the very same tune in the very same way and somehow takes that into a context which might be called commercial reproduction without rendering due credit or royalties, then the lawyers get called and the fur starts to fly. That kind of scenario is harder to prove in photography, but ethically is exactly what I first meant in this thread. I'm not going to get into copyright arguments or anything like that. But let me just repeat, Why do people even have to do that kind of thing? - unless they have no confidence in their own sense of personal perception, vision, and composition ! They simply haven't found their own set of wings yet. Many never do.

[Tin Can]

Copy Art = NOT ART ≠ Art

[Drew Wiley]

I never can figure out how Oren is going to react next. I always thought that large format photography was itself a fanatical religion. It certainly starts a lot of wars.

[aaronnate]

AH, yes after being a wrestler and then profiling as a romantic photographer with a large camera, at 61 I still have to use my Ries tripod to knock back all the women trying to get to me. Do I sense envy?

Its the bellows extension that really drives them wild.

[jnantz]

There are a lot of people who use other peoples' tripod holes; and a lot of people chasing magic bullets. Good for them, they are doing what they enjoy.

BTW it was too dark in the steamer trunk I escaped from to get any good photos and when I was dangling by my feet off the office building in a straight jacket and chains i didn't have any way of depressing the shutter button.

[Daniel Casper Lohenstein]

AH, yes after being a wrestler and then profiling as a romantic photographer with a large camera, at 61 I still have to use my Ries tripod to knock back all the women trying to get to me. Do I sense envy?

[pepeguitarra]

"... Thousands of people play Gibson guitars and are lousy at it; others might be good at it. And for sake of argument, let's say all of them happen to be blues players..."

Now, that reference brings something to memory. The famous Beatle George Harrison was asked once his opinion of the famous classical guitar player Andrés Segovia. His response was: "He is Daddy of us, all". When Segovia was asked what he thought about Harrison's comment, he responded: He is not may son, he even plays electric guitar."

Just in case someone wants to tackle film versus digital.

[pepeguitarra]

There is a large group of photographers that chose to do photography because they like it and enjoy it, not because they want to make money on it, or because they want to be professionals, or because they want to be recognized as the best photographer ever. Some of those guys knows their trade so well and are so good that they don't care other peoples opinion. There is knows Youtuber Influencer that once said: NOBODY cares about your photos, only YOU do. So, worry about it yourself. In a way is like playing golf, you play against yourself really.

[Drew Wiley]

What does that have to do with anything? Money and reputation are peanuts. Some photographers use a camera to make a living, some prefer to do something else for income so they aren't enslaved to other folk's commercial or esthetic demands, and still others bounce back n forth depending on whether they're working for sake of someone else or just for themselves. There are lots of hypothetical ways to pay the bills per se. What I was referring to is living it - discovering something for yourself, making the light your own. That's kinda hard to do if you're wasting a lot of energy chasing preset stereotypes.