Once you get over the granny porn, it's not a bad photo.
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424706910/imogen-cunningham-and-twinka.html
I forgot about that one... Sure would like to meet her in the woods.
There's no reason to like something different than what you like. Tastes are personal, and no one's taste is any better than anyone else's. To show otherwise, you'd have to prove that an objective standard exists, show what it contains and be able to compare people's tastes to that standard. A brief look into such a matter would quickly show that that's not going to happen anytime soon. (This is not to say that there aren't interesting statistical analysis about what people do like.) As a result, I have no issue whatsoever in anyone's reaction to a specific print. I may like it. They may not. No problem. For example, I can't stand Eward Weston's nudes, whereas others hold them in high regard. What concerns me, though, is when people claim that what they like is somehow more valuable or better than the taste of others. This "my way is the best way" type of thinking is not only philosophically unsupported, it's caused a lot of problems historically.
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/424706910/imogen-cunningham-and-twinka.html Sure would like to meet her in the woods.
My claims are that the experience of viewing a photograph is inherently subjective, there is no objective standard that tells us what our subjective reaction to a piece of art should be, and one person's subjective reaction to viewing a print is not any more valid than another person's reaction.
Back to photographs. A person whose map of the world is largely blank when it comes to art (i.e. they have little knowledge or experience of art) will still react to a photograph based on their map of the world, but it will be a reaction based on ignorance. A person who has had the opportunity or has taken the trouble to study art (and thereby expand their map of the world in that area) will most likely have a different subjective reaction. Both reactions are valid according to their personal maps of the world, but I'd suggest that the reaction based on knowledge is more useful to other people than the one based on ignorance.
But beware of the priesthood.![]()
... many of the scenes that appear spectacular or special on a finished print, were in fact quite ordinary. So don't rush to a conclusion that a beautiful landscape photo is merely a capture of a beautiful scene. While it's true that many are, those photographers that consistently produce beautiful landscapes are very often making those ordinary scenes beautiful.
Is it impossible to make a "good photo" of the ordinary?
........ And if nudes are so easy (as some have suggested) why are there so many bad ones out there, and so few good ones?
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