Mine's "Moonrise over Hernandez".
H.C-B never really knew what he had until somebody pushed a pile of contact sheets under his nose. It is no hugely clever thing to discover a few nice results among thousands and thousands (and thousands) of discards.
The real secret to H.C-B's output is obsessive and brutal shooting backed up by dedicated darkroom workers.
I have never seen an actual photograph made by H.C-B but I've seen museum and gallery examples of gelatin-silvers credited to him. The idea of sublime composition, exposure, and timing as outcomes of H.C-B's camera-work is basically a crock. H.C-B never really knew what he had until somebody pushed a pile of contact sheets under his nose. It is no hugely clever thing to discover a few nice results among thousands and thousands (and thousands) of discards.
The real secret to H.C-B's output is obsessive and brutal shooting backed up by dedicated darkroom workers. I think H.C-B's fame rests on an almost psychopathic capacity for self promotion, and ability to fool naive commentators like Beaumont Newhall et al, and to seduce an uncritical fan-club who fail to realise virtually everything he said about himself and his work should be taken with a grain of salt.
Of the pictures credited to H.C-B I should have liked to have done "Bargeman on the Seine River, 1957". And I wish (sadly unfulfilled) that I had the talent to do it by conscious creativity rather than by chance and in passing.
Who is H.C.B... Is that the new guy from California?
I have noticed generally when people try to convince me of HCB's awesomeness, they tend to default to the elements of composition in the glossary at the back of the Composition 101 book. And when that happens I feel validated in my disinterest in these so-called decisive moments. "This picture is great because the leading lines and the center of interest and the s-curves lead the viewer's eye into the frame". Hooray.
I'm sorry if this is harsh, but seriously Cliveh, we all get it. You love HCB. HCB is the best. Print quality is unimportant. A guy jumping over a puddle is great. Moonrise is not. Etc. What I would ask is that you at least dispense with the s-curves and tell us why you really love these pictures.
I have noticed generally when people try to convince me of HCB's awesomeness, they tend to default to the elements of composition in the glossary at the back of the Composition 101 book. And when that happens I feel validated in my disinterest in these so-called decisive moments. "This picture is great because the leading lines and the center of interest and the s-curves lead the viewer's eye into the frame". Hooray.
I'm sorry if this is harsh, but seriously Cliveh, we all get it. You love HCB. HCB is the best. Print quality is unimportant. A guy jumping over a puddle is great. Moonrise is not. Etc. What I would ask is that you at least dispense with the s-curves and tell us why you really love these pictures.
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