nothing new under the sun

[DREW WILEY]

Michael - i don't get your drift. I don't take photographs due to ego. I want the experience of doing what I see, not what somebody else sees. I'm not implying I see it "better", but that it resonates with me personally. I doubt 1% of them will get printed, and of those maybe only 1% shown. And NOT shown on the stupid web. The internet is fine for gear talk etc. But for imagery it's below barbaric. When I say that a photograph is unique, it's because it is. I'm not interested in stereotypical postcards images anymore than pandering to academics who know far more about talk than actual visualization. I know, I know... I hear music and criticize that, even though I can't sing or play any instrument worth a darn. So call me a hypocrite. But this is a photography forum, after all. And that is something I can do.

 

[Sirius Glass]

How has this become a digital vs film thread? :confused:

sigh

I hope not!

 

[Sirius Glass]

I agree. Everything hasn't been shot until I shoot it.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

+1

 

[Pioneer]

Everything having been done before is only someone's attempt to keep me from trying it.

I am willing to bet that thousands of photographers had photographed mothers with their children in the years before Dorothea Lange walked up to Florence Thompson's family that drizzly day with her camera in hand. It wasn't that that photograph had never been taken, it was that it had never been taken with Dorothea's perspective and Florence's family. Those ingredients came together on that day to make magic. Some day it will happen again; maybe it already has.

Besides, photography is not a destination, it is a journey of exploration. Your journey and my journey will be different because we see it through different eyes.

 

[HiHoSilver]

Bravo Dan.

 

[hoffy]

Michael - i don't get your drift. I don't take photographs due to ego. I want the experience of doing what I see, not what somebody else sees. I'm not implying I see it "better", but that it resonates with me personally. I doubt 1% of them will get printed, and of those maybe only 1% shown. And NOT shown on the stupid web. The internet is fine for gear talk etc. But for imagery it's below barbaric. When I say that a photograph is unique, it's because it is. I'm not interested in stereotypical postcards images anymore than pandering to academics who know far more about talk than actual visualization. I know, I know... I hear music and criticize that, even though I can't sing or play any instrument worth a darn. So call me a hypocrite. But this is a photography forum, after all. And that is something I can do.

But, by your own definition, this is not a pure photography forum. Its an equipment forum (because, heavens forbid, Posting images on the 'net is akin to being an uncouth savage))

The internet is a tool. How you define it and how you use it is up to you. I do fine looking at images posted on the 'net - it has given me more inspiration over the years then any book or photo exhibition has! But, yes, I agree with Blanksy - I have over done it in the past and it is not helpful when you do. So now, I limit my intake to what I think would be helpful and to people I specifically find inspirational to me!

As for ego, we all have an ego. I personally have a bit of a self confidence issue with a lot of what I do, but I still have an ego, which is something that I find hard to give up. Sure, I shoot photos for my own amusement, but I was gutted the other day when my wife called the photos I take as "just car photos". I suspect that we all have an ego and we all want to take photos that others appreciate. I do suspect (& even reading through this thread) that the size of the ego differs wildly....... (& I am not talking about who I have quoted.....)

 

[MartinCrabtree]

I haven't been able to take a photograph in a couple months. I've taken some document images to remember how I took something apart but no photographs. I've stopped trying. Not satisfied with anything I do lately. phuk

 

[frank]

I haven't been able to take a photograph in a couple months. I've taken some document images to remember how I took something apart but no photographs. I've stopped trying. Not satisfied with anything I do lately. phuk

Martin, I hear you!

I think that periods like this indicate growth, because you/ your vision is evolving and you're no longer satisfied with the same old same old. Hang in there, it gets better again.

 

[Stephen Benskin]

[[George]]
I want to move on
I want to explore the light
I want to know how to get through,
Through to something new,
Something of my own-

[[Dot]]
Stop worrying if your vision
Is new
Let others make that decision-
They usually do
You keep moving on

- Move On, Sunday in the Park with George

 

[removed account4]

i didn't think i was going to add anything else to this thread
but if "style" ( which i don't really think is the same as creativity, there was no transformation into something different )
seeps in after photographing and practicing and being "comfortable" using a camera and "seeing"
how does one ever take objective photographs ?
it is obvious that photojournalists have a style of shooting .. its all about perspective and angle and composition
but their main goal is to take objective photographs - to show what is there, not to be creative ... ( but it has been suggested that POV = creativity )
the photojournalists who have been "creative" over the years ( i don't mean having people sit in a certain way / composition / DOF control, shutter speed control )
have been outed by the media for manipulation, and montage. some have angered the public for darkening african american skin to make
someone look menacing ( OJ simpson ) or lightening skin to make someone seem even more "white" than normal ( michael j / jack-o )
or cropping out important elements making things seem different than they are ..
i don't think these decisions to manipulate / create something from foundation elements ( negatives / files ) has / had anything to do
with style ... photographing a scene, making a portrait &c from a point of view ( personal point of view ) is style, but i wouldn't say it is creativity
unless the person who made the photograph in the end manipulated it in such a way to transform the image into something completely different
( like the photojournalists mentioned ).

 

[frank]

Just maybe: there is no such thing as an objective photograph?

 

[removed account4]

Just maybe: there is no such thing as an objective photograph?

maybe ...

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

I quit trying to be different a long very time ago. I just did what I liked without worrying about originality.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Martin, I hear you!

I think that periods like this indicate growth, because you/ your vision is evolving and you're no longer satisfied with the same old same old. Hang in there, it gets better again.

Thanks frank I needed that. Resisting buying new gear conveniently aided by no money. I have all the time in the world and cannot seem to find anything worth doing. Not worried about being different I've got that covered.

 

[DREW WILEY]

The harder people try to look different, the more they all look the same. Everybody that thinks they're an artiste has green or blue hair and a nose ring, it seems. Counterculture tends to become the dominant culture. No different with people trying too try to hard to be different and "creative" in photography or any other medium. They're really just getting in the back of the line following the rest of the herd in one way or
another down some dusty road. The whole Western Civilization emphasis on "creativity" and "modernity" is getting awfully boring. Life is so
much nicer if one just ignores all that and does what one enjoys. That's when something genuinely special comes out.

 

[frank]

It brings to mind the "individuality" of Harley motorcycle riders who all dress up to look like pirates.

 

[frank]

Thanks frank I needed that. Resisting buying new gear conveniently aided by no money. I have all the time in the world and cannot seem to find anything worth doing. Not worried about being different I've got that covered.

Martin, I looked at your images link. Do you know the guy with the home built motorcycle? If so, it would be cool to visit his garage and get some pics of him tinkering on it. There's also a pic of an attractive woman. That would be worth exploring too.

 

[removed account4]

where have i suggested that people be non conformists, look different &c ?

if one goes to my original post i ask how one puts themselves in their work.
the only person who even answered my question was MattKrull - post #2 ...

thanks

 

[frank]

John, often threads evolve beyond the intent of the OP. Relax.

Also, don't you see the connection between creativity and individuality?

 

[Alan Klein]

I want to shoot that amazing picture that causes everyone to jump up and shout with delight. Shhh. Don't tell anyone how I feel.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Here it was carpenters in the 70's who all dressed like pirates. Bikers had their own look depending on which "club" they belonged to. Now that the Hell's Angels are a legitimate international drug cartel they need to be sensitive to public relations and the advice of their lawyers, don't do quite a much raping and knifing as back in the old day; though bloody clashes with the Mongols still break out. Most big bike rallies
ban all these hard-core gangs, but do draw thousands of bikers who dress up like ruffians just for fun a few weekends each year. Then there were the hippies of course. Most of the remaining ones around here, where they began, were netted and taxidermied for a 60's diorama in the Smithsonian Museum. Took quite a while to get the odor out of their hides.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Here it was carpenters in the 70's who all dressed like pirates. Bikers had their own look depending on which "club" they belonged to. Now that the Hell's Angels are a legitimate international drug cartel they need to be sensitive to public relations and the advice of their lawyers, don't do quite a much raping and knifing as back in the old day; though bloody clashes with the Mongols still break out. Most big bike rallies
ban all these hard-core gangs, but do draw thousands of bikers who dress up like ruffians just for fun a few weekends each year. Then there were the hippies of course. Most of the remaining ones around here, where they began, were netted and taxidermied for a 60's diorama in the Smithsonian Museum. Took quite a while to get the odor out of their hides.

Stick to what you know and you'll seem less of a fool.

 

[DREW WILEY]

I thought ALL the above was extremely common knowledge, except for the Smithsonian wisecrack. Have you ever seen a Hell's Angel do
a handstand on his motorcyle seat going 70mph and then break his neck on a barbed wire fence? I have. And guess whose fence it was?
And by now everybody knows who controls meth distribution in the West, and now even in several other countries. Have you ever worked around hundred of carpenter's all dressed like pirates? I certainly have. And never mind how hippies smelled. Nobody ever forgets that.
But sorry if you don't have a sense of humor either.

 

[blansky]

Drew, I always found you to be an incredibly interesting character or one hell of a bullshitter.

Still not sold on which one I believe, for what it's worth.

But either or, it's still entertaining.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Well, the Smithsonian tale is patent BS, obviously. The rest isn't. The Hell's Angels routinely did motorcyle stunts on a brief short section of
the road (pre-helmet) on the way to their usual 4th of July campsite up at a particular reservoir in the pines. Nobody could chop a Harley
of they'd come after them, so they chopped Triumphs instead, or else rode dressed Harleys. The locals eventually got sick of getting their
daughters raped etc, and threatened to shoot any Hell's Amgel on sight if they left the campground itself. But what stopped them cold is when three in a row got knifed in the neighborhood Indian bar. It's a long story how that feud got started. Since those days, I've lived right next door to one here in the city. He had a cute little cottage with window boxes and flowers, but on the weekend dressed up to ride. Then my wife served as an alternate juror on a huge Fed drug case where the famous defender of the Hell's Angels, Tony Serra, was defending some other hard drug dealers. Then Tony went to prison himself for income tax evasion, but is now allegedly out. He had a tiny little shack right on the Rift Zone in Pt Reyes, which has now been converted into the shower house for a popular horse camp. It's still a photogenic though "aromatic" walk through there. BBQ grills in the redwoods, right beside whatever horses leave behind tied up. Otherwise, the Hell's
Angels are probably the primary home-grown drug distribution ring of "oakie" drugs, as opposed to cocaine, heroin, etc. You've probably
heard about their last big brawl with the Mongols, which got the Mongols logo officially banned in several Western states per racketeering
laws. Hundred of Hells Angels rode in convoy right down the freeway here on their way to that burial of one of their remaining elder statesmen that a Mongol shot.