Maybe I’m slow, but I’ve only just realised you’re going to end up with a really great, and maybe important, record of the generally overlooked aspects of life.
Thank you. To be perfectly honest, I think I was slow to realize that myself.
I think like so many photographers (and especially street photographers) I’ve been as concerned with trying to get the elusive great shots, decisive moments, unique compositions of shadow and light etc. the many elements of photography that scream ‘me’ or emphasize the creative effort and vision of the photographer. But the tragic irony there is I’ve been ‘over’ those types of images for a very long time, personally. The photography I never get tired of is like the FSA photographers’ work. Thoughtfully but not overly self-conscious and composed images of real life. I’m not, for instance, choosing an interesting background with angular shadows and light and shapes and waiting for a subject to enter the frame so I can have the perfect combination of image elements and get a pat on the back from other photographers.
I’m bored to the core of my being with those kinds of images.
There was a time in Hollywood, starting I think in the 70s but threads of this went on for decades, where directors who idolized the great directors, usually Hitchcock, felt they had to have elements of their own, usually ‘Hitchcockian’, or sometimes they just lifted Hitchcock’s signature camera angles or other classic elements, in order to distinguish themselves as great directors. It was pathetic. And then critics and everyone else started to point their fingers at all this stuff and laugh. And then about ten years later, because film directors were such stubborn and egotistical dolts that it took that long for them to realize people were laughing at this stuff, it finally started to go away.
I think photographers need to get over themselves and understand that it isn’t so much about them trying so hard to have certain things in their images so that everyone can see what a creative eye they have. With the FSA photographers, their best work was almost seamlessly about what was happening in front of the camera. The photographers themselves, for the most part, had a very light touch. And if not the FSA photographers the countless talented press photographers.
Anyway, yes, I think it took me a long time to start to realize what was and would ultimately be important about my own photography and to just listen to myself. In the end, for better or worse, it will be my photography, not someone else’s. I want it to be ‘of’ something. And I want it to display a light touch.
Except for color! All this SHIT I just wrote goes out the window when it comes to COLOR! 😉
Thank you again! Bet you didn’t expect that response. lol. I sure didn’t. A little Hollywood bashing thrown in!
50'Lux 
Clusters, and wonderful engagements!
Thank you, David!
Maybe I’m slow, but I’ve only just realised you’re going to end up with a really great, and maybe important, record of the generally overlooked aspects of life.
Thank you. To be perfectly honest, I think I was slow to realize that myself.
I think like so many photographers (and especially street photographers) I’ve been as concerned with trying to get the elusive great shots, decisive moments, unique compositions of shadow and light etc. the many elements of photography that scream ‘me’ or emphasize the creative effort and vision of the photographer. But the tragic irony there is I’ve been ‘over’ those types of images for a very long time, personally. The photography I never get tired of is like the FSA photographers’ work. Thoughtfully but not overly self-conscious and composed images of real life. I’m not, for instance, choosing an interesting background with angular shadows and light and shapes and waiting for a subject to enter the frame so I can have the perfect combination of image elements and get a pat on the back from other photographers.
I’m bored to the core of my being with those kinds of images.
There was a time in Hollywood, starting I think in the 70s but threads of this went on for decades, where directors who idolized the great directors, usually Hitchcock, felt they had to have elements of their own, usually ‘Hitchcockian’, or sometimes they just lifted Hitchcock’s signature camera angles or other classic elements, in order to distinguish themselves as great directors. It was pathetic. And then critics and everyone else started to point their fingers at all this stuff and laugh. And then about ten years later, because film directors were such stubborn and egotistical dolts that it took that long for them to realize people were laughing at this stuff, it finally started to go away.
I think photographers need to get over themselves and understand that it isn’t so much about them trying so hard to have certain things in their images so that everyone can see what a creative eye they have. With the FSA photographers, their best work was almost seamlessly about what was happening in front of the camera. The photographers themselves, for the most part, had a very light touch. And if not the FSA photographers the countless talented press photographers.
Anyway, yes, I think it took me a long time to start to realize what was and would ultimately be important about my own photography and to just listen to myself. In the end, for better or worse, it will be my photography, not someone else’s. I want it to be ‘of’ something. And I want it to display a light touch.
Except for color! All this SHIT I just wrote goes out the window when it comes to COLOR! 😉
Thank you again! Bet you didn’t expect that response. lol. I sure didn’t. A little Hollywood bashing thrown in!
Reblogged this on Today Eye Found.
Great! I love the colours of the first shot. The unexpected purple. 🙂
Thank you so much, Rosa!