Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/01/11
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 10:52 PM 1/11/99 +0100, you wrote: First of all, Erwin, I apologize for not skillfully making myself clear. I would never offend you on purpose. >some of his pictures. I did not say that HCB forced his subjects to pose >for him. I said that the image of HCB as a person who patiently waited for You said something like he "posed" his subjects sometimes. Not the exact wording, but certainly different than... >is not the whole truth. HCB influenced the scene he would like to capture >into *his* view of a perfect image by dancing around the scene and taking >many many pictures of a scene. No one could jump around and firing a camera >(even a Leica) as a Gatling gun without being noticed and thus he >consciously influences the unfoulding of the act. This is true, in essence, but I believe an exaggeration. Though this is not the same a "posing" the subjects. This a grey area. Moving around might influence some people in sense of being amused seeing the photographer jumping around. Or being offended, rightly, by the event with the man having the seizure. But photographers are smart enough to see, even through their viewfinder, that what they are doing is influencing the subject. It's the editing afterwards that can make the difference in those situations. I have kids yelling at me all the time, "Take my picture." I tell them that their messing around like that guarantees them not being in the paper. And they understand and get back to what they're doing. >Now please Eric, that is a bridge too far. If I were jealous, I would not >"accuse" someone in the way you describe. You should know me by now as a >factbased, truth-seeking individual. May I say that my feelings are really >hurt. Erwin, I specifically said YOU ARE NOT JEALOUS. (It was in the part you quoted back to me). But I went on to make a point, that went beyond your message to the overall thread of people saying other people pose their subjects, that that is often the motivation behind such accusations, and so we have to evaluate what people say about others and how their motivation might influence how we come to judge someone's work. I hear the "being there influences the subject" argument before a hundred times. A good photographer can work around such problems. Reader's aren't stupid, and neither are we. Candid pictures are pictures taken by people who are acting honestly. Posed pictures, in this context, are pictures that were deliberately manipulated to fool the viewer into thinking the picture is something it isn't. Nothing is life is black and white. Just like a black and white print, they are made up of varying shades of grey. Eric Welch St. Joseph, MO http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch Capt'n! The spellchecker kinna take this abuse