Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/06/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Mon, 19 Jun 2000 20:47:16 -0400, "B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net> wrote: >For the simple reason, since you ask, is that all they show me are two >faceless people having sex in shadows. "Arty," maybe, but they don't tell me >anything other than that. And, yes, I would ask the same question about >many, many, many landscapes, and many street scenes.As in, yah, that's a >mountain, so what's your point? Or, yah, there are a lot of people on that >crowded street, and there's a woman smoking, so? > >Further, I would suggest that someone does not post shots of a couple having >intercourse simply to get us to comment on f stops, etc.... Sorry if it seemed as though I was picking on you, B.D. - I'm really not. Your comments simply provided a convenient entry point for these thoughts. What bothers me is that so many banal photos are exposed for comment on the LUG, and seem to slide by with gentle pats on the head. Then along come some pictures that happen to involve (heaven forfend) sex, and the supportive (or at least restrained) attitudes we take for granted here seem to go out the window. I also don't recall Michael asking us to comment on technical issues per se. He asked for comments and critiques, no qualifiers attached. You may impute whatever motives you wish, of course, but for me there is little difference in asking for critiques for this kind of work or critiques of any other genre - especially when the request for criticism is phrased so open-endedly. It's interesting to me that we are so much more prepared to forgive artistically or technically clumsy pictures when the subject makes us say "Awww" than when it makes us say "Ewww". While I understand that this is a result of cultural conditioning, it is still - to me - a disappointing indication that we are letting our subjective reactions colour our objective responses. Lastly, I must admit that I'm much more at ease with the frankness of these photos than the coy "boudoir" stuff that has been displayed to the LUG in the past. There is, for me, less of a sense that a sly photographer is trying to slip something past my defenses, or that a timid photographer is too nervous to reach out and touch his subject matter directly - relying instead on innuendo to convey the message. Of course, those are my very personal reactions. The pictures made me feel uncomfortable, but then I like that. At least they didn't leave me feeling indifferent, and for me that is one essential quality of good communication. Paul Chefurka