Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/01/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Martin Howard wrote: > Lee Bacchus jotted down the following: > > > Atget's peopleless shots worked because they were foreshadowing the end of > > an era as industrialization in Paris hit full stride. > > I realize I'm going to get thoroughly publically roasted for admitting this > -- especially by Johnny Deadman -- but I don't think Atget's photos do work. > They only work because they are a historical record, because we recognize > significance as a result of subsequent social change, but as photographs in > their own right, I find many of them quite bland, banal, and boring. The > Eggelston of the 1910s, in black and white. > > M. > Martin, don't forget, the nice thing about photographing is not only the the lovely landscape, or the human expression, or thefantastic shot of som sporting even, but also the record of more or less significant events. They may not be everybody's cup of tea, but without those records, the world would be so much poorer. What would we give now, if we have had the photographic ability in the roman times. When you get to my age, and you look at old books with photos from places you have once lived or been, you'll appreciate that some person made the effort to photograph this. Especially in times, when you had to carry a tripod at all times and had to hope that the exposure was what it should have been. When you say: "As a photograph in their own right" what do you expect? Regards Horst Schmidt