Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/05/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Sun, May 1, 2011 at 12:07, Steve Barbour <steve.barbour at gmail.com> wrote: > there may just be some push back from people who don't find this funny at > all... This all brings up - and perhaps exposes a few preconceptions about - Jim's attitude towards his subjects, the spirit in which he takes and presents his photos. I don't actually recall having seen him comment on this (although I haven't read every single LUG post over the last few years, I may well have missed it). I wonder sometimes, myself. But I think there's a good chance that a lot of people project their own assumptions on Jim when they see his work. They see photos of people they look down on, and assume that nobody would show photos of these people publicly except to ridicule them. I hope that's not what's going on. For one thing, it would be mean. For another thing, I think it would be terribly depressing to spend so much time immersed among people one despised just to bring back mean-spirited pictures of them for the purpose of poking fun. But (and bear in mind, I'm just guessing along with nearly everyone else) that's not what I think of when I see Jim's body of work. I'm put more in mind of the work of John Waters - who's known for showing often-seamy, often-disturbing views of some absolute freaks from Baltimore; but he does it because he's completely enthralled with their freakishness, has been since he was a boy. He considers himself one of them, and he celebrates their individuality. Sometimes you find yourself laughing, but strong components of that tend to be be an odd combination of nervous laughter and laughing-with. I absolutely don't claim any authority or special knowledge about this. Chances are, I'm projecting what I feel a need to believe on the situation just as egregiously as anyone else. But what I do know is that the most engaging photos usually come from a place of at least some empathy, and Jim's photos are engaging.