[Leica] Mary Ellen Mark On Vimeo for Leica/captions

[Steve Barbour]

hi Jayanand,

thank you, I appreciate your thoughts always, and of course your kind support.

re my images, I give little info re my images,  often only the first name, partly out of concern for HIPPA and the very contentious guidelines they have offered. I always have signed permits for all of my photos, carefully obtained before the photographs are made. All children shown are kids I have known well as a physician, I have cared for many for extended periods and repeatedly, often the parents have requested images be made, but in spite of that, HIPPA is a force that I have some experience with. When I publish here, images need some reference or title. However my comments really refer to anyone's images seen anywhere on the net, in galleries, or in books.

In a few cases, after the fact, through discussions or as answers to viewer's questions, other very limited information is rarely disclosed.



with warm regards,


Steve


> On May 29, 2015, at 10:28 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Steve,
> Your photographs of unwell kids come as close to universal as anything I
> have seen on the LUG. I wonder why, in the context of what you have
> written, you always think it fit to give a description or background info
> when posting the shots?
> Cheers
> Jayanand
> 
> On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 10:21 PM, Steve Barbour <steve.barbour at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> 
>>> On May 29, 2015, at 9:42 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Gerry,
>>> Doesn't that mean that the photographer was lazy with the wording of his
>>> caption?
>>> Cheers
>>> Jayanand
>> 
>> 
>> by definition a caption is limiting (and subject to <someone's>
>> interpretation), the result is that it affects/limits the viewers
>> imagination.
>> 
>> imo if it is a good/great image it is always better on its own. I will go
>> further, imo, only a poor photo will do better with a caption.
>> 
>> now that should keep the LUG busy.
>> 
>> 
>> steve
>> 
>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 8:43 PM, Gerry Walden <gerry.walden at icloud.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> There is also the point that under certain circumstances the use of a
>>>> caption can influence the viewers interpretation of the image to the
>>>> detriment of the original intention of the photographer.
>>>> 
>>>> Gerry
>>>> 
>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>> 
>>>>> On 29 May 2015, at 15:19, Robert Baron <robertbaron1 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> An interesting point of view, Jayanand, and to be honest not one I had
>>>>> really considered before you raised it.  Maybe that is because her
>>>>> photographs ring true to me as depictions of the culture I am part of,
>>>> but
>>>>> I'll need to think about that some more.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Even the photographs she made of cultures I am not familiar with have
>> the
>>>>> ring of truth to them, in my opinion, and I now think about the war
>> zone
>>>>> photographs of shooters like James Nachtwey and wonder if they need
>>>>> captions and if not why not?  Would you think Salgado's famous
>>>> photographs
>>>>> of the gold mine or of the train station need text?  An argument can be
>>>>> made that some things should allow for use of the viewer's imagination
>> -
>>>> or
>>>>> sense of investigation if the viewer wants to learn more about the
>>>> subject.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Educators trying to teach students (or trial lawyers like me trying to
>>>>> teach a jury) will say you should not spoon feed every bit of
>> information
>>>>> to the audience but leave some for the audience to figure out; it is
>>>> better
>>>>> learned and retained that way.  Should that maxim also apply to
>>>>> documentary/documenting photography?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Again: you raise an interesting point and I'm going to think about it.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> 
>>>>> --Bob
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> ===On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 10:41 PM, Jayanand Govindaraj <
>>>> jayanand at gmail.com
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> Bob,
>>>>>> Interesting. TFS.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> What struck me is that most of the pictures have no emotional impact
>> for
>>>>>> me, like the girls in the gang on the street, without her narration,
>> as
>>>> I
>>>>>> am not steeped in the nitty gritties of US culture. Goes against what
>>>> Kyle
>>>>>> says that one of her tenets was, about not having a caption. I think
>>>> that
>>>>>> is valid when you have a mono cultural, homogenous viewership for your
>>>>>> work, but once you have a cross cultural audience, a little
>> explanation,
>>>>>> like a caption, is invaluable to create the emotional impact! Of
>> course,
>>>>>> this observation is for the sort of photographs that she took, and
>>>>>> obviously would apply to a much lesser extent for nature/wildlife and
>>>> that
>>>>>> sort of thing, but even there, giving the frame "a local habitation
>> and
>>>> a
>>>>>> name" does help in pulling the viewer emotionally into the frame.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> My two bits!
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Cheers
>>>>>> Jayanand
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Fri, May 29, 2015 at 6:29 AM, Robert Baron <robertbaron1 at gmail.com
>>> 
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> https://vimeo.com/80793010
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> View full screen.  It is worth seeing and listening to I think, not
>> so
>>>>>> much
>>>>>>> because of Leica but because of Mary Ellen Mark.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> --Bob
>>>>> 
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