Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/07/08

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Subject: Re: [Leica] Photo whores {was Life magazine}
From: Alan Ball <AlanBall@csi.com>
Date: Wed, 08 Jul 1998 13:08:15 +0200

Eric Welch wrote:
>...<CUT>...
> And
> you can bet there were a bunch of great pictures taken at Wimbeldon. You
> just don't seem many of them. Society is so exposed to great photos they
> start thinking there are no great photos out there. Hogwash. There's lots
> of great photos, in spite of the magazines. We just don't see them.

Eric,

I would add that we do not see them because we do not notice them
anymore. I find that the average level of illustrative material in
sports magazines and sport related articles in less specialized media is
extremely high. Much higher than it was before the Eighties. I've come
accross issues of magazines dating back to 1966 covering soccer: the
average picture quality is much lower than it is today. I also find that
fashion photography is generally of a very high level these days, though
that discipline has always been the vehicle of some of the best
photographers. Same could be said of a large part of today's
international photo journalism work, though there has not been that much
change since the Sixties (except the systematic use of dayligh fill
flash and the intensive usage of lenses wider than 28mm).

The high quality level is probably due for a large part to technological
progress in the fields of emulsion, telelenses, zoom lenses, high
quality automation, pre-press and printing procedures, etc. 

The sad thing is that we hardly notice this quality anymore. This is
maybe part of the justification some contemporary photographers use to
theorize the harsh P&S look that is so fashionable these days. It seems
easier today to attract the viewer's attention with intentionally
degraded images than with "super high res/super composition/super
colours". This is obvious in youth oriented magazines, in a large
proportion of video clips and in some movies (Lost Highway, Tarantino
films, etc). Lomo is in , Leica is out ?

> And your granny's stuff would look lots worse, and having an auto camera is
> of no help here. A properly exposed bad picture, a properly focused bad
> pictures is that.

i would not be so sure that "grannies" are not in a position to shoot
anything except "bad pictures"...


Friendly regards,
Alan,
Brussels-Belgium