RE: [Leica] Off with their Pedestals!

["B. D. Colen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>]

I have to join the list of those disagreeing with the Marshall comments
below. One of the most interesting things about Marshall's work is that he
seems to have captured the personalities, not just taken photos of Celebes.
As someone has already noted, he documented an important aspect of an era.
One of the reasons that the photos may not now appeal to some is that the
images are ubiquitous. When they were taken and first appeared, they were
fresh.

Annie L., you should pardon me, is, in my most humble opinion, a hack. Her
photos are, in most cases, photos of celebrities for celebrity's sake.

And Mary Ellen Mark? Let me tell you my Mary Ellen Mark story....a few years
back, while Director of Communications at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, I
wanted to put together a photo essay, with limited text, that would tell the
story of the Institute. And I wanted to get a "name" photographer for the
job. (We even thought about the possibility of Avedon)

The art director with whom we were working gathered together about a dozen
portfolios, and I was excited to hear that one of them was Mary Ellen
Mark's. Too make a long story short, it was a tremendous disappointment.
When she does non-new photography - commercial, corporate, she does it like
the hack around the corner. I didn't consider it for a moment.

On the other hand, in the pile was a portfolio from a photographer I'm
ashamed to admit I hadn't heard of at the time - Eugene Richards. His
portfolio didn't consist of corporate work, but of the stark documentary
work for which he is properly renowned. I was blown away by it. So we hired
Gene and turned him lose on the Institute for 10 days with the request that
he make photos that conveyed the competence and caring of the Institute, but
did not give us a collection of photos of bald kids in baseball caps. What
he produced was typical Eugene Richards, in your face, documentary
photography that showed the Institute for what it was...a place where very
sick people come for a "last chance" shot at a remission or cure. The
resulting publication presented a view of a cancer institute/hospital like
none I have ever seen before or since.


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Mike Gil
> Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2000 3:44 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: [Leica] Off with their Pedestals!
>
>
> Include Jim Marshall in this list, I just picked up his new book at a
> discounted price of $11.95 at Barnes&Noble and what a
> disappointment.  After
> hearing so much about him on this list his work is pedestrian at best
> remedial at worst.  It looks like he stumbled into a room
> weighted down by
> four Leica's and snapped a picture.
>
> Annie Leibovitz and Mary Ellen Mark shooting similar subject
> during the same
> period run circles around this guy.  For some one that
> carries his camera
> around with him all the time, he is yet to capture anything
> worth printing.
>
> I hope you folks dont think me to cruel but look at some of
> the web sites of
> luggers and compare their work to Marshalls.  I would say a
> majority of you
> would be able to out shoot him anytime.  This is not to put
> down lugger just
> to point out how much better your work is.
>
> Jim should donate his camera to a high school photography to
> help out the
> upcoming talent in stead of wasting his Leica's in his hands.
>
> mg
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