RE: [Leica] Personal portfolios of misery

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

What Kyle is doing, presumably, is presenting a slice of life - sorry -
about which most viewers are totally ignorant. I know that this has grown
out of a project he's doing on Goth's and their day jobs. I believe he is
more than aware of the potential pitfalls and dangers here, both for himself
and for the young woman.

Not to be a whatever, but it seems to me, given the total obsession here
with bokah, nokah, camera serial numbers and mental masturbation about what
products will or won't be introduced this year that will or won't be
available by the year 2020, we ought to be congragulating Kyle for
constantly stretching himself photographically rather than wasting his time
talking about largely irrelevant photographic minutia - he's probably taking
more photos, of more and varied subjects, than all but a handful of
full-time pros on this list.

B. D.
and
Dr. Blacktape
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> [mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us]On Behalf Of Bob Walkden
> Sent: Tuesday, August 29, 2000 7:00 PM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: Re: [Leica] Personal portfolios of misery
>
>
> Hi,
>
> Nachtwey and Smith amd most, if not all, of the great documentary
> photographers have a clearly defined purpose in taking their
> photographs. So
> far I don't think we've heard from the photographer any reason why he is
> taking these 'cutting' pictures - although we've heard a lot of
> assumptions
> about it from other people.
>
> What purpose will the pictures serve, and to what use will they
> be put? It
> seems to me that these are the first answers we need before we
> rush to any
> kind of judgement.
>
> David Hurn of Magnum, in 'On being a photographer' has a lot of useful
> advice about choosing a subject, including the following:
> "Eliminate those
> subjects about which you are ignorant, at least until you have
> conducted a
> good deal of research into the topic. For example, you are not
> contributing
> anything to the issue of urban poverty by wandering back streets and
> snatching pictures of derelicts in doorways. That's exploitation, not
> exploration."
>
> Regards,
>
> Bob
>
> >From: Paul Chefurka <Paul_Chefurka@pmc-sierra.com>
> >
> >I'm not sure I understand you here, Jim.  Where do you draw your line and
> >say "this is OK, that isn't" in cases like this?  Is Natchwey's "Inferno"
> >not a personal portfolio, and based on the individual misery of many
> >people?
> >What about "Minimata" - that essay violates the fine art/misery
> >proscription
> >pretty handily.
> >
> >Lots and lots of photo essays have been done of people in desperate
> >physical
> >or mental misery.  Many of these have raised the awareness of folks like
> >me,
> >who don't come in contact with such situations very often.  And
> these have
> >been done by photographers as personal work, with no medical
> intent, purely
> >one of expanding the awareness of viewers.
> >
> >In a way I'm amazed by the strength of the negative reaction this has
> >generated.  To me, it's honest work about a difficult subject -
> one that is
> >sufficiently important for people to think about that a visual prod like
> >this is totally appropriate.
> >
> >So, respectfully, I disagree.
>
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