Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/05/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Michael wrote: "Long before there was Photoshop, there was Rene Magritte!" Ha! Right on. But if Rene had grown up with Photoshop and Ullesman, would he have used an enlarger or a scanner rather than a brush? I don't know .... it still would have meant more than Ms. Schuster's work appears to - or Ullesman's, IMHO. There seems to be a lot of this kind of work grabbing attention, and publishing contracts judging from what crowds the shelves at B&N. Are publishers or the public tired of plain olde photography? Certainly this kind of technique can be used to make meaningful images, but few people do. What is the purpose of this kind of work? Is it all just samples targeted to "art" directors that say, "look at the cool vodka ad I can make for you?" I saw one impressive volume of non-traditional photography recently. A guy does elaborately constructed interior and exterior setups of bizarre, haunting, surreal scenes set in worn-out suburban neiborhoods. The cover photo is of a room partially flooded with a woman layed out, floating or being flooded. Anyone seen it? Wish I could remember the guy's name. The book is fascinating and strangely moving. It's all as pre-planned and artificial as any Hollywood set. (And as collaborative - each shot required a huge crew to create it.) The fact that the actual photography is pretty straight doesn't really matter. If he had 'shopped it all, they would still be powerful images, because the work comes from an intelligence that has layers, rather than from a technique that uses Layers but does not support any meaning. I love good abstract expressionism. I hate kitchy, gee-wiz graphic "art," however it's produced. Like another genre that takes up a lot of shelf space, beefcake soft-porn, it's titillating but almost never concerned with more than surface beauty. Or any beauty at all. Maybe Elle has some real photography up her sleeve, but this is what sells? Best to all, Carl - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html