Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/10/31

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Subject: Re: [Leica] The Decisive Moment is gone
From: "Slobodan Dimitrov" <s.dimitrov@charter.net>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 07:18:27 -0800

Rob;
Photography has many layers, with each having its own school of thought and
acolytes. These approaches and methodological areas of photography have
found their places within the curricula of higher education, which means
that very well articulated scholarship, written and visual, exists in
support, and detraction, of them. Yet with such a wealth of knowledge so
readily available, our critic rambles on like a bull in china shop, without
any indication of familiarity with his subject, in spite of his verbal
gymnastics.
Frankly, I've never seen such a confusion of terms addressing an area that
even many of us on this list can articulate more effectively.
Slobodan Dimitrov


- ----------
>From: "Rob Appleby" <rob@robertappleby.com>
>To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
>Subject: Re: [Leica] The Decisive Moment is gone
>Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2003, 10:47 PM
>

> Don't you think that seen from outside - i.e. from the point of view of a
> non-practitioner - these various disinctions might seem less important than
> they do to the photographer himself? And more fruitful if taken as an
> interacting whole? It seems to be a feature of photography discussion lists
> (and photographers) that they focus on a particular style or method of
> taking pictures and despise all others. This is a necessary part of one's
> self-definition as a photographer, I suppose, but it seems it could be
> worthwhile crossing a few boundaries from time to time.
>
> I thought the article was quite interesting and made some good points.
>
> As for "Sontagian vomiteria" - I was pretty sure we'd get a quick dig at
> Sontag somewhere on this thread. Surely you can do better.
>
> -- Rob
>
> http://www.robertappleby.com
> Mobile: (+39) 348 336 7990
> Home: (+39) 0536 63001
>
> All outgoing email scanned by
> Norton AntiVirus (TM) 2003 Professional Edition.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Slobodan Dimitrov" <s.dimitrov@charter.net>
> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
> Cc: <Letters@washingtonpost.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 6:41 PM
> Subject: Re: [Leica] The Decisive Moment is gone
>
>
>> The poor wretch Gopnik is about as clueless as they come. Confusing the
> fine
>> art photographic process with the commercial press photography of HCB, and
>> then throwing in street photography, a more or less grass roots
>> photographic form, for good measure had me ROTFL.
>> I suppose that when documentary photography was melded into the fine art
>> school of thought, such an excretion from a staff keyboard ponder like
>> Gopnik isn't too surprising.
>> The usual "compare and contrast" methodology, so typical of this kind of
>> '"critic," reminds me of some of the strains found in Sontagian vomiteria
>> which we are now so familiar with.
>> Slobodan Dimitrov
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------
>> >From: Tina Manley <images@InfoAve.Net>
>> >To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
>> >Subject: [Leica] The Decisive Moment is gone
>> >Date: Thu, Oct 30, 2003, 7:44 AM
>> >
>>
>> > LUG:
>> >
>> > An editorial about how the decisive moment is no longer relevant in
> current
>> > photography:
>> >
>> > http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31924-2003Oct28.html
>> >
>> > In part:
>> > Fine photography, awkwardly renamed "photo-based art," is now about
> using
>> > your film as an art supply like any other, with a highly planned,
> complex,
>> > fully conceptualized picture as the end result. Photographic artists are
> no
>> > longer hunters, prowling the world for the most beautiful or striking
> prey
>> > they can find. They've become taxidermists and diorama makers, using
>> > manipulated bits and pieces of the world to make a studied point about
> how
>> > it works, or doesn't work, or might work if the rules were changed.
>> >
>> > Explanations like this remind me of the Calvin and Hobbes strip about
>> > art.  The article even mentions Leica so it's on topic!
>> >
>> > Tina
>> >
>> >
>> > Tina Manley, ASMP
>> > www.tinamanley.com
>> >
>> >
>> > --
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>
>
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