[Leica] How to better appreciatedifferentkinds/stylesofphotographs?

[joelct at singnet.com.sg (Joseph Low)]

            Listen to Mahler's No 5 by Sir Georg Solti with the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra

            Joseph Low
            Singapore

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg@leica-users.org]On Behalf Of
Jeffery Smith
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 8:21 AM
To: 'Leica Users Group'
Subject: RE: [Leica] How to better
appreciatedifferentkinds/stylesofphotographs?

I had a baroque phase in my life from about 1980 to 1984, and listened to
nothing else. I needed the respite from loudness, and the small string
orchestras. I also listened to a lot of wind ensembles.

I'll never tire of Mahler, and I generally buy every new cycle that comes
out. There is no single "best" way to interpret him, but my all around
favorite cycle now is Chailly (with Haitink very close behind).

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA
http://www.400tx.com
http://400tx.blogspot.com/



-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Joseph
Low
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2006 7:06 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: RE: [Leica] How to better appreciate
differentkinds/stylesofphotographs?


            I spent more than 2 years wading through popular composers like
Mozart & Beethoven
            before attempting Mahler - and then I was hooked - best was when
Gilbert Kaplan was in
            town to conduct Mahler's No 2 - it was magic. When my mood is
down - nothing beats Wagner
            with his big picture compositions and expansive spread

            Joseph Low
            Singapore

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+joelct=singnet.com.sg@leica-users.org]On Behalf Of
Jeffery Smith
Sent: Sunday, July 09, 2006 7:47 AM
To: 'Leica Users Group'
Subject: RE: [Leica] How to better appreciate different
kinds/stylesofphotographs?

Whenever I have posed questions such as this on the LUG, I get sarcastic and
condescending ridicule from those who feel they have nothing new to learn.
So I know what I am setting myself up for here.

I think you have hit the nail on the head. There are some things that, with
more exposure, I still cannot stand (rap music rings a bell here). I never
had much appreciation for blues or jazz until I decided to learn about both.
When I first heard Mahler in 1968, I thought it was just too dissonant.
Today, I wonder how I could have felt that way. When I first looked at
Eggleston's color images, they seemed like 1950's color snapshots to me. But
after studying them a bit more, I grew to appreciate them. In short, I tend
not to like the unfamiliar, but warm up to it with repeated exposure. I have
to admit that I used to be that way with people. If I got a bad first
impression, I had trouble shaking it. But today I find myself liking people
at work who are, to others, insufferable.

I have tried Bruckner from time to time, and still don't like him. When
someone told me to think of him as Richard Wagner writing a symphony, I
liked him better, but not that much. Just better.

Jeffery Smith
New Orleans, LA
http://www.400tx.com
http://400tx.blogspot.com/



-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jsmith342=cox.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of Scott
McLoughlin
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2006 2:39 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: [Leica] How to better appreciate different kinds/styles
ofphotographs?


Subject line pretty much says it all.

I surmise that most people have visceral pos/neg reactions
to different styles of photograph.  So one may well like
HCB and Diane Arbus and Helmut Newton, but not like,
say, Brassai and Eggleston.  Just examples, but visceral reactions between
individuals are obviously not identical.

While visceral reactions are often good guides, most have
the experience that there are tastes that take, and are perhaps worth, a bit
of acquiring.  Think Scotch, or raw oysters or even the operas of Benjamin
Britten - whatever, pick your poison. And of course, no guarantee that one
will aquire any such taste in particular.

So, should one wish to, how to go about aquiring a taste for, or at least
appreciating the  aesthetic merits of, a new style of photography, or an
individual's work?

A friend recommended Adam's "Beauty in Photography."
While the essays are lovely, though, I didn't find that they addressed this
issue head on.

Any pointers to a good work on "photography appreciation?"

Music appreciation seems pretty mature. I have a few books
on Jazz music that, say, might help me better appreciate the World Saxaphone
Quartet or Coltrane's later recordings. How about photographs?

Scott

--
Pics @ http://www.adrenaline.com/snaps
Leica M6TTL, Bessa R, Nikon FM3a, Nikon D70, Rollei AFM35 (Jihad Sigint NSA
FBI Patriot Act)



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