Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/07/12

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Lecia Street Photography in the Middle East
From: eboehmjr at gmail.com (Eric Boehm, Jr)
Date: Sat Jul 12 13:36:46 2008
References: <36e5c0b10807111915x1393e7ebwdbed47980e0902c5@mail.gmail.com> <3cad89990807120938m53ba478eu6041207c8e4d0dc@mail.gmail.com> <48790A26.1080003@zabrovsky.com> <36e5c0b10807121229l69a44efcs4ac0b849fb1c19e5@mail.gmail.com> <200807122032.AUE41601@rg5.comporium.net>

Hi Tina,

Thanks for your email. I agree, but would add the following: The world
is FULL of problems, poverty and inequitable wealth distribution,
being just one of them. And the problem is of course that we do NOT
all have equal opportunities. What I am trying to show in my website
is only one small section of Israeli society. As I said much of modern
Israel is indistinguishable from the United States. Every photographer
chooses what to shoot.

Eric

On Sat, Jul 12, 2008 at 4:32 PM, Tina Manley <images@comporium.net> wrote:
> At 03:29 PM 7/12/2008, you wrote:
>>
>> Alex,
>>
>> Another thing I would like to say. As a photographer, I am after
>> STORIES. The older the face the deeper the story. It's as simple as
>> that. Poverty is photogenic precisely because people who have access
>> to computers, who go to museums, who buy Leicas are not poor. Also,
>> for me, photographing inside an air conditioned shopping mall, taking
>> pictures of the housewife with her kids shopping, or the corpulent
>> masses consuming electronics, for me leaves me empty. Taking photos of
>> the known is not what I am after. That is why I do not shoot in
>> America. For me there is nothing to photograph. Call me crazy, but
>> that is my view of reality.
>>
>> Eric Boehm
>
> Eric -
>
> For all of your reasons, I think it is fine to photograph one segment of
> society and not try to show every class and every age.  I like to 
> photograph
> the elderly and children because they are less self-conscious about being
> photographed.  They are more able to be themselves and forget the camera
> instead of posing and trying to fit someone else's idea of what they should
> be.  I find the upper classes in developing countries to be very boring to
> photograph.  In general, their aim is to be homogeneous - exactly what they
> think families are like on television.  However!!  I am constantly asked 
> for
> stock photographs that show middle and upper class people in developing
> countries going about everyday activities.  They could be people anywhere,
> in any country, but that's what many textbooks and magazines want to show
> these days.  As you say - shopping in malls, eating in fast food
> establishments, buying electronics - to show that there are no problems in
> the world and we all have equal opportunities, I suppose.
>
> Tina
>
> Tina Manley
> www.tinamanley.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>



-- 
Eric W.A. Boehm, PhD
Assistant Professor, Microbiology
Department of Biological Sciences
Kean University, 1000 Morris Ave.
Union, NJ 07083
908-737-3654
eboehm@kean.edu

Research Website: http://www.eboehm.com/
Photography Website: http://www.streetphotographyisrael.com/

In reply to: Message from eboehmjr at gmail.com (Eric Boehm, Jr) ([Leica] Re: Lecia Street Photography in the Middle East)
Message from jayanand at gmail.com (Jayanand Govindaraj) ([Leica] Re: Lecia Street Photography in the Middle East)
Message from alex at zabrovsky.com (Alex) ([Leica] Re: Lecia Street Photography in the Middle East)
Message from eboehmjr at gmail.com (Eric Boehm, Jr) ([Leica] Re: Lecia Street Photography in the Middle East)
Message from images at comporium.net (Tina Manley) ([Leica] Re: Lecia Street Photography in the Middle East)