Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/03/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I think this is interesting, important, and thus worth reading. I do like Weber's term "picturesque gluttony". Here are some excerpts that might lure you to the article. /matt "We see on our front pages only facsimiles of 90-year-old Leica versions of photos." "It?s a given that a photographer has to make something, bound on using the four-sided frame and the small ?negative,? armed with variations of the 35mm rangefinder first perfected by Leica 90 years ago. The conventions this technology imposes on story are legion. Look back at documentary photography before the rise of the Leica and you have some invincible variations, limited by technical capability, but still contributing to an evolving, novel language." "A technically proficient image that looks like those of past photojournalism will catch the eye. A technically proficient image may trick the viewer into thinking he or she is seeing something of substance, of what is commonly referred to as truthful. A technically proficient image meets the media business? goal for cost-effective public attention. " "Commodified imagery threatens photographers? primary role as storytellers. Amplified technique threatens to dominate the image, and it will lead to picturesque gluttony. We, the news, and our understanding of the news are poorer for it." "I?m caught in a weird loop where we photograph the protestors, the protestors see what gets photographed, they dress the part and then we photograph them again." http://bit.ly/1H4OxGz