Only the Image Lives On

[john1027]

Interesting rant today by professional photog Scott Bourne at photofocus.com. I do think that for the most part the comments about the flame wars that take place a various forums does not apply to this forum. There is a level of civility and respect for individual opinions here that unfortunately is absent from many other photography related forums. Hope we can keep it that way.

http://photofocus.com/2010/08/14/products-and-people-over-process-and-dogma/

 

[Bullfrog]

Nice common-sense article I thought. Not what I'd call a "rant" :smile:. It is funny but understandable how sometimes people can get hung up on things other than the actual photo. After all - gear is cool :43:

 

[Streetshooter]

Thanks John,
A short thought filled statement but packed with meaning.

 

[BBW]

Agreed, many thanks John. You always seem to find the best reminders as to what's really important.

200 years from now when everyone reading this is dead and gone, the hope is that the images will live on. There will be no correlation between the process and the image at that time since the tools, techniques and construct of future photography will have no resemblance whatsoever to what we do today. Only the images themselves will live on. If they are made with an open heart and tell a true story in an organic fashion and they are made by passionate photographers who practice and care about their craft, and if these images connect with the viewer, or cause an emotional reaction or cause the viewer to stop, look, think or react – only then will the images matter. Whether or not they were made using this process or that technique will not matter. It won’t even make sense.

 

[linkedit]

That article made me think of the years I was a commercial photographer (and before that and assistant) in NYC. It was always easy to break the photographer stereotype into two kinds of photographers. The first that were extremely technical, always testing lenses, different films (yes film - I worked in that industry from '86 - '99), lighting setups etc. I worked sometimes for a buddy that when he set up his darkroom did developer testing for *4 WEEKS* before one roll of film was ever processed in there.

Then there was the other side of the coin. The photographer that did no testing at all. That typically hired really smart assistants that set up the entire shoot then they would walk in, look at the polaroids, shoot a few rolls of film then schmooze the client.

I think what I learned from all those years and now playing around with digital is that all these things are just tools. If we get too focused on one of the tools we loose site of why we are using them in the first place.

 

[Streetshooter]

Photography is a fine art. So is life.
I see photography 2 ways.
Making a living from the art.
Making the art of living.

In the end, ones images tell the story about how one thought and felt.
There's no right or wrong way, there's just the images.

 

[john1027]

I liked kevinparis' remark in another recent thread as it so true...

to me quality of image aways beats image quality... I know my canon 5d mk2 can take pictures with a look and a ultimate quality that is different from any other camera i own.

yet if i take the flicrk 'most interesting ' critera then i find pictures taken with everything from an iphone to 10 year old 3 megapixel digital canons but oddly no canon 5d

its al about the picture

K