Can you name the photographers, such talent?

No, no, no. These guys know what they're doing. That's cheating. No.

No, no, no. These guys know what they're doing. That's cheating. No.

Why you are saying that they are cheating?

Why you are saying that they are cheating?

It's a reference to current perceptions. Photography has lost its value. People engage in photography with a total random approach. They can't tell a good photo from a bad one, or a skilled photographer from a beginner.

 

The other day I had to critique photos that had been taken without thought or understanding. All I could say was: get rid of them and start again.

 

So, these days, the master photographers shown above are the outsiders, the deviants who actually see photography as a skill and a craft.

 

The first step is to stop obsessing about camera gear and start obsessing about the photos.

But Jaf, they all press the shutter, just like you and me? and don't you think that if photographers like, say Ansel Adams had been handed a modern Sony Alpha camera he would embrace it, and use it? Sure he would?

Photography is in the eye of the beholder; Some may see a nice scene, whip out a camera and take a shot, others will take a couple of steps to the right and see a much better angle. Some may come back to the same location over several days and at different times to see how the light affects the scene, just looking for that one perfect shot.

 

Photography is much easier now than in the past; Then photographers had to work around the limitations of their equipment. Those limitations are becoming smaller and smaller, so there are now more opportunities for that one 'great shot', provided the photographer has the time and the patience, and the talent to see that shot.

No, photography is not in the eye of the beholder. There are principles on what works, based on the work done by photographic pioneers and masters. If you understand the principles, you can bend them, ignore them or develop them. Some people even have a instinctive understanding. There are natural born photographers (David Bailey comes to mind).

 

But you will get absolutely nowhere if you totally dismiss or disregard the basic principlesof photography.

 

To answer the question about Ansel Adams, I think he would have despised digital cameras based on the imagesthat come out of them. He was so not about simplicity but about meticulous attention to detail.

Art is relative, I would say, for instance, I very much like the work of one particular artist but cannot see anything in another? What they all have in abundance is a huge amount of natural talent. I agree with you on David Bailey, who interestingly uses a Sony Alpha Camera now, but I can't agree with you on AA, he was one of the first photographers to embrace The Land Camera, Polaroid?

I think a skilled photographer is always recognisable, even if you may not like their themes.

 

That's the big problem today, peole react to the subject not the photo. If a photo shows a paradise beach or a beautiful person, people like the image, even if it is really badly made. Oppositely, if the photo shows the back of an industrial estate or a ugly person they don't like the image even if it is a fantastic photo.

 

That's what people are missing, that good photography has a value that transcends the literal subject.

 

I probably spend more time looking at photos I don't like to try to understand why I don't like them.

That is the basic precept of art Jaf? Why does it make me feel uncomfortable? what buttons is this or that subject pressing? I think I am agreeing with you here?

That is the basic precept of art Jaf? Why does it make me feel uncomfortable? what buttons is this or that subject pressing? I think I am agreeing with you here?

Photography is my passion. I think it's important for mankind too. Photographs have changed the World. Pictures have moved people to stop wars, feed the starving, end discrimination. They also teach people about other parts and peoples of the World.

 

But this can only happen if the photographer can capture the essential part of reality and tell the important part of the story with one photo. That takes skill, training and thought.

 

We're rapidly losing that part of photography. News media prefer using shaky, blurry, random images from random peoples cell-phones. People who engage in photography don't make an effort to learn how to make photographs, they're more concerned with using a cool filter. People have been turning to me for photography tips for decades. It's only in the last 5 years that people have gone deaf to the basics of photography.

That is the basic precept of art Jaf? Why does it make me feel uncomfortable? what buttons is this or that subject pressing? I think I am agreeing with you here?

Photography is my passion. I think it's important for mankind too. Photographs have changed the World. Pictures have moved people to stop wars, feed the starving, end discrimination. They also teach people about other parts and peoples of the World.

 

But this can only happen if the photographer can capture the essential part of reality and tell the important part of the story with one photo. That takes skill, training and thought.

 

We're rapidly losing that part of photography. News media prefer using shaky, blurry, random images from random peoples cell-phones. People who engage in photography don't make an effort to learn how to make photographs, they're more concerned with using a cool filter. I've been helping people with their photography for decades. It's only in the last 5 years that people have gone deaf to the basics of photography. They don't care. People roll their eyes when you start talking about composition. They somehow think the camera should do everything for them and expect me to tell them how.

 

Just try to imagine what the 20th century would have been like without good photography. I'm certain it would have been different.