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Post by genazzano on Oct 28, 2014 3:14:07 GMT -5
There are times when I make a shot that I think is creative and original... only to later find out that similar photos have been made by many others. And to add insult to injury, the others are much better. Here is a photo of a view from a country road near Sienna. I soon enterred it into a photo contest in Sienna only to find that perhaps 30% of the amateur photos submitted were taken from that precise position along the highway. And they were too often better. Anyway, here is the photo and I am curious whether others have had similar experiences and photos that amount to photographic clichés. David
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Post by belgiumreporter on Oct 28, 2014 6:36:19 GMT -5
Oh yeah have i ever... Just look at the two pics here, one by the famous Belgium photographer Stefan Van Fleteren, the other by an unknown Belgium reporter. I made the photo when i was on an assignement to document the loss of social networks in rural areas and small villages, the "tout va bien" (all's well) name on the shop struck me, as obviously by the look of the let down blinds and the desolate streets (save from the occasional oblivious bypasser) do suggest otherwise. A year or so later after i made this shot (wich was used in a publication) i saw a portfolio of Stefan Van Fleteren in wich he must have seen the same thing as me, but gave it a diffrent interpertation. Problem is this isn't the only photo from him that is almost the same as mine, he's famous i'm not,hard to prove i'm not a copy cat...Small excuse could be we both work in Belgium and Belgium isn't that big.
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Post by genazzano on Oct 28, 2014 7:05:18 GMT -5
Which one is yours?
Back in grad school this guy was admiring our darkroom work and said he wanted to try photography. No one liked this guy. He came back having bought a fully loaded black Nikon F, his first camera and one none of us could afford. He showed us his first photo. There was the University photo competition and he enterred this shot of his girlfreind's ass behind a rusty screen door. We snickered to ourselves (pompously) thinking the shot was cheap artsy cliche for sure. He won first place. All of us aspiring photo journalists snickered in our warm beer. Cliche isn't always bad, I suppose.
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Post by belgiumreporter on Oct 28, 2014 7:49:46 GMT -5
Which one is yours? Back in grad school this guy was admiring our darkroom work and said he wanted to try photography. No one liked this guy. He came back having bought a fully loaded black Nikon F, his first camera and one none of us could afford. He showed us his first photo. There was the University photo competition and he enterred this shot of his girlfreind's ass behind a rusty screen door. We snickered to ourselves (pompously) thinking the shot was cheap artsy cliche for sure. He won first place. All of us aspiring photo journalists snickered in our warm beer. Cliche isn't always bad, I suppose. Well, i could be cunning and ask you wich one do you like the best? but i'll be honest, the second one is mine. On photo contest, i never enter (do not judge and thou shalt not be judged). A famous photographer once said " i hate photographs, if they are better than mine they make me jealous, i hate them if they are worse than mine as they are such a waste of time" Oh and btw. my first real camera was a black nikon F don't Judge a book by it's cover or a photographer by his camera.
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Post by genazzano on Oct 28, 2014 13:40:24 GMT -5
I should have said that the second was far better, but it is. The pov, the inclusion of a walker at full stride, the lighting, all goes to support the irony of the sign. My compliments.
A black F was my dream camera. Later I got my F3... Still have it. Loaded right now in my pack after 31 years except now I shoot expired film. Sadly.
David
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truls
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Posts: 568
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Post by truls on Nov 7, 2014 6:09:45 GMT -5
genazzano and belgiumreporter: Your images are very good! I don't think we have to compare our own images vs other photographers. Every photo stands out on its own. If one are satisfied with a picture, it it top class! I also tried to copy images of others, but I have never joined any contest, I like many of my pictures for what they are. Here is a picture from my home town, Tromsø. It is photograped on Ektachrome 100, a puny Canon AE-1/Fd 50/1.8, january 1989: In the winter the sun is absent, but the light can be very pleasing. It is copied countless times, still I like my own variant.
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Nov 7, 2014 6:42:00 GMT -5
"I don't think we have to compare our own images vs other photographers. Every photo stands out on its own. If one are satisfied with a picture, it it top class!"
This is a wise and happy photographer from whom we can all learn.
Mickey
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 7, 2014 13:02:19 GMT -5
Whe cares if it's a cliche. It's beautiful. There are times when I make a shot that I think is creative and original... only to later find out that similar photos have been made by many others. And to add insult to injury, the others are much better. Here is a photo of a view from a country road near Sienna. I soon enterred it into a photo contest in Sienna only to find that perhaps 30% of the amateur photos submitted were taken from that precise position along the highway. And they were too often better. Anyway, here is the photo and I am curious whether others have had similar experiences and photos that amount to photographic clichés. David
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lyn
New Member
I've decided on the Topcon/Voightlander/Exacta/Zeiss camera system. Any tips?
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Post by lyn on Feb 17, 2015 23:33:05 GMT -5
Great idea for a thread!
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Post by philbirch on Feb 18, 2015 14:27:38 GMT -5
There are times when I make a shot that I think is creative and original... only to later find out that similar photos have been made by many others. And to add insult to injury, the others are much better. Here is a photo of a view from a country road near Sienna. I soon enterred it into a photo contest in Sienna only to find that perhaps 30% of the amateur photos submitted were taken from that precise position along the highway. And they were too often better. Anyway, here is the photo and I am curious whether others have had similar experiences and photos that amount to photographic clichés. David A good photo however of an interesting scene. I think this scene could be photgraphed every day with a different look.
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mickeyobe
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Posts: 7,280
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Post by mickeyobe on Feb 18, 2015 20:06:43 GMT -5
There are times when I make a shot that I think is creative and original... only to later find out that similar photos have been made by many others. And to add insult to injury, the others are much better. Here is a photo of a view from a country road near Sienna. I soon enterred it into a photo contest in Sienna only to find that perhaps 30% of the amateur photos submitted were taken from that precise position along the highway. And they were too often better. Anyway, here is the photo and I am curious whether others have had similar experiences and photos that amount to photographic clichés. David A good photo however of an interesting scene. I think this scene could be photgraphed every day with a different look. Phil, You have captured the perfect look and light. Don't fret over what the judges say. They often have rigid, unbending ideas of what should be. Those ideas may very well have been formulated by failed contemporaries of van d**e or Michelangelo or Whistler. Mickey Note censor: 'van d**e' = 'van Thing that holds the seas back in Holland'.
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Post by philbirch on Feb 19, 2015 16:57:24 GMT -5
Not my photo Mickey, it's Genazzano's. why won't it say Van Dy Ke?
I was on a music forum and it wouldnt let me say Bruce Dickinson (singer from Iron Maiden) or Donald Fagen (one half of Steely Dan)
EDIT: but this one does.... perhaps it was the dick and fag bits...
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Post by genazzano on Feb 19, 2015 19:04:43 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for your kind words about my loser picture . I have never heard of such a censor or are you guys joking. What about poor Dick Van d**e? David Wow! Where is this so-called censor and why censor D y k e?
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Post by philbirch on Feb 20, 2015 17:09:49 GMT -5
Thanks everyone for your kind words about my loser picture . I have never heard of such a censor or are you guys joking. What about poor Dick Van d**e? David Wow! Where is this so-called censor and why censor D y k e? Perhaps the censor is a past D.G. of the BBC who doesn't like his name on the internet.
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Post by yashica1943 on Feb 19, 2016 5:51:03 GMT -5
I love the picture of the farm and the shop, I wish that I had taken them. I enter 4 or 5 club competitions every year, the winner is usually a cliche type photo, portrait of pretty girl, wild animals taken on safari, sea birds, desert scenes, interesting architecture, inside or out. Or the current fad, a coastal picture with a castle or rocks in the back ground, a cloud filled colourful sunset type sky and, usually a milky sea. The other popular subjects are frozen waterfalls and ruined castles or churches reflected in pools. And HDR Cathedral interiors. Sometimes, and this really riles me, if it is a themed comp. the winners photo does not fit the brief at all.
This week I tried to get away from the usual with a colourful informal picture of a musician in a parade playing his instrument, in the background it is obvious that there is a lively festival going on. The local press estimated 10,000 people packed into two narrow streets, with food stalls and music stages - total about 500 metres in length. I managed to get a couple of shots off with my camera held overhead. I like the picture, but the judge on that day obviously wasn't into street photography. His comments were rather condescending. 'I think that you could have followed the musician and asked him to pose for you, that sort of person likes that sort of thing'. 'His beard is a bit lacking in detail'. And worst of all 'Keep trying!' A fuzzy picture of a pale sunset taken through the, definitely moving twigs of a bush received more marks than mine. I am putting one really odd picture into the next themed comp together with a cliched one.
I have done a little casual judging at a small club, I know it is difficult and I don't think that I am very good, but they keep asking me to come back!
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