Bill Brooks Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 A thought provoking talk about good photography that we all do most of the time, and the great photography that we all do only sometimes. https://fstoppers.com/education/good-or-great-photo-opinion-self-righteous-sanctimonious-or-absolutely-correct-458290 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin L Posted February 26, 2020 Share Posted February 26, 2020 A good vid. I remember the 'pile of bricks' exhibited in the Tate in the 70's and the 'what a joke' reaction. We were all laughing about it at school so our art teacher at the time took a whole lesson discussing it. Completely changed my perception of modern art and what meaning they try to convey. l guess 'great' photography provokes thought, 'good' photography is nice to look at. It made me laugh at the beginning though as most of my portfolio appears to be 'camera club' quality according to the host, a bit of a downer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 On 26/02/2020 at 09:45, Bill Brooks said: A thought provoking talk about good photography that we all do most of the time, and the great photography that we all do only sometimes. https://fstoppers.com/education/good-or-great-photo-opinion-self-righteous-sanctimonious-or-absolutely-correct-458290 Bill, Loved Iain's video, I do agree with him BTW. In my own opinion my favorite photographers, photojournalists, have been Gene Smith, Raymond Depardon and two I have known well Joseph Koudelka and Jim Marshall. I respect Andreas Gursky, but not moved greatly by the small amount of his work that I have seen. "F8 and be there" is what I believe to be the most important rule of photography, but just one of them. Thanks, Chuck 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 Different images/art have their places. I don't want to have to 'think deeply' every time I see an image. There are times when this is important.. other times, you just need an image which is pretty and makes you feel happy whether it tells a story or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 (edited) On 26/02/2020 at 13:31, Martin L said: A good vid. I remember the 'pile of bricks' exhibited in the Tate in the 70's and the 'what a joke' reaction. We were all laughing about it at school so our art teacher at the time took a whole lesson discussing it. Completely changed my perception of modern art and what meaning they try to convey. l guess 'great' photography provokes thought, 'good' photography is nice to look at. It made me laugh at the beginning though as most of my portfolio appears to be 'camera club' quality according to the host, a bit of a downer I think your kingfisher in the reeds is spectacularly beautiful. Hooray for beauty! And, of course, you did that very impactful eagle. I do see that there is something else going on in the "art" photos but they are not often something I would want to look at every day. Paulette PS. Your common adder is spectacular too. If I was looking for animals I would definitely look at your portfolio. Edited February 28, 2020 by NYCat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin L Posted February 28, 2020 Share Posted February 28, 2020 Thanks Getting wildlife with a bit of differentiation is difficult, you have definitely managed it with some of your pics. It's hard just to get the little blighters in focus. What would I do to have the ability to ask my little wildlife friends to 'sit still and just move your head to the right a bit' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted February 29, 2020 Author Share Posted February 29, 2020 On 26/02/2020 at 13:31, Martin L said: A good vid. I remember the 'pile of bricks' exhibited in the Tate in the 70's and the 'what a joke' reaction. We were all laughing about it at school so our art teacher at the time took a whole lesson discussing it. Completely changed my perception of modern art and what meaning they try to convey. l guess 'great' photography provokes thought, 'good' photography is nice to look at. It made me laugh at the beginning though as most of my portfolio appears to be 'camera club' quality according to the host, a bit of a downer Martin. Don't feel down, you have started uploading good images that will sell as stock. There are three types of images, bad, good, and great I take lots of images. I delete the bad images. I upload the good images, and the occasional great image, to Alamy. Good stock images will sell, but great stock images will sell more often. When a client does a search they are presented with 100 images on the first page. Some of those 100 images are good, and some are great. The client will compare good images to great images. When the client makes a selection they may rent a good image, but they will more likely rent the great image. So photographers producing a larger number of great images will have higher sales, other things being equal. Producing great images is like excelling in any endeavor. Practice practice practice. If you set out to produce only great images it will lead to creative block and no images. Do not overthink it. Practice often enough by producing good images, and you will start producing great images. It is like playing the violin. With more great stock images, you will make even more stock sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andremichel Posted March 1, 2020 Share Posted March 1, 2020 (edited) On 26/02/2020 at 14:45, Bill Brooks said: A thought provoking talk about good photography that we all do most of the time, and the great photography that we all do only sometimes. https://fstoppers.com/education/good-or-great-photo-opinion-self-righteous-sanctimonious-or-absolutely-correct-458290 In fairness to the other guy, he has never visited that guy's camera club. He is being presumptuous. I've never been a member of a camera club so can't say for sure what they produce. But he does seem rather harsh and condescending towards camera clubs. The examples he gives as 'camera club' photos, look nice, but certainly look unoriginal and derivative. I can't believe this is the only sort of thing they produce. We can all put our art critic hats on and waffle on about a work of art, testifying to why it is so great. Whether our arguments have validity and credibility and really resonate, is quite another question. Edited March 2, 2020 by andremichel 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andremichel Posted March 2, 2020 Share Posted March 2, 2020 On 29/02/2020 at 20:47, Bill Brooks said: Practice often enough by producing good images, and you will start producing great images. It is like playing the violin. With more great stock images, you will make even more stock sales. There is also the question of whether a great image at an exhibition also makes for a great stock image and vice versa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 On 02/03/2020 at 06:01, andremichel said: There is also the question of whether a great image at an exhibition also makes for a great stock image and vice versa. In my not so humble opinion, Really Great Images do not often make for frequently licensed "Stock Images." Chuck 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 (edited) 41 minutes ago, Chuck Nacke said: In my not so humble opinion, Really Great Images do not often make for frequently licensed "Stock Images." Chuck Yes.. some of my images that I have sold a few times definitely wouldn't make it into a gallery. I guess to us an analogy, Ferraris are nice (and many of us might like one) but chances are we will buy a Ford, a Vauxhall/Opel or Volkswagen as that's what we can afford and in many cases are more suitable! 🙂 Edited March 3, 2020 by Matt Ashmore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Autumn Sky Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Chuck Nacke said: In my not so humble opinion, Really Great Images do not often make for frequently licensed "Stock Images." Chuck Could not agree more. If you guys have few minutes to spare, check out this site: https://zizka.ca/portfolio-2/ Paul is well known in Canadian Rockies. He doesn't do only landscapes, but if you are into nature you will be awed. I think he was doing stock too when he started. But he is too good now and he knows it. His prints and books are all over Banff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlmphotog Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Art is in the eye of the beholder. There are many markets for photography and each market has it's needs we as photographer strive to fill in order to make a living. Striving for great can be daunting and crush your ego as you constantly fall short, as we all do. I like the "F8 and be there" mentality as working on the day to day or mundane can lead to good maybe great work, great work takes work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 How many pictures that are neither good nor great have sold and made money as stock photos? I don't really care about 'great' pictures. And I don't really care what others think about me not really caring about great pictures. 😏 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geogphotos Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 I don't like momma's apple pie either 🤡 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 Well I will try this again..... Keep in mind that I have been and am now expressing my opinion centered on Photojournalism. In my opinion, really great images document a pivotal moment in time, a moment that illustrates a major change in the course of history, Alexndria's photo at the Berlin wall is a good example. On another side would be Jim Marshall's photo of Johnny Cash at San Quentin Prison (not really history changing but...) Then there is Eddie Adams image in Viet Nam. Ian, What does pie have to do with it? Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Ashmore Posted March 3, 2020 Share Posted March 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Chuck Nacke said: Ian, What does pie have to do with it? More importantly, how can you not like pie? 🙂 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiskerke Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 7 hours ago, Autumn Sky said: Could not agree more. If you guys have few minutes to spare, check out this site: https://zizka.ca/portfolio-2/ Paul is well known in Canadian Rockies. He doesn't do only landscapes, but if you are into nature you will be awed. I think he was doing stock too when he started. But he is too good now and he knows it. His prints and books are all over Banff Wow Caspar David Friedrich has come back and is using a camera. wim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted March 4, 2020 Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) 19 hours ago, Chuck Nacke said: In my not so humble opinion, Really Great Images do not often make for frequently licensed "Stock Images." Chuck Not when they license for $1. Chuck, I'm adopting the acronym "RGI" from now on, if you don't mind. It should go far. Edited March 4, 2020 by spacecadet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Brooks Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 On 28/02/2020 at 10:16, Matt Ashmore said: Different images/art have their places. I don't want to have to 'think deeply' every time I see an image. There are times when this is important.. other times, you just need an image which is pretty and makes you feel happy whether it tells a story or not. Matt you are right. Don't overthink it. Your great people picnic image came about, because you had fun making a lot of good pictures. Lots of good images helped you develop an eye for a great image. So when the chance at your great picnic picture came about, you probably reacted from your gut without a lot of thinking. Most of my thinking is done later when looking at the surviving good images from the shoot. What should I have done, at the shoot, to turn this good image into a great image? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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