there is some truth in what you said.
For example this photo
while growing up in india i had seen many women like this. To me its ordinary subject.
Yeah. I'm not as overwhelmed by that shot as the rest of the world. It's a great shot and she's an interesting looking character but I think people project far deeper meaning to that...and other images than they actually merit.
For years I've seen and been wowed by the second cigar smoking woman on that page until I realized she just scooped tourist dollars for a shot. My pal Sam told me she won't even put the cigar in her mouth unless you toss her some money first. There's no more romance or brilliance in that capture...just another tourist trap, type of thing yet it appears so culturally rich. Oh well...
eta: The war weary look on these guys faces carry more weight than most of the uber hokey scarf stuff we see, piled in one but again, people gobble that stuff up. That's what sets Steve McCurry in a class of his own. He finds the real thing and nails it where some people find models and recreate it. I could care less but what does concern me is that people can't see the difference or they simply don't care.
I think you have a valid point, a very sad point at that. It is so much easier to look on faces when they are from people far away, people we don't "really" have to relate to! Children with dirty faces, women in scarves, men with bad teeth, things like that, we don't have those, no, no, the illusion is that we are clean, free, and healthy. So we make and see these pictures, and call them "real life" (which they are at least in some cases), and we're glad that we don't have to really be part of that real life. And people in those real life situations learn to exploit the concept to their advantage (the cigar lady situation), and we keep falling for it!
But real life close to home is taboo.
It isn't all that way, but it sometimes seems that a lot is.
It goes beyond life/documentary/street photography. Nature photography is similar, in particular wildlife. We want to see the extraordinary shot of a wolf running through the snow, tearing into meat - rarely is it reality, but most of the time it is a trained animal posing for the photographer able to pay big bucks for the oportunity. Not that different than paying the lady with the cigar, except that in that case at least she gets some income - the wolf doesn't :)
It goes beyond life/documentary/street photography. Nature photography is similar, in particular wildlife. We want to see the extraordinary shot of a wolf running through the snow, tearing into meat - rarely is it reality, but most of the time it is a trained animal posing for the photographer able to pay big bucks for the oportunity. Not that different than paying the lady with the cigar, except that in that case at least she gets some income - the wolf doesn't :)
Trust me, I know. I have a very crazy, insane, stupid long list of things that don't impress me in the slightest. I'm not making a comment on the Cigar Lady or trying to deny her a living but laying out an indictment on the general viewing public. You can find this stuff everywhere...gov't/politics, music, media, business etc. I just wish people would wake up and stop getting scammed so easily. Again, it's not about the subject or the photographer but the viewer.
I mean, taking a sharp shot of Lions, Gibbons, Snow Monkeys, Leopards, Eagles etc. in a zoo, is bullshit compared to taking one in the wild. The patience, timing and overall skill it takes to capture real wild life is infinitely more difficult and it shows so clearly when you see the real deal. The zoo images are so sharp and so sterile compared the poetry that pours from things in their true setting.
Eta; Here's a strange zoo shot I got a few weeks back of a Snow Monkey attacking/defending against a Swan. That situation would never happen in real life, which is what I find so amusing and so cheesy at the same time. Two hours before you could have captured a pack of snow monkeys huddled tightly in the water with icicles in their hair. How many psycho sharp images of that scene have we all seen? Buy a ticket...bang!
I mean, taking a sharp shot of Lions, Gibbons, Snow Monkeys, Leopards, Eagles etc. in a zoo, is bullshit compared to taking one in the wild. The patience, timing and overall skill it's takes to capture real wild life is infinitely more difficult and it shows so clearly when you see the real deal. The zoo images are so sharp and so sterile compared the poetry that pours from things in their true setting.
Or you can just buy a cruise ticket and set up on the comfotable patio they built over the river where the bears congregate and capture all the "natural" peotry servered up to you like hanging curve ball. The skill required here is stunning.
I'm just so excited...maybe I have a chance as a photographer yet! I got this one: //1x.com/v2/#photos/latest-additions/23807/ published on 1x...I'm at 50% - 1 published and 1 rejected!, but I'm afraid the only way that'll last long is if I never submit anything else...
Thanks, yeah, I had to get to the park really early, so there weren't any other people around. I really like the long early morning shadows and the warm dawn light.
I put in 6 more yesterday (for a total of 15). One of the 6 was rejected fairly quickly, but the other 5 have been in screening for over 24 hours now. So I guess they got past the initial screener and got put out for the membership. We'll see.....
The only thing about this image is that some people think it's posed but this guy actually hangs out in the space, drinks lots of beer, smokes a ton, cranks up that little guitar to extremely distorted levels and yells at people who pass by. In this particular shot, he's saying hello to a passerby in his R&R way. An honest candid.
Personally, I think it kicks ass over some of the shots on the front page today BUT I may re-enter it with one of those wide, Vietnamese straw hats cloned to his head and replace the guitar with a goat or water buffalo. LOL
The only thing about this image is that some people think it's posed but this guy actually hangs out in the space, drinks lots of beer, smokes a ton, cranks up that little guitar to extremely distorted levels and yells at people who pass by. In this particular shot, he's saying hello to a passerby in his R&R way. An honest candid.
Personally, I think it kicks ass over some of the shots on the front page today BUT I may re-enter it with one of those wide, Vietnamese straw hats cloned to his head and replace the guitar with a goat or water buffalo. LOL
Probably wouldn't make a difference in the end, but ... the blue guitar gets a lot of visual attention in this otherwise rather evenly brown-tones image. Did you leave it as it is to intentionally stand out, or simply because it was there that way, or what? The other two things: (1) it is a very centred compo, which some at least might object to, and (2) the face "feels" not sharp (it is, I think, but it feels that way, maybe because the hand/body/fore and background contain so many sharp parts). I like this photo, but in this case, the addition of a hat and/or goat would probably not do it. Although, it would be an interesting thing to look at, with the hat/goat. :)
