Its all bright colours and spectacle at the New York State Fair ……….. a fellow photographer working up there told me to expect “Americana on Steroids” it’s certainly a crazy slightly tacky scene. I really enjoyed it…….aswell as the big canvas I like little details like this.
[ 3 ] comments
- I’ve just reread what I wrote in my previous comment and am feeling appalled at being so rude. Please forgive me. I think what I meant about my ‘Anyone can be a photojournalist’ comment was that we see this trend manifested in the case of 9/11 or the explosion of news photoblogs and political blogs where quality images (and journalism) are produced and displayed by thousands (if not millions) of ‘unprofessional’ citizen ‘journalists’ all over the world, images easily capable of publication in any of the world’s press or magazines (or TV channels). And most of this is done without any remuneration of any kind. I don’t think these days it’s necessary to be paid or be acknowledged by some creative director or picture editor before you can consider yourself a ‘real’ photojournalist. Of course, citizens were always capable of recording events, but the new true democratizatioin of news photography is thanks to the digital age, where a still image or video of an event, a big or small piece of history, can be flashed round the world and discussed and interpreted via the net in an instant, competing with anything a ‘professional’ can produce. This used to be the domain of a particular class of people, those that ran the fourth estate, and the other powerful magnates of the TV media world, the ruling class say. But not now. Their dominance and world-view is certainly being compromised. So like I said, anyone can now be a photojournalist (or journalist) should they choose. Probably, I think, the reasons newspapers are losing readership generally. ‘Not everyone can be an artist’ is perhaps a little flippant of me. And I apologize. Hyperbole I think it’s called. Call yourself an artist and you’ll be one, someone once said. I suppose they’re right. But there seems to be a kind of necessary artistic outlook on life, that certainly in my experience not everyone has, unfortunately. Perhaps the world would be much nicer if they did. I like this Disney image a lot, by the way. My all time favorite photograph on your blog looking back is the one of the youth handcuffed to the table. [http://www.jezblog.com/archives/2006/05/11/] Simple and deeply effective. A really great image. Has deep pathos too, if you choose to see it. Without any text interpretation it throws up all sorts of questions. And who needs Photoshop! Think I’d better shut up now.
Colin @ September 7, 2006, 7:56 pm
- Yo Colin……No worries I always weirdly prefer the slightly prickly to downright rude remarks……… not sure why………. but I kinda enjoy them the most……… maybe its cos they are really engaging with the work or just the most amusing. You are right anyway while I use a very undiscriminating view of who is an artist………. Im using a deliberately refined self-serving old fashioned view of who is a photojournalist…….. all these citizen journalist types with their camera phones have certainly lowered the bar to entry into the field …….. if you include them you certainly have a much less rigorous entry criteria than i was originally proposing……… and you are probably right to include them in a general overview cos as you rightly point out its an important new phenomena combining with blogs/ myspace etc etc to democratize the whole news field………. hmmmmmm…… i would previously only ever have used the term photojournalist for a pro with a couple of F5’s and a bullet proof jacket….. but those citizen journalist types might as well be in there…….. as no doubt they would claim that mantle for themselves. Yeah that kid handcuffed to the table is a real piece of reportage…….. photojournalism by the old fashioned definition………. shot on E6 film on assignment…….no fiddling in photoshop………That is a job but I don’t put much of from my actual assignments on this blog as obviously they are shot specifically for client magazines or ad agencies etc…… and must appear first/exclusively in the clients media………. even the above shots of the fair are personal images shot at the end of a long day…….. having spent all the rest of that day working on assignment to produce images of Sen.Hillary Clinton and Pres. Bill Clinton at the Fair……… maybe I’ll put some of those up after they appear in print. Oddly today I had to turn down another commission to shoot Bill Clinton again today this time in Little Rock Ak……… I also had to turn down shooting Ex president of Iran the Mullah Mohammed Khatami today at the National Cathedral in DC …………the joy of being overbooked!
jez @ September 7, 2006, 10:46 pm
- Disney! Love the little creatures 🙂 but Snoopy is still my biggest favorite 😉
Kerly @ November 12, 2010, 5:55 am
