ku # 477 ~ summers greens
Friday, June 29, 2007 at 08:35AM 
Lush summer greens • click to embiggenEven though I no longer particiapate in them, I still get email notifications of posts/topics from a couple photo discussion forums.
Recently, I received a notice of a post titled, Do you get tired of Landsape and Nature images? The poster stated that he was "...exposed to so many images at the couple of forums that I check in with throughout the day, that I'm bored with all of them ... I even am now bored with my own ... they all look the same after a while..."
Ignoring the fact that almost all photo forums with a theme tend to promote group-think sameness, I think that the poster's delemma is related more to the idea of over-saturation that is part and parcel of the internet as a whole - google any topic and you get a zillion links to that topic. It makes me think that if A & E's sin was to sample the fruit of the tree of knowledge and humankind has created the all-pervasive internet as a fruit of knowledge, then what we have done is to build a tower of babble.
But, ignoring that concept as well, I wonder if the poster's issue is really more indicative of our culture's addiction to the quest of bigger, better, best. A 'quest' that is really nothing more than an ever-present lust for cheap and easy thrills/highs. Highs that can only by satisfied by bigger and bigger doses of, in this case, knock-your-socks-off pretty pictures.
Pictures which are all about the surface of pretty things but nothing about what lies beneath that surface. Just like shallow people, shallow pictures are, indeed, boring. There's nothing to hold onto. No reason to stay involved, so it's time to keep moving on - sort of like an endless procession of one night stands.
I also think that this person's delemma gives testement to the fact that Art is not a verb. Making Art is an activity, but, to the thinking person, if all someone is making is nothing more than a series of empty statements (no matter how self-gratifying the activity may be), the ulimate result is boring pictures and boredom.
If the only thing that matters in your attempt to make Art is that you are pleasing yourself ... well ... I guess that makes you into, not an artist, but kind of self-centered person, doesn't it?
PS - this entry is not in any way meant to reflect negatively on the personhood (or the photography) of the photographer who posted the forum topic. In fact, I think his 'confession' is his first step on the road to 'recovery'.
gravitas et nugalis
Featured Comments: Paul Maxim wrote: "Well Mark, I have to admit that this one is indeed thought provoking. I know you've made the same "statement" in different ways before but, for some reason, this one really makes me stop and think.
I certainly know the feeling of looking at images on online forums and thinking that it's all a huge case of "my picture is prettier than your's is". They do, in fact, all start to look the same. It's nothing more than a game of "one-up-manship". Images that do appear to have some underlying "meaning" are rarely commented on. They seem to make people nervous.
Last week, in fact, I posted a question on such a forum asking the photographer why they'd posted a particular image. What was the "message", I asked? I simply didn't "get it". I received a very curt reply that there didn't have to be a "message" - they just "liked it". Apparently, I'd hit some "artistic" nerve.
So I guess I'm agreeing with your statement that "shallow pictures, like shallow people, are indeed boring". Maybe we shouldn't give the photographer the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we should call it boring if it really is boring. And maybe we should let them know that we think it's boring. The hard part, of course, is turning the same "critical eye" on our own work.
Thought provoking, indeed. I'm not sure whether I should thank you or curse you...."
My response: Thanks much for the thanks/curse feedback. Honesty is always the best policy.
A word of advice about ... Maybe we should call it boring if it really is boring. And maybe we should let them know that we think it's boring ... - from my experience this is the fast lane to harassment, flame wars, all-around distain and, in some cases, outright banishment on photo forums, especially nature photography forums. The mantra on those forums is inveriably, "message, smessage... if I like it, it's art and that's all that matters ..."
On the other hand, if you find something here on The Landscapist that you find boring/trite/cliche, feel free to say so and offer opinions why you think it is so (as you already have). Those opinions are always welcome and are great fodder for discussions about the medium we all love.
Reader Comments (3)
I think you're right, it's all in the viewer connecting to meaning, vs. the image alone.
That being said, maybe the best thing for him is the simplest: just step away from it until he feels a reason for shooting and viewing landscapes again.
To me, a beautiful landscape is exactly that - beauty in nature - and there are times when that is enough for emotion to well up. Other times, it's not, and I just look at something else. The images I skip may still be Art, just Art-in-waiting.
Well Mark, I have to admit that this one is indeed thought provoking. I know you've made the same "statement" in different ways before but, for some reason, this one really makes me stop and think.
I certainly know the feeling of looking at images on online forums and thinking that it's all a huge case of "my picture is prettier than your's is". They do, in fact, all start to look the same. It's nothing more than a game of "one-up-manship". Images that do appear to have some underlying "meaning" are rarely commented on. They seem to make people nervous.
Last week, in fact, I posted a question on such a forum asking the photographer why they'd posted a particular image. What was the "message", I asked? I simply didn't "get it". I received a very curt reply that there didn't have to be a "message" - they just "liked it". Apparently, I'd hit some "artistic" nerve.
So I guess I'm agreeing with your statement that "shallow pictures, like shallow people, are indeed boring". Maybe we shouldn't give the photographer the benefit of the doubt. Maybe we should call it boring if it really is boring. And maybe we should let them know that we think it's boring. The hard part, of course, is turning the same "critical eye" on our own work.
Thought provoking, indeed. I'm not sure whether I should thank you or curse you....
Robert - thanks for the feedback and the insight into how you 'see' things.