[Leica] When in doubt ask photographer

[images at comporium.net (Tina Manley)]

At 05:14 PM 1/12/2008, you wrote:

>Somebody mentioned Kyle, and I was thinking, "why do many of us 
>enjoy Kyle's stuff, but the same people don't like Jessica 
>Dimmock's?"  In most of Kyle's stuff, there's a sense of playfulness 
>and irony that buffers the subject matter.  Jessica lays it all out 
>there, and the only filter seems to be that we get a sense of how 
>she feels about it. That used to be called being a "concerned 
>photographer."  It may not be the Magnum 1950s way of doing things, 
>but it's valid.
>
>--Peter


I almost deleted this several times, and it's still not quite what I 
wanted to say, but I'm tired and the Green Bay Packers are playing in 
a snow storm so I'll send this out and wait for rebuttals:

Right, Peter.  I don't think Kyle ever pretends to be invisible.  His 
photos make it clear that he is there and that's a very valid method 
of documentary photography.  He is documenting what is there as he is 
present as a recognized documentarian.  I don't think that's what 
Jessica intended but maybe I'm mistaken.  Maybe she intends to have 
her presence be a part of the photographs.  I think that is probably 
what separates me from the modern photojournalists and I can 
understand it and sympathize with it without wanting to be a part of 
it.  When I photograph families in developing countries, I stay with 
them (I mean sleeping in the same bed usually!) and do my best to be 
unobtrusive.  After days of sitting quietly in a corner, I am truly 
forgotten by most of the families I photograph.  I really am a quiet 
person who blends into the background - an advantage to being a 
wallflower!!  I have many times had people, when I give them copies 
of the photographs later, tell me that they had no idea I was taking 
photographs.  I am a really forgettable, bland, quiet person!  I'm 
just not willing to impose my personality and vision on to the 
circumstances that I photograph.  As I said before, I'm too old.  I 
don't get hip-hop music and never will.  I don't get current 
"photojournalism" either, but that, I guess, is my loss.  I'm 
stubborn.  I understand Kyle's honest approach to documenting what he 
sees but don't appreciate photographs that seem to be contrived to 
fit a style or vision.

Tina

Tina Manley
ASMP, NPPA, EP, PI
http://www.tinamanley.com