[Leica] Cicadas droning

[Mike Johnston <michaeljohnston@ameritech.net>]

>>>I nearly died laughing...<<<


Tell you what. Go get at least three of Bill Eggleston's books. Study
them carefully. Then go see if you can make six photographs that you
think are in his style or that look like shots of his.

You're going to see it's not so easy, but you'll also get halfway to
understanding what he's all about.

As for as the Tennessee highway shot goes, first of all, let's
acknowledge that it's really dopey to try to judge an artist based on
one photograph. The "Democratic Forest" project, for instance, was
alleged to consist of 10,000 photographs. Eggleston used to print his
pictures by hiring a whole custom lab including its staff for a whole
weekend and they'd all do nothing but print his negatives nonstop. They
could turns out thousands of prints in a weekend.

I also don't think that Eggleston is one of those photographers whose
vision always tells. He's not unerring. I think he just plain misses
some of the time. In every one of his books I find pictures I marvel at,
but I also find pictures that leave me completely cold.

But I find it puzzling that anybody can "hate" this photograph or call
it "crap" or want it thrown away. Why? What's so difficult about this?
Maybe he thinks it looks like the landscape of that area.

Haven't you ever noticed how most "travel photography" looks utterly
unlike the area that's photographed? Go get a slick book on your city or
any locale you know well. How well do those photographs relate to the
area as you experience it when you're there?

Doesn't look anything like the pictures, does it? Most photography is
deliberately dishonest. Simplified, generic pictorial simulacra. Now
_that's_ crap. Get any of those stock photo catalogues that are as thick
as a phone book and see if you can find three really good photographs in
the whole darned book. I'll warn you, it's going to take some work.

I can believe that people don't respond to the Tennessee highway shot.
Actually, it's a bit sentimental, like a lot of Eggleston's work--you
can almost feel the heat hanging in the air (that greenish sky) and hear
the cicadas droning. If you know the south, or have memories of that
kind of landscape, then maybe the picture will speak to you. If you
don't, or if you respond to other kinds of subject matter, well, then,
fine. But what's to hate? It's not like he's going for some goddamned
slick stock shot or a "composed" bright and empty travelogue picture.
He's certainly not trying to make it look _generic_. It's not _a_
corner. It's _that_ corner.. That day.

Eggleston is one of a handful of people who I think of as "pure" Leica
photographers. It amazes me that he'd elicit criticism on the LUG.
(OTOH, there have been a number of really perceptive comments, too, from
Guy and John and others, and I think it speaks well of the
independent-mindedness of the LUG that several people can just come out
and say, "well, you may not like it, but I do." As an aside, I have to
say that independent-mindedness among the participants is one of the
best features of the LUG IMHO.)

BTW, somebody said it looks like he's not looking through the
viewfinder, which made me laugh, because of course a lot of the time he
doesn't. For a while at least, Eggleston photographed a lot holding the
camera (always a Leica) at arm's length.

- --Mike