Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/09/03

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Subject: RE: [Leica] New photos
From: "bdcolen" <bdcolen@earthlink.net>
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 13:45:54 -0400

Yes, I have. I'm not talking about making people look nice; I'm talking
about quite intentionally making them look as bizarre as possible.

Your stunning series of portraits of burn victims did NOT make them look
nice; it didn't pull any punches in terms of shoving their deformities
in people's faces. But at the same time, that work had real dignity, and
conveyed the tremendous dignity of your subjects. I don't see any
dignity, or, for that matter, honesty, in the Arbus work we're
discussing.

I prefer to judge her by her work, rather than by her explanations of
her work.

But, hey, I think that Thomas Kincaid, "painter of light," is a
grotesque hack - and he is the best selling artist in the world. So what
do I know? ;-)



- -----Original Message-----
From: owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
[mailto:owner-leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us] On Behalf Of Johnny
Deadman
Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 6:40 PM
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: [Leica] New photos


I think you are confusing making people look nice with showing them 
respect. Did you ever read anything about Arbus and the way she worked, 
or how she talked about her subjects? It is hard to believe you could 
have and still have that knee jerk response to her work.

On Tuesday, September 2, 2003, at 06:18 PM, bdcolen wrote:

> It is possible to take strong photos of similar subjects
> and show them some respect.
- --
John Brownlow

http://www.pinkheadedbug.com http://www.unintended-consequences.com

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Replies: Reply from "Jon" <jon.stanton@comcast.net> (Re: [Leica] New photos)