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Author Topic: The 101 Cliches of Photography  (Read 163517 times)

Rob C

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The 101 Cliches of Photography
« Reply #80 on: August 11, 2007, 12:35:30 pm »

Ray - got it in one!

Of course, I agree with you that there is nothing as cliched as the nude, but man, what a delightful cliche! Right now, to protect my position, I must make it clear that I mean with the best sort of model - no Mz Arbus bullshit here!

Ciao - Rob C

gunnar1

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The 101 Cliches of Photography
« Reply #81 on: August 19, 2007, 08:49:54 pm »

There some questions I have not yet seen asked: why is a cliche a cliche? What makes it so? Does it not have some relation to our time?

Were the Dutch masters painting cliches? Were the impressionists painting cliches? You see where I am going with this. It all comes down to time and place in the end. At the present time (post color negative film invention) we (humans) tend to what appears attractive in our medium and that is considered cliche by some. Does a sunset look so alluring in monochrome? How about a tropical bird?

Here is another question: Why is the budding young photographer drawn to what the more "experienced" photographer may consider cliche? Why does my 10 year old take pics of the dog and the sunset and flowers and the lake etc. etc.? I would contend that in some ways we are "wired" to see the appeal in these photographs. She has not been influenced by my own work, to that I can attest, but she ends up at these places nonetheless.

Food for thought... (or is it cliche to have even written that last sentence with the periods behind it??)
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Ray

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« Reply #82 on: August 19, 2007, 10:03:18 pm »

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There some questions I have not yet seen asked: why is a cliche a cliche? What makes it so? Does it not have some relation to our time?

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134216\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

I think the dictionary can help here. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the origins seem to relate to the process of making a metal cast from a wood carving in order to make prints. The word itself is a derivative of the French clicher or cliquer meaning to 'click', which is the sound made by the die-sinkers as they struck the melted lead in the process of making the stereotype block.

Of course, such blocks or casts were used to stamp out almost unlimited identical copies of forms and prints. The term has even been used to describe the film negative of photography, so it's no wonder the word has become a metaphor for anything commonplace and hackneyed.

However, in the case of photography, even though a subject and its treatment might metaphorically be described as a cliche, there is usually some variation in each sunset, sunrise, family cat or Yosemite grand view.

If the printers of old who used these die-cast blocks (cliches) were to get the same variation in their copies of prints as I get in my sunsets, they would have a right to get very angry and frustrated.  
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reyn_two

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« Reply #83 on: August 21, 2007, 08:22:09 am »

I'm going to Burford Wildlife Park on Saturday to take pictures of Penguins.
I certainly don't want to take pictures that other people have taken before, one idea I have to avoid this is to stand them in a row and invert every other one.
Has anyone seen a picture like this before? If so I won't bother going.
Frank
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Rob C

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« Reply #84 on: August 21, 2007, 10:53:24 am »

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I'm going to Burford Wildlife Park on Saturday to take pictures of Penguins.
I certainly don't want to take pictures that other people have taken before, one idea I have to avoid this is to stand them in a row and invert every other one.
Has anyone seen a picture like this before? If so I won't bother going.
Frank
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134486\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

reyn, why don´t you simply get them to sign a model release, then you´ll know for sure  whether they have all been photographed together before? If they have not, or only in limited versions (editions?) of the group you are going to construct, then they are not, collectively, a cliché. Inversion would be a step too far and, in itself, just bordering on cliché.

Rob C

reyn_two

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« Reply #85 on: August 21, 2007, 03:52:40 pm »

Thank you Rob C for your considered reply to my question the answer it seems is not black and white. I want to take pictures of Penguins, I considered going to Antarctica on Saturday but have been reliably informed by an expert Penguin picture taker that it has been done to death. I will retire to the shed and give it a great deal more thought. Any serious ideas on non clichéd Penguin picture taking would be appreciated, no big words please.
Frank
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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The 101 Cliches of Photography
« Reply #86 on: August 21, 2007, 05:35:55 pm »

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Thank you Rob C for your considered reply to my question the answer it seems is not black and white. I want to take pictures of Penguins, I considered going to Antarctica on Saturday but have been reliably informed by an expert Penguin picture taker that it has been done to death. I will retire to the shed and give it a great deal more thought. Any serious ideas on non clichéd Penguin picture taking would be appreciated, no big words please.
Frank
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If you photograph Arctic penguins instead of Antarctic penguins, that would surely be non-cliche. Do it quick, before the Arctic ice cap melts.

P.S. You'll have to bring your own penguins, of course.
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-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

Rob C

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« Reply #87 on: August 22, 2007, 04:01:47 am »

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If you photograph Arctic penguins instead of Antarctic penguins, that would surely be non-cliche. Do it quick, before the Arctic ice cap melts.

P.S. You'll have to bring your own penguins, of course.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=134642\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Fantastic solution, man, one lot is always standing on its head relative to the others! Why didn´t I think of that?

Rob C

Eric Myrvaagnes

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« Reply #88 on: August 22, 2007, 10:33:49 am »

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Fantastic solution, man, one lot is always standing on its head relative to the others! Why didn´t I think of that?

Rob C
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It's the imported Antarctic ones that stand on their heads, of course, because they come from "down under".  
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Robert Roaldi

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« Reply #89 on: August 22, 2007, 10:53:34 am »

Maybe shoot a group of Penguins playing poker.
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Robert

reyn_two

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« Reply #90 on: August 22, 2007, 02:02:02 pm »

What is the world coming to? I have been grassed up, I have been warned off by the RSPCP (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Penguins) they state that anyone intending to take pictures of Penguins, standing on their head or not, must first obtain a licence. I should also be aware that it may create a security risk as bad men, sorry persons, have been known to masquerade as Penguins, usually the right way up,  to commit their dastardly deeds.
Surely not I replied with great emotion.
I can see that my compulsion (for that's what is was) for Penguin picture taking is drawing me into uncharted waters, North or South pole, it makes no difference.
I have reconsidered and will now concentrate on picture taking of Ducks. You cannot stand a Duck on it's head.
Frank
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Rob C

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The 101 Cliches of Photography
« Reply #91 on: August 23, 2007, 12:14:19 pm »

Frank, ducks too have human rights.

With your penguins, how can you tell if they are biased to the left or to the right? They might even be middle-of-the-road penguins in which case they will be much more likely to wear loose track suits pants than full tuxedos, which will, of course, make it easier to tell without staring and provoking a dispute.

Do NP penguins ever marry SP penguins?

Ciao - Rob C

sinc

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The 101 Cliches of Photography
« Reply #92 on: September 19, 2007, 08:16:41 pm »

Cliches are just cliches 99% of the time. The other 1% of cliches are art.

OK, maybe 99.9% and 0.1%.
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Joseph T. Sinclair, Author

Rob C

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« Reply #93 on: September 20, 2007, 03:53:00 pm »

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Cliches are just cliches 99% of the time. The other 1% of cliches are art.

OK, maybe 99.9% and 0.1%.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=140571\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hey, I like the odds!

Rob C

marimagen

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« Reply #94 on: September 20, 2007, 09:12:14 pm »

So what's "popular" and what's a cliche. Is there a difference? I think I have a good example here of the "perfect" photo for a travel agency's brochure. The travel agency wants to reach a given target audience. They will use a language that their target will understand at a glance: the cliche. So I would say that a cliche works like a symbol: it conveys a meaning in one second flat. So there is more to a cliche than meets the eye! It triggers emotions and memories. It can be used as a universal language to bring people together or to make them react in a certain way.
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Rob C

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« Reply #95 on: September 21, 2007, 07:28:15 am »

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So what's "popular" and what's a cliche. Is there a difference? I think I have a good example here of the "perfect" photo for a travel agency's brochure. The travel agency wants to reach a given target audience. They will use a language that their target will understand at a glance: the cliche. So I would say that a cliche works like a symbol: it conveys a meaning in one second flat. So there is more to a cliche than meets the eye! It triggers emotions and memories. It can be used as a universal language to bring people together or to make them react in a certain way.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=140858\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

This is a family-friendly site; there is no call for the exposure of provocative imagery such as that to be found in the representational erotica in the foreground.

Rob C

blansky

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« Reply #96 on: September 21, 2007, 12:20:12 pm »

As soon as everything you see is a cliche, then it's a sign that you've lived too long.


Michael
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Rob C

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« Reply #97 on: September 21, 2007, 12:29:56 pm »

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As soon as everything you see is a cliche, then it's a sign that you've lived too long.
Michael
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So, this is a suggestion that we might seize the opportunity of taking part in a snuff movie? Or would that, too, be cliché?

Rob C

Jonathan Wienke

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The 101 Cliches of Photography
« Reply #98 on: September 21, 2007, 01:44:03 pm »

Spiderwebs, with dew on them. 5 bonus points if the spider is in the middle...
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blansky

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« Reply #99 on: September 21, 2007, 05:02:55 pm »

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So, this is a suggestion that we might seize the opportunity of taking part in a snuff movie? Or would that, too, be cliché?

Rob C
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Alas, death too is a cliche.


Michael
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