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Author Topic: from the front page: adam krawesky  (Read 19666 times)

KLaban

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #100 on: January 07, 2019, 10:54:33 am »

... but the reality is that they all set up across the street from someplace with a good railing, a good shadow, a good bit of graffiti, a good sign, and they wait while people walk through the frame.

ETA: And once you get the hang of it, you can stamp these things out like cookies all day long. It is almost mind-bogglingly boring work, though.

Given certain situations it's a working methodology that I use from time to time and make no pretence that I'm doing anything more or less than as you describe. If that makes me a hipster then so be it. You make it sound facile and I suppose if you want to bang 'em out regardless then you could be right, but there again perhaps there's a little more to it than your cynicism would suggest.

A few images whilst in hipster mode.





amolitor

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #101 on: January 07, 2019, 10:58:31 am »

Doing it doesn't make you a hipster, any more than wearing pants makes you a hipster.

But hipsters do wear pants, and the ones that do this style of street photography do work this way (many of them lie about it, though)
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Ivophoto

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from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #102 on: January 07, 2019, 11:18:29 am »

I thought Hipsters are the kind of peoples hiding a sx70 under the beard.

I tried google, but the result is different from this discussion.

http://visualcultureblog.com/2013/10/what-is-hipster-photography/
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Ivophoto

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #103 on: January 07, 2019, 11:22:45 am »

Doing it doesn't make you a hipster, any more than wearing pants makes you a hipster.

But hipsters do wear pants, and the ones that do this style of street photography do work this way (many of them lie about it, though)

Ok,

And what exactly is your problem with this?
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amolitor

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #104 on: January 07, 2019, 11:27:42 am »

I do not think I can do a better job of explaining my problem with that than I have already done in post #94, Ivo.
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Martin Kristiansen

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #105 on: January 07, 2019, 11:31:07 am »

I read an interview with HCB where he said he went back to certain locations over and over waiting for just the right person or people to move through the scene. Apparently he defined Street so if it was good enough for him why can’t the hipsters work that way?

Quite honestly I gave this method a go many years ago. I didn’t realize it was a recognized technique and was rather pleased with myself for “discovering” it.  I had a few minor successes with the technique but it never really clicked for me. I was more successful roaming an area and trying to anticipate movements and flows.

I don’t hate this technique under discussion. I hate cheesy juxtapositions and pigeons.
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Ivophoto

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #106 on: January 07, 2019, 11:46:35 am »

I do not think I can do a better job of explaining my problem with that than I have already done in post #94, Ivo.

You said it was long and complex to explain.

I don’t give a damn if photography is true or not. (As long it is not journalism, and even then, a lens is so subjective)

For leisure purposes or for art, I believe strongly in following statement:

“Never let the truth get in the way of a good story”
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amolitor

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #107 on: January 07, 2019, 11:54:04 am »

No.

The thing that is long and complex to explain isn't the problem to which you refer, it is the answer to the question I posed.

The explanation of my problem, which explanation you have asked for, is in post #94, and is both complete and clear.
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KLaban

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #108 on: January 07, 2019, 11:58:42 am »

Doing it doesn't make you a hipster, any more than wearing pants makes you a hipster.

But hipsters do wear pants, and the ones that do this style of street photography do work this way (many of them lie about it, though)

How does one determine if it is a hipster using this methodology? Is it just the lie and if it is then surely wouldn't that make them a liar rather than a hipster photographer?

amolitor

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #109 on: January 07, 2019, 12:06:48 pm »

It's the "being a hipster" that makes them hipsters.

The technique of setting up and waiting is ubiquitous, and a good idea. Wildlife photographers use it. Sports photographers. Street photographers. Nothing wrong with it.

Some self-styled street photographers do it and lie about it, possibly to themselves as well. Some of those people are probably hipsters. Hipsters, by definition, view themselves, strive to be, cool. The flaneur is widely seen as cooler than the sniper. A hipster, then, prefers to be identified as the former rather than the latter.

The hipster who sets up and snipes, therefore, is more likely than average to invent a flaneur fantasy for himself.

I intend only the logical implications which are actually present in the words I've written, not their converses, not any similar sounding implications, not implications that rhyme with the ones I state. Why I have to state this explicitly is beyond me, but there it is.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #110 on: January 07, 2019, 12:17:01 pm »

I read an interview with HCB where he said he went back to certain locations over and over waiting for just the right person or people to move through the scene. Apparently he defined Street so if it was good enough for him why can’t the hipsters work that way?...

Precisely because it was good for him. They are then just copycats. it is the same logic as "HCB used a Leica, so to shoot like HCB I must use a Leica." Or, in other words, "HCB was doing it that way, so I need to do it the same way to get the same level of images as him."

Martin Kristiansen

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #111 on: January 07, 2019, 12:22:40 pm »

Precisely because it was good for him. They are then just copycats. it is the same logic as "HCB used a Leica, so to shoot like HCB I must use a Leica." Or, in other words, "HCB was doing it that way, so I need to do it the same way to get the same level of images as him."

Odd logic. He used a camera so if we use cameras we copy. He used a standard lens so we better not use that. Ultimately he shot street so we better not copy him and do that. Actually I think that’s all that would satisfy some people but you get my drift Slobadan. We are told repeatedly that t9 understand street we must study HCB.

But you could be making a joke. I suspect that is most likely.
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Rob C

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #112 on: January 07, 2019, 12:31:32 pm »

Maybe it just demonstrates that many people simply expect too much from photography, investing it with far too much mystique for both its and their own good.

At the end of the day, you either get an interesting shot or you do not. If you base interesting on any sense of originality then you are onto a loser. The best you should hope for is that something interesting happens, but usually nothing does. People walking into your framed theatre of the absurd do not make an image for you unless they lend themselves to the spirit of that absurd.

As was kinda indicated earlier, it was HC-B's talent to understand and find the surreal; in fact, he thought of himself as a surrealist before a photographer. Most try to do it the opposite way around; no wonder they fail dismally. You need to be an artist before you can create any art. Failing that, all you do is make photographs.

;-)

amolitor

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #113 on: January 07, 2019, 12:41:19 pm »

It depends on what you want to do, Rob.

As evidenced by this thread, it's an excellent way to make pictures that appeal to people. My experiments in this same line of work were precisely to that point, and demonstrated to my satisfaction that, yes, even I could use this approach to stamp out moderately broadly appealing photographs more or less by the gross.

Adam Krawesky is no exception, he stamped out a bunch of them and won some appeal. People like these photos, and not just Josh Reichmann and the readers of this forum. They appear in a couple of other places on the web, as other people have discovered them, found them appealing, and published them.

The trouble is that when anyone can do it, a lot of people do. Josh R. finds his Adam Krawesky, as do two or three other people. You might find another fellow churning out more or less the same pictures. Millions of photography fans can, in fact, "discover" 100,000 different artists all doing more or less this same thing. Each artist has a handful of fans who think he's great. A few people, who make it their business to churn through rather more of the photographic internet than is perhaps healthy, notice that there are actually a ton of these artists out there, each with a small handful of fans.

And that, for the record, is quite wonderful. Enjoy the photos, everyone! They are appealing, they are enjoyable.

But the fact that they are appealing does not make Adam Krawesky a notable photographer. That doesn't matter a damn in most contexts -- but one of the contexts in which is does matter if when you're offering up global exposure on what you rather hope is an important, substantial, media outlet.

In that case what you want is a notable photographer, someone who is not only making appealing photographs, but who has a distinctive voice, a distinctive artistic vision, something that makes them different from the herd. There's already any number of bush-league web sites posting appealing, fun, photos from random friends and relatives.

I don't think Josh seeks to become one of them.
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Slobodan Blagojevic

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #114 on: January 07, 2019, 12:41:41 pm »

Odd logic. He used a camera so if we use cameras we copy. He used a standard lens so we better not use that. Ultimately he shot street so we better not copy him and do that...

But you could be making a joke. I suspect that is most likely.

I wasn't making a joke. You are reducing my logic to absurd.

I was about to add a sentence to my post above, while in the draft stage, to the effect of "but, of course, not everyone who uses a Leica or stalking is HCB copycat."  I just thought that it is superflues and self-evident.

I was talking about people who think that buying camera X just because famous photographer Y used it is going to make them better photographers. I then extended the logic to technique Z.

Martin Kristiansen

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #115 on: January 07, 2019, 12:51:33 pm »

I wasn't making a joke. You are reducing my logic to absurd.

I was about to add a sentence to my post above, while in the draft stage, to the effect of "but, of course, not everyone who uses a Leica or stalking is HCB copycat."  I just thought that it is superflues and self-evident.

I was talking about people who think that buying camera X just because famous photographer Y used it is going to make them better photographers. I then extended the logic to technique Z.

OK. I misunderstood. Then I definately don’t agree with you. When someone comes up with a technique that works and speaks about it then others will follow. It happens all the time. We all do it.
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elliot_n

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #116 on: January 07, 2019, 01:03:45 pm »

But the fact that they are appealing does not make Adam Krawesky a notable photographer. That doesn't matter a damn in most contexts -- but one of the contexts in which is does matter if when you're offering up global exposure on what you rather hope is an important, substantial, media outlet.

In that case what you want is a notable photographer, someone who is not only making appealing photographs, but who has a distinctive voice, a distinctive artistic vision, something that makes them different from the herd.

Any suggestions?
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32BT

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #117 on: January 07, 2019, 01:06:14 pm »

But the fact that they are appealing does not make Adam Krawesky a notable photographer.

Okay, so are you or are you not implying that Adam Krawesky is not a notable photographer?

And if you find him not notable, is that on the basis of applying a lazy technique for some of his images?
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amolitor

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #118 on: January 07, 2019, 01:08:09 pm »

Apart from the usual list of currently living notables that I'm sure we could collectively construct easily, I'm rather fond of Frédérick Carnet and Karel Kravik.
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amolitor

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Re: from the front page: adam krawesky
« Reply #119 on: January 07, 2019, 01:10:15 pm »

Okay, so are you or are you not implying that Adam Krawesky is not a notable photographer?

And if you find him not notable, is that on the basis of applying a lazy technique for some of his images?

This is insane. It's like I am speaking Latin or something, except I am not.

I am implying nothing, I have stated very very clearly that Adam Krawesky is not a notable photographer, because he produces pictures that are very much like the pictures produced by something on the order of 100,000 similar photographers.
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