Humanism in photography.

[Ivophoto]

I don’t want to start a discussion, just a thread about humanism in photography. .


I’ll throw in one of myself:

[Riaan van Wyk]

According to Russ any landscape pic has to have people in the frame. Otherwise it cannot and will not be a proper one as "the hand of man" has to evident. So this will rate highly, unless you called this "street"

But I might be wrong as I gave up reading the debate here many years ago.

[Ivophoto]

According to Russ any landscape pic has to have people in the frame. Otherwise it cannot and will not be a proper one as "the hand of man" has to evident. So this will rate highly, unless you called this "street"

But I might be wrong as I gave up reading the debate here many years ago.

Please no debate, I want to see Lula’s understanding of humanism in pictures.

[RSL]

According to Russ any landscape pic has to have people in the frame. Otherwise it cannot and will not be a proper one as "the hand of man" has to evident. So this will rate highly, unless you called this "street"

Oh come on, Riaan, I’ve never said anything of the sort. I have said, and I still maintain that the highest and best use of the camera is to make pictures of people, and within that set the very best use is real street photography. If you check Landscape Showcase you’ll find several pictures of mine without people in them. I shoot what’s there to shoot, and for the past couple years I haven’t been able to get to places where I can do street photography. So I shoot landscape, or its equivalent, depending on what you think is the definition of landscape. I do believe the best landscape is done with a brush. If you’re painting you can distort linear perspective to produce the kind of convincing mountain scenes Bierstadt did so well, and you also can control the relationship of color: advancing and receding. You can’t do that with a camera, which tells the literal truth about landscape, but a truth that often isn’t what the observer feels when observing the real thing.

[john beardsworth]

Please no debate, I want to see Lula’s understanding of humanism in pictures.

How do you define "humanism"? In English it refers to a philosophy (eg Erasmus). Do you just mean "people"?

[faberryman]

You can’t do that with a camera, which tells the literal truth about landscape, but a truth that often isn’t what the observer feels when observing the real thing.

Go to Flickr. You won't find a literal landscape on the site. They are all science fiction.

[RSL]

[quote author=RSL link=topic=128553.msg1089261#msg1089261 date=1547389574You can’t do that with a camera, which tells the literal truth about landscape, but a truth that often isn’t what the observer feels when observing the real thing.
Go to Flickr. You won't find a literal landscape on the site. They are all science fiction.

Whatever that means.

[stamper]

Quote faberryman.

Go to Flickr. You won't find a literal landscape on the site. They are all science fiction.

Unquote.

Hans Kruse posts very fine landscapes on here and on Flickr. Are you stating his images are science fiction.?

[faberryman]

Hans Kruse posts very fine landscapes on here and on Flickr. Are you stating his images are science fiction.?

Most of the landscapes I see here and on Flickr are overblown. There are the occasional exceptions.

[Martin Kristiansen]

Not sure if I have interpreted this correctly. I know little about philosophy. This image shot years ago in Kathmandu was supposed to represent the Buddhist ideal of the bodhisattva. A being with compassion I suppose you could say.

[Ivophoto]

Fill in as you like,
Humanism in photography, humanism how ‘you’ understand it.

[RSL]

Please no debate, I want to see Lula’s understanding of humanism in pictures.

As John said, Ivo, give us your definition of "humanism." Do you mean kids being athletic? The pictures you've posted don't define the term.

[faberryman]

As John said, Ivo, give us your definition of "humanism." Do you mean kids being athletic? The pictures you've posted don't define the term.

From the dictionary:

humanism - an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.

Ivo must be using the term in a different way. Based on the posted photos, it appears humanism to him means humans in the environment.

[amolitor]

Humanist photography is a well defined set of ideas. There's a "school", a list of well known practitioners, a philosophical basis, the whole shebang.

See Wikipedia.

But basically it's just "human-forward pictures" with an emphasis on genuine human experience rather than staged scenes.

I must admit that I find it throughly depressing how out of touch with the history of the medium most photographers seem to be.

[john beardsworth]

As there's little evidence of humanism in either of the OP's two pictures, you're probably over-thinking it. Not sure they're "human-forward" either, if that means anything. At the risk of calling a spade a spade, they are pictures with people in them.

[Ivophoto]

Tx Amolitor,
Your finding is what I tray to explain since my first week at Lula. Photography moved on since it’s existence.

I find it strange that the great students of photography here on Lula even don’t know about this broad and not so young movement in photography.

Should make them singing a lower tone imo.

A wiki search on Humanist Photography, or even humanism in photography will explain more.

Please, show us your pictures.

[Ivophoto]

As there's little evidence of humanism in either of the OP's two pictures, you're probably over-thinking it. Not sure they're "human-forward" either, if that means anything. At the risk of calling a spade a spade, they are pictures with people in them.

No need to argue, I’m not going to elaborate on my perspective, I would be happy to see yours, John.

[john beardsworth]

Easy enough. I'll find a nondescript part of town with some randomly-distributed people doing nothing interesting, point my camera vaguely at them and then claim it is Humanist Photography with a big H and a big P. Not much of a challenge though, is it?

[Ivophoto]

Easy enough. I'll find a nondescript part of town with some randomly-distributed people doing nothing interesting, point my camera vaguely at them and then claim it is Humanist Photography with a big H and a big P. Not much of a challenge though, is it?

I will be glad to see it, John.

[john beardsworth]

I don't keep my rejects, let alone frame them!