I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you here Russ. For most people, mistakes are a vital part of learning. That includes other people's mistakes. If an image does not fit the genre, the more knowledgeable people have an opportunity to point out the differences. This than becomes a valuable learning resource: people can find all sorts of images (good and bad), plus an explanation of why it works or not.
The problem as I see it currently, is that the differences aren't pointed out adequately, and discussions end up in bickering "is too, is not, etc...", which subsequently leads to ad hominum remarks of "who made you the gatekeeper" etc...
It's important to note that the failure of a student, as they say, is the teacher's mistake. That includes breaking down the mistakes into comprehendible chunks, and it also includes providing motivation to actually study the masters if one thinks that will help.
I don't buy into that, not just because my daughter is a teacher, but because I know from personal experience that some things in life are easy for me to assimilate but others, never, however often somebody explains them. It might be a problem with learning or trying to learn particular things too late in life: put into that category the inner working of cellphones, iPads and computers. And books don't help because they don't approach problems properly (for me); I would like to see step 1, step 2. step 3, etc. etc. but nope, it's generalised instructions that don't face specific glitches.
[For instance: when my daughter arrived at Palma Airport a few days ago, she sent me a series of texts (as per usual on her trips to see me) advising when the transfer coach had left the airport and progress en route to our place, so I could meet her at the drop-off point. In all, five messages, each of which I answered, and my cellphone told me they had been received. Not one did get through to her. Later, we sat down and tried it again: her texts got through to me, but not mine to her. Why? You see the problems I face with tech? Hers is an iPhone, mine a Samsung.]
Providing motivation to study the masters of whatever genre should not be the teacher's responsibility: if the student does not already have the thirst for that, what's he doing wasting people's time? You don't exactly get into street by accident: you have had to have been impressed by something that amazed you at some time.
Neither do I hold with the sometimes fashion for knocking Ivo's street work; I think he actually does have a style very much his own, and as I think I mentioned before, both he and you, Oscar, do appear to share a sort of exotic eye for things that most of us would miss. Not always obvious, but it holds through the body of work.
