The Importance of the Image...how novel!

[amateriat]

I just read this review, and started to think about things like image over-saturation, the ever-lowering bar for PJ work (with some brilliant exceptions), and the synapse-cracking permeation of electronically-delivered images. What did it take to create a print publication that could hold your attention in the 1960s? What would it take now (assuming anything at all would work)?

When Look came back in the 1980s, I snapped up every issue. It was (almost) up to the same standard as I recalled from years past. (The cover with Nelson Rockefeller still sits in my mind vividly. That's what a good photo should do, maybe not always, but more often than not.)

And, this exhibit goes on the shortlist, right behind the Robert Frank at the Guggenheim.


- Barrett

[Bob Michaels]

Barrett: is truly is novel here to think about the importance of images and how they are delivered. I had some unique confluence of circumstances back in the early 60's that allowed me 10-12 hours a week in the library where I read every current issue of Life, Look, Saturday Evening Post, Paris Match and Stern from cover to cover. I also looked through most of the back issues of Life. That probably contributed as much to my total education as what I learned in the classroom. I won't say those were the glory days which have gone away because one simply cannot compare then and now. However they did make a lasting impact that I don't see duplicated today.

I have been fortunate to be able to spend a few hundred hours with Bob Lerner who was a Look photographer from 1951 to the end in 1971. His primary joy in life today is to mentor less talented photographers such as myself. I have gained a lot of insight from him about the significance and impact of photos. I believe the only time cameras or film ever came up in the discussion was when I mentioned that I liked the Olympus Stylus Epic like he was shooting. His response was short and along the lines of "does everything a camera needs to do". However he could discuss the message of a photo or photo series for hours.

Those things impact my photo work every time I shoot or show work. When I get together with others to review our work, everyone else has a laptop, CD, or thumb drive. I have a stack of 8-12 prints. And I still have much more interest in hanging a series of 24 prints on a wall than putting a thousand on line.

[ferider]

Thanks for the link, Barret. Wish they would have that on the west coast.

PS: check out Kubrick and his Leica !

[helenhill]

TRES COOOOL , Barrett
Thanx for Posting !

I'm doing some Faux Bois for Church Doors up on 125th Street
so I will be able to have the opportunity of Indulging in this show
many Times !!!!