I enjoyed reading that, Bob. And I'd like to have heard your rant . . . ;-)
Chris
On 1 Feb 14, at 15:38, Bob Whitmire <bwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> My advice, worth exactly what you pay for it, is to listen carefully to what
> is said, but refrain from investment. As you correctly note, a lot of folks
> from this world are terribly sophisticated in their own minds, and not at all
> shy about letting it show. That doesn’t mean they won’t have worthy comments,
> but it does mean some of their comments will be, well, less than worthy.
>
> Your work already has measured up in that it has been selected for a showing.
> Most galleries don’t taunt artists by hanging shows for the purpose of
> ridiculing the artist. Sometimes it might seem that way, but they don’t. <g>
>
> This is just me, but when I’m in a crowd/group discussing my work, I refrain
> from engaging in equipment arguments about whether Nikon is superior to Canon
> is superior to Acme, etc. I just don’t go there. And I try my best not to
> engage in the digital is crap, film is where the real art is kind of argument
> (despite my exchanges with AG here <g>). The way I do it is to recall that
> most of the people who currently sing in the Film Choir were once solidly in
> the Photography Isn’t Art school. Now, because digital has supplanted film,
> they have suddenly discovered the artistic merit of photography, but only if
> it’s done on film.
>
> Only once this past summer did I lose my cool with a fellow in the shop that
> sells my higher end stuff. It already had been established that he wasn’t a
> customer, but rather a photographer interested in engaging in heavy criticism
> of digital photography. He took particular exception to my enthusiasm for
> black and white conversions of digital files. Sadly, and much to my personal
> distress, after a few minutes I couldn’t take it anymore and let fly with
> both barrels. He finally scurried out of the place looking like Gollum denied
> his Precious.
>
> I suspect you’ll run into the film v digital thing, but for the most part it
> can be avoided by talking about execution of vision and that sort of thing.
> The purpose of the medium is not the medium, but the message, i.e., the
> image. Disarms most folks. And, most likely, the bulk of people you will
> encounter will be complimentary and supportive with interesting comments and
> points of view.
>
> The presentation sounds interesting. I’m sure we’d be interested in hearing
> how that went over, and perhaps show us a photo or two of the hanging to
> illustrate exactly how it looks.
--
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