From: Shannon Stoney (shannonstoney@earthlink.net)
Date: 08/20/02-09:14:04 AM Z
Mark wrote:
> I totally agree... and maybe it sounds like I am contradicting my earlier
> post about not trying to emulate the masters (it might be a good exercise to
> see how your work compares though) .... however I don't buy the "it's already
> been done" argument. To a certain extent, I think many people go through and
> evolution and need to try to do their own version of peppers, pears in a
> wooden bowl, etc.... and who's to say they won't come up with their own
> version or image that is even better..... even hairy legs might be
> interesting as long as you are politically correct and super glue their knees
> together.
hahaha!
At the university I was at last year, the criticism "that's been done
already" was thrown around with such abandon that eventually the students
stopped making anything altogether. People were profoundly demoralized to be
told, over and over again, that every subject they picked was ground that
had already been plowed over by somebody else, usually somebody they'd never
heard of! We DID do the "emulate a famous photographer" exercise, and that
was useful, but that was the only time you were ever allowed to do anything
that wasn't completely and totally original. The truth is, photography has
been around now for 150 years, and it's hard to find something that has
never been photographed before. But that's ok. I maintain that no two
photographs are alike, and it is impossible to be "derivative," really,
because everybody sees the world differently. My erotic pepper is different
from your erotic pepper, and so on. I say we forget the word "cliche" and
never use it again.
>
> A good friend of mine who is lurking on this list told me once "never tell
> someone that they picked the wrong subject to photograph."...right Sam?
> hehehehehe I think he mentioned someone once said that to him... but I still
> remember him saying that to me. Once you censor people and make a topic off
> limits, then you have destroyed their ability to explore and learn and grow.
> What knowledge is that dangerous?
Again, that was the other thing that was so demoralizing to students at my
school. Once I heard a teacher tell a student to never photograph a rock
band! Another teacher told people that flowers and children were strictly
off limits!
--shannon
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