"Why I Hate Infrared or Or, The Search for 'Specialness'"

[johnastovall]

"Why I Hate Infrared or Or, The Search for 'Specialness'"

Outstanding essay by Mike Johnston.

"It is remarkable how many photographers are not content to simply take pictures. The ways this disaffection surfaces may vary. The number of tricks and gimmicks and special effects gadgets on the market—star filters and graduated color filters and vignetters and worse—is of course one sign of it. With many photographers, it takes the form of an endless search for equipment and materials of the utmost quality. “Is this lens best?” “Is this latest film slightly more saturated in the reds?” A variant of this is the willful but unnecessary use of oddball cameras for effect. In a more sophisticated form it is reflected in the complete fabrication of set-pieces, so that the resulting photographs do nothing more than illustrate an idea in a photographer’s or an art director’s head. Amateur work may be derivative, but of course pros, too, fall all over themselves pandering to the latest trends, whether it be softboxes, or hard light, or “light painting” guns. What it all seems to indicate is that many photographers, amateur and pro, seem to be constantly searching for some technique, some effect, or some material that will set their pictures apart, and make them


“special.”


Does this have something to do with character?......"


Give it a good read and think about his point.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Being a huge proponent of his so called "gimmicks" I'm sure you won't be surprised that I think the majority of his statements are garbage.

However, if one diamond can be found in all that roughage, it would be this one:

"The real business of being an authentic photographer consists in learning first to identify, and later to commit to, your own idiosyncratic notion of what really makes a picture work, effects aside."

If Mr. Johnston had been in charge of the PC we'd all still be working with no more than 640K and 5" floppy drives.

Thanks for the post John, I am never disappointed by any article you invite us to read.

_/oe

[Big Dog]

I sort of agree with him in principle, but then below the article itself, he relates how it was written years ago and in the meantime:

"My own position evolved as well; I came to believe that photography is essentially harmless and aesthetics are not intrinsically a moral issue, and therefore people should do any bonehead thing they please as long as they're not hurting anyone."

I generally don't like gimmicks, or "trick" photography, or over "post processing". But, I've seen a handful of really striking infrared images, for instance; and there have been times when I wished I had a grad filter.

It's the toy cameras, lens babies, and that sort of thing I don't get.