It amazes me how some people who call themselves photographers consider their work to be amazing, when their photographs, in fact, aren’t so hot. And at the other extreme, some purely humble folks make astounding photographs without a sense of how good they are. There is little correlation between talent and ego; they are independent qualities.

via Mike Davis Blog.

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9 Comments

  1. Could not agree more. This applies to any field really. Mediocrity has a habit of disguising itself under pretense. Discovering the “humble folks” with talent is a great reward though. The perfect example is Vivian Maier’s work!

    • Discovering the “humble folks” with talent is a great reward for whom? I think Vivian Maier is a perfect example in that not only was she an amazing humble photographer- but she probably never earned a dime from doing it. If you’re goal is art for arts sake and are thrilled at the thought of fame after your dead- being humble is an excellent way to go. Shoot all night, stuff it in a drawer, and show up at work each morning like nothing happened.
      If you want your day job to also be your passion, I think a different strategy is in order.

      • As a side note, I remember something my mother used to say, “If you don’t what you do is great- why should anyone else?”

        • Sorry that should read: “If you don’t believe what you do is great- why should anyone else?”

  2. Mike makes a great point. Looking at some of the feeds I get from various photo “gurus” who are very popular on Google+ and Facebook also tells me that hype is a good sales tool.

  3. Well known for being well known.
    We see this everywhere, art, fashion, commercial photography, brands.
    When quality isn’t known or understood how are choices or tastes made?
    Arts are subjective too. This happens less in science and engineering, because these areas use proofs. Public relations is also used to build up or put down objective things and events too (climate change).

  4. Its always been there, but the web has brought in new voices with (even more)midling tastes which crowd real talent. It is so false, and pushes mediocre talent to temporary buzz fame. The good artists I know are usually too self critical to “put themselves out there” like an inane Willie Lohman. If they have connections and talent, they can go far. If they just have connections, they can go far for a while before the buzz ends.

  5. Agree with the statement but also considering what the difference would be in our industry if the opposite were true?

  6. You don’t even have to be a photographer to rate in the photography category. You can do it by retweeting others. When they choose whom to retweet, they are more interested in that person’s Klout score or in their followers count than in the quality of work. Of course, that person has to retweet them, too!

    This happens with photography because, in the end, most photographs don’t really matter. Some are newsworthy, providing firsthand observations of things of sweeping importance. But nature photography is kind of a racket. The most ruthless players just use search engines all the way: some have gotten a lot of mileage out of entering “rainbow” and just cranking out the links that come up. The most cynical ploy of all is to tweet links to websites full of photos of unidentified photographers. Many of these photos are really beautiful, and I feel for the photographers who are being taken advantage of. (I should add, however, that Google Image Search is very helpful for finding your pirated photos online!)

    Perhaps the most egregious case I’ve seen, however, was not on Twitter but on Facebook. The individual in question has been putting out pirated photos of artwork for years, one for each post, each of which is accompanied by an inspirational quote. Recently, someone complimented her on her remarkable artistic skill, and she admitted that none of the pictures was hers. Nevertheless, she still continues to use uncredited work in posts open to the public. She is considered one of the star products of our local higher education system, too.

    Thank you for giving me this opportunity to rant about this.


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