Photographic Clichés

[tcr18h]

Martin Parr makes some good points but he has probably seen more photos than most of us amteurhobbyists put together so what may be, to him, repetative and cliched is to many of us fairly new and interesting.

[greenwing]

Originally Posted by ABERS

If a comedy scriptwriter was tasked with producing a sketch lampooning so called expert, he or she would come up with the much seen TV cliche where a person is talking down to the hoi-polloi sprinkling it with names that he or she would be able to bet his or her boots on that they had never heard of.

Would you care to express that in a form that I/we/them could comprehend?

[Mike finchley]

http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/node/3897056
M

[James Blonde]

Personally, I don't recognise many of those cliches, because I'm not a pro, I'm not American and I don't study photography or art! I'm guessing that is who the blog was aimed at? I like what I like, and I take what I take - whether it is a cliche or not! There isn't a lot of room for absolute originality in photography, given how long its been around as a medium.

ABERS is spot on though. Think of the Antiques Roadshow, or some art programme with one of the experts who is very self opinionated, has seen it all before, and is prattling on about an artist and all their patrons and influences, whilst the viewer sits there nodding and grinning cos they haven't a clue what he is going on about. Thats a cliche, and you could argue that this blog falls straight into it!

[greenwing]

Actually, I don't think Martin Parr was writing about (most of) us, though his wording is a bit ambiguous.

He says

The Fine Art and Documentary photographers take great pride in thinking themselves superior to the others ... family ... amateur ... camera club. ... I have come to the conclusion that we too are fairly predictable in what we photograph.

I include myself in this...

So, he's not criticising us ordinary mortals in that piece, but the Elite group that he belongs to. We are expected to be cliched; THEY should be more original.

Discuss.
Chris

[James Blonde]

Yup, agree!

[jet_kit]

Of course it doesn't stop at photography. We also emulate painters - I was once accused of copying the style of Claude Lorraine, despite the fact I had no idea who he was. They, like photographers are trying to capture a mood, a feeling. If all we did was record the 'now' we'd just be archivists.