These from an article titled, ironically enough, “Modern Cameras: How They Make It Harder to Take a Bad Photo“ published here.
The photos above, taken by the author, are offered as examples of the “stunning” results modern cameras are capable of. Feel free to click through the author’s portfolio for further edification.
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On a completely unrelated note: Back in the day I used to drive a delivery truck in Paterson, New Jersey. I delivered laundry to residences, in the course of which I got to speak to and know many of my customers. I had this one who, when I asked him what he did for a living, told me he was a “painter.” Interesting, a painter? You paint houses, I asked? “No, a painter. I paint pictures.” Apparently, his modest little flat was full of his work. Very cool, I offered, and I meant it. So, over the course of months we talked often, and he talked about his paintings and described them for me. He was obviously really proud of the work he did. One day I asked him if I could see some of them, maybe buy one. He took me inside, and with great pride showed me the works that covered his walls from floor to ceiling. They were all paint-by-numbers.
So, I congratulated him on his beautiful work, politely declined to buy one, and went back to my truck. I was touched in a way; he wasn’t hurting anyone, and he took obvious delight in painting those paint-by-number pieces. Who was I to judge, right?
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Do you suppose the shot was taken from a drone? 🙂
This site is 90% useful, thoughtful posts on the deeper meaning of photography and 10% “Old Man Yells At Clouds”.
I’ll leave it to the reader to determine how I filed this particular post.
You’ve drawn a beautiful parallel with these photographs and the “painter”. Perhaps, in both cases, it comes down to the same final call: as long as they harm nobody…
But yeah, is that true, is nobody harmed by these routes to images? I think that both the users as those who actually can do something by themselves are robbed of something. It’s pretty apparent in the way it impacts folks in the commercial world, but is it as clear-cut in the hobbyist world? After all, Photoshop has given access to contrasts and colours that Kodachrome and Ektachrome never did (I tend not to say very much about Velvia); people do appear to spend lots of time exploiting these possibilities of going visually insane; let’s not even start on the deforming tricks they can now play with until it’s time for bed.
But it’s a wider issue than photography. People are increasingly unable to write a sentence, use punctuation and thereby express themselves properly; it’s said that simple things such as human interaction have become fraught with difficulty in this digital day and age, and asking for a date – unless you are thinking of food – could get you arrested for sexual harassment; even children find it difficult to deal with one another. That, however, may not be entirely surprising or new: as a kid, I soon realised most other kids were sons of bitches. Not a helluva lot changed as we all grew up; those sons of bitches just got bigger. Even the ones I didn’t know.
🙂
So, there’s a young man (late 20s) on my job whose never said hello over the multiple times we’ve passed each other in the hallway … whose cubicle I walk past at least 5-6 times per day … there aren’t even a lot of people in our section so usually everyone says hello (well, everyone over the age of 35). I then learned that this young man, by his own admission, spends 40 hours per week playing video games and says that he feels he can relate to people much better via the games. When I heard this it explained a lot.
Re: the train photos above, certainly not my style of “photography”. If I were reading a graphic novel comic book it looks good, but not something I want to have on a wall for daily viewing. But, yes, its harmless and, who knows, might lead to something wonderful one day.