LE News and Info - Wednesday, May 26, 2010 9:03 - 3 Comments

New York, May 2010: Fun in the Big City, a Look Back

Well, that went fast. And not as I expected at all. Faster and crazier than planned, and it left little time for writing and posting. My sincere apologies on that. I am way behind my time on keeping the blog fresh, I am afraid, and will try to correct that this and next week.

Before we get on to the trip, there have been some wonderful posts on the net you should be aware of:

1. The ongoing controversy over Larry Lessig and the Creative Commons movement (I wont link). I am not a fan, to say the least. It seems like a transparent grab by large corporations to take the creative ownership from the creators to the distributors. Promises of glory and fame are empty and stupid. There is some more of the travesty that I believe Creative Commons is over at Burns Auto Parts. Leslie Burns is fighting the good fight, and read the comments to see how convoluted the language has become to deny value to what we do. Part One and Part Two. A follow up deconstruction of Lessigs ‘speech’ is here. A recent post does serve to remind us that Lessig plays fast and loose with the truth. Beware of Creative Commons and the incredible way it changes how we feel about art and the value we place on it.

2. Lots of questions about pricing at every workshop. Rob at A Photo Editor has a fantastic post on working with magazines. Day Rates and Space Rates can be confusing to those who are not familiar with them, but it is the way many magazines determine the fees for photography.

3. Keep up with Robert Wright, a New York photographer at his blog. Postings are sporadic, but the content is creative and a good insight into the life of an editorial photographer in New York.

4. James Danziger has a little blog that is quite interesting. He is an fine art photography gallery owner and a staunch advocate for photographers. Check the site out and say hi.

5. Looks like the call has gone out once again for “Certification” of photographers. Absurd, elitist, knee-jerk-stupid and sad. In professions where measurable outcomes can be defined, and where health and safety are at risk, certification is important. I don’t want writers to be certified… painters, sculptors, poets and photographers. Here is a post I wrote about the nonsense. And, a follow up one for fun.

Fight the urge to become automatons and komrades. Ask yourself who certified the certifiers? What aesthetic do they bring to the decision of whether or not another photographer is ready for the show? Who decided that the test would be able to determine excellence in vision? In art, the end product is the thing… and there are so many wonderful approaches to the creation and enjoyment of the work. Adding a layer of bureaucracy on top of it simply diminishes the relevance, and creates a draw to the center – the ‘good enough’ mediocre arena of banal.

I know some really bright people who have no degrees. And I know some pretty freakin stupid people with a whole wall of degrees conferred on them by other people with walls of degrees. Reminds me more of incest than excellence. Passing a test doesn’t mean anything other than you can pass a test. Fear creates this kind of thing. Busting your ass to create great work is a catalyst to the fear. Choose that instead.

Now on to New York:

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