Don’t expect honesty to come through today’s public photography faces. It never has, so why would it now?
As I watch and listen to the “modern photography media” I am contantly reminded of how “corrupt” it is.
Corruption is a specific word. To corrupt is to disturb on a path… to interfere with progress, by diverting away from the original path, to some new alternative path.
Those making money by publishing on topics of photography today are quite corrupted. This may have always been true; I don’t know. But I know that it is obvious to me now, and it is sadly also obvious to me that this fact is not obvious to many of the photography media consuming public.
Individuals Matter
Art is typically expression by an individual. The individual artist expressed a vision, or perhaps created spontaneously (even if it took years).
Yet today’s media emphasizes a collective. And, sadly, the “artists” I see profiled by today’s media are not honest.
They present themselves as-if the appearance in the media was designed to present a false persona representing this collective perspective of the art of photography (or the practice of photoraphy, or the hobby of photography, or the career of photographer, etc).
Like Hollywood actors…. these photographers are celebrities before they are photographers.
I’m talking about you, B&H Photography Podcast, and you CelebrityPhotographyPodcaster, and you PhotographyGrantRecipient, and you, photobook publisher, etc etc etc.
These media outlets offer make-pretend presentations about “awesome” photography, “incredible” work, “world-changing” photographs, and stories of overcoming “overwhelming” challenges where “most of us would have given up”, etc. The ersatz heros they profile somehow managed to achieve “remarkable” results we should all admire and praise, of not worship them, and give them (deserved) rewards.
Oh, please stop.
Even slightly closer looks promptly reveal that the guest had close friends inside the granting agency (and thus insider privilege). Or that the guest described as a career artist was actually a beginner real estate professional last year, and a school teacher before that. And that the new Chief Editor at the photobook publisher took the position for zero pay as a temporary gig, in order to get the opportunity to try and save a failing business (never mentioned…. she was said to have risen steadily up the ranks over the years, and is now given a chance to express her own vision, lol).
Please. We’re not dumb. There’s nothing wrong with working as a real estate professional or teacher, to pay your bills. But maybe consider a little honesty when you pretend to be a “career photographer” with no mention of the actual reality we all mostly share and understand?
Just this week…. a photojournalist was profiled by B&H. Groundbreaking work. Impactful… amazing…. and the photographer only recently became a photographer, in mid-life.
Amazing, right?
It is worth noting he had 5 Leica cameras with him on the street during often-violent protests, with 5 different Leica primes, all apparently provided (and covered for theft and liability) by his sponsor, who imposed zero constraints on his coverage… he was encouraged to do things his way, however he wanted.
Yes, he was of a visual appearance that matched the demographics of the often violent protesters. He also self-described himself as a “big guy”. And his images were stylized in B&W, with many shot with Leica Monochrome camera(s) — which have a very unique factory look already.
Concurrently we have many reports of photographers and journalists getting attacked on the streets, with cameras stolen, and actual physical assaults from protesters. Newsworthy when you consider “free press”, “journalism”,andthe very definitions of “peaceful”.
Honesty would not profile this as successful photography without some acknowledgment of the TRULY INCREDIBLE privilege he enjoyed as a photojournalist. It would have may have been incredibly interesting to discuss some of how that aspect has changed professional photography (how many employed photojournalists/ assigned stringers do you know who can go solo into sreet protests with $100,000 worth of gear around their neck?).
But dishonest B&H just admired the awesome images, and praised the poetic philosophizing this photographer advanced during the whole podcast.
Yada yada yada it never stops. B&H may be one of the worst, but they are not alone in their dishonesty.
And it’s individuals being dishonest. It doesn’t just happen. People do it. People lie. People choose to deceive. People approve scripts, plans, sessions. People enable the lies.
Often those people see more opportunity in deceiving than anything else they have going on. Which is sad when you consider some were once very, very good photographers.
The reasons why photography now pays less well than dishonest media are myriad, and subject to much debate that is NOT happening in today’s photography media. For the same reasons. Those enjoying unprecedented privilege don’t need to tolerate actual artists, who are currently underemployed, disempowered, and suppressed (as much as you can suppress artists).
As long as these media liars have the audience, listening to their crap, everything is good according to their World View.
Someday the individuals will stop supporting these collective personas and entities, and we will be left with complete mediocrity in the main stream. Individuals will have to hunt for real art, and maybe even patronize it.