Seeking recognition. 9


 

(English version at the bottom of the page)

Mon ami Vasco Trancoso, m’a rapporté récemment les propos d’un photographe Nick Turpin qui a déclaré :

Photographers have become a huge target market to be milked.
Does anyone know a photographer who isn’t award winning these days? Its like being published or exhibited or awarded or liked or followed means virtually nothing anymore.

 

Ça fait un peu mal à entendre mais tellement vrai ! Comme je l’ai déjà évoqué dans des Blogs il n’y a pas très longtemps, la Street Photography est devenue la cible de certaines personnes qui veulent profiter de l’engouement que suscite la pratique.

 

 

Comment ? Tout simplement en faisant miroiter aux gens qu’ils sont sûrement le futur Martin Parr, le futur Trent Parke et que ce talent dormant a besoin d’être révélé ! Regardez LensCulture et sa myriade de compétitions… LensCulture Exposure awards, LensCulture Competitions, Street Photography Awards, LensCulture Emerging Talents. Que nous promettent ils ? Des expositions, visibilité dans des festivals internationaux, des évaluations gratuites de votre travail et surtout une reconnaissance de la profession ! Rien que ça… Il y a quelques mois de ça, Facebook a été spammé par  LensCulture avec leur “Free admission” pour leur concours. La communauté de la photographie a largement contribué à ce spam savamment orchestré par LensCulture. On a été submergé par ces photos qui ont “retenu” l’attention de certains curators  et qui avaient été mis dans une galerie. Tout le monde s’est empressé de répandre la bonne nouvelle sur sa page Facebook, augmentant encore plus la visibilité de LensCulture. Augmentant du coup je suppose, les admissions payantes… Je suis curieux de connaître le détail du palmarès. Y a t’il des “Free Admission” qui y figurent ?

 

 

Pourquoi sommes nous attirés par ces sirènes ? Tout le monde voit bien la supercherie qu’il y a derrière tout ça ! Je pense que c’est assez simple. LensCulture ou autre Life Framer sont des vendeurs de rêve. Qui d’entre nous n’a jamais rêvé d’avoir ses photos mises en avant lors d’une exposition internationale ? Waouh ! Comment ça, même une photo de rue de ma petite ville de province française ? Oui il est permis de rêver… Quel est le but de la démarche ? Si c’est montrer son travail, c’est légitime. En tant que photographe, nous avons ce besoin et envie de partager son travail avec les autres. Personnellement, je photographie pour moi, mais j’ai quand même ce besoin de partager mon travail avec les autres. Je pense que néanmoins, la démarche de certains va au delà de montrer son travail pour montrer son travail. Il y a beaucoup d’ego là dedans.

 

 

Dans ce que nous fait miroiter LensCulture, il y a “La reconnaissance de la Profession”. Alors déjà je l’aurai formulé différemment. Perso, je m’en fiche de la reconnaissance des professionnels. Moi, ce qui m’intéresse, c’est la reconnaissance de mes Pairs ! Ça a l’air de rien mais ça change tout. On parle de photographie, comme d’une passion, d’une vision de la vie. Je ne parle pas de gens qui travaillent dans l’industrie, quand bien même certains d’entre eux sont des passionnés et dévouent toutes leurs vie à la photo. Par exemple, je travaille en tant qu’aiguilleur du ciel, un milieu hautement aéronautique et pourtant, je ne me passionne pas du tout pour l’aviation et tout ce qui touche à l’aéronautique… Alors si certains recherchent “La Reconnaissance des Professionnels”, moi perso, je recherche “La Reconnaissance de mes Pairs”. La reconnaissance d’une personne qui connait et comprend ce que vous faîtes est bien bien plus importante. Enfin de mon point de vue.

 

 

Certaines personnes ne seront pas d’accord avec mon analyse. Je passe encore pour le rageux qui râle sur les dérives des comportements sur les réseaux sociaux, qui râle sur les concours photos… Ben oui, je suis français, je râle ! Promis dans mon prochain article j’arrête un peu ;). Noël approche !

 

 ~ o ~

 

Seeking recognition.

 

 

My friend Vasco Trancoso recently told me about a photographer Nick Turpin who said:

Photographers have become a huge target market to be milked.
Does anyone know a photographer who isn’t award winning these days? Its like being published or exhibited or awarded or liked or followed means virtually nothing anymore.

 

It hurts to hear but so true! As I already mentioned in Blogs not long ago, Street Photography has become the target of some people who want to take advantage of the popularity of the practice.

 

 

How ? Simply pretending to people that they are surely the future Martin Parr, the future Trent Parke and that sleeping talent needs to be revealed ! Look at LensCulture and its myriad competitions … LensCulture Exposure awards, LensCulture Competitions, Street Photography Awards, LensCulture Emerging Talents. What do they make you shimmer ? Exhibitions, visibility in international festivals, free evaluations of your work and especially a recognition of the profession ! Just that … A few months ago, Facebook was spammed by LensCulture with their “Free Admission” for their contest. The photography community has largely contributed to this spying cleverly orchestrated by LensCulture. We were overwhelmed by these photos that “held” the attention of some “curators” and were put in a gallery. Everyone was quick to spread the good news on his Facebook page, increasing the visibility of LensCulture even more. Increasing I suppose paid admissions … I am curious to know the details of the winners. Are there any “Free Admission” there ?

 

 

Why are we attracted by these sirens ? Everyone sees the trickery behind all that ! I think it’s pretty simple. LensCulture or other Life Framer are dream sellers. Who among us has never dreamed of having his pictures showcased at an international exhibition ? Wow ! How is it, even a photograph of my small French provincial town ? Yes it is allowed to dream … What is the purpose of the process ? If it’s showing its work, it’s legitimate. As a photographer, we have this need and want to share our work with others. Personally, I photograph for myself but I still need to share my work with others. I think that nevertheless, the approach of some goes beyond showing its work. It’s a lot about ego.

 

 

In LensCulture, there is “The recognition of the Profession”. Personnaly I would have formulated it differently. I do not care about the recognition of professionals. Me, what interests me is the recognition of my Peers ! It looks like nothing but it changes everything. We talk about photography, as a passion, a vision of life. I do not speak of people who work in the industry, even though some of them are passionate and devote all their lives to photography. For example, I work as an Air Traffic Controler, a highly aeronautical environment and yet, I do not have any passion for aviation and everything related to aeronautics … So if some are looking for “The Recognition of Professionals », Me personally, I search« The Recognition of my Peers ». The recognition of someone who knows and understands what you are doing is far more important. Finally from my point of view.

 

 

Some people will not agree with my analysis. I still go for the hater who moan on certains attitudes on the social networks, who rattles on the competitions photographs … Well yes, I am French, I rattle ! Promised in my next article I stop a little ;). Christmas is coming.

 

 

 

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9 thoughts on “Seeking recognition.

  • John Harper

    Very easy for them to prey on what we might call “fragile egos”. Very easy also for those “fragile egos” to believe they’re better than they actually are. There’s an old saying – “in the land of the blind the cross eyed man is king” – There’s a lot of crap photography out there, if anyone is half decent at it then they’ll receive a lot of praise from those less able, without being that great. Anyway, target them and they’ll pass the news on to their 5,000 or 10,000 Facebook “Friends”. It’s all a great merry go round of nonsense.
    Those photographers that are genuinely great will get recognised and it won’t be through FB, Lensculture… they’ll be quietly going about their craft, shooting for themselves, creating their own style. They’ll be showing their work, but using more traditional methods. You’re on the right path and as an ATC you’ll know that’s crucial.

    • John Harper

      Oh yes nearly forgot… we English are known to grumble, but we know that the French are the experts and love their “whine”!
      Waiting for the Santa blog…will it be merry and bright I wonder? 😉

      • Jeff Chane-Mouye Post author

        The ego is related of what we already discussed : the need of praise. It’s normal to look for some recognition. But the praise is different. It’s looking for recognition to satisfy your ego and not the work you’re doing. I read another interesting article lately where the guy explains how our behavior has changed with SM. We don’t look anymore closely to photos. We just consume photos and we just spend a few seconds looking at them. Another drawback is that there’s trends in photography and we know what is popular, we are now more encline of repeating the same winning recipee to have good shots.It’s easy to work in the footprints of others. Much harder to walk your way.

  • Vasco Trancoso

    Hi Jeff! Great article. As you know I agree with all your words. And it is curious that you wrote “The recognition of someone who knows and understands what you are doing is more important” because it was exactly one of the things Nikos Economopoulos (from Magnum Agency) told me during a meeting we had in Lisbon and after he appreciated my portfolio. Of course I am grateful to Nikos for the encouragement and generosity of his words, but one of the things we concluded was that the vast majority of people who comment on Facebook (and not only) do not have enough “literacy” to know what is good photography. And the difference between a good picture and a mediocre picture is a question of millimeters, a tiny difference. But it’s essential. Here’s a good topic to develop: What distinguishes a top photograph? Cheers.

    • Jeff Chane-Mouye Post author

      Ah ah ! So wise words coming from me ;). Facebook is full of good photographs but also full of shit… I’ve already told you, what upset me the more, is the cronyism. Well human after all.It’s funny you raise that subject of what makes a good photo because I read some interesting article written by Alex Coghe recently. Not really about a glorious shot and a not such a good one. But more about our goal to reach the perfection instead of embracing the imperfect photographs. It’s hard to explain but I will certainly write a Blog about that. One other thing I might say about Facebook, is that with the amount of photos seen on internet, eveyone is now a declared curator. WE all know what is a good photograph. But it’s totally wrong for the vast majority. We don’t look anymore closely to pictures. We just look at them quickly and if something is interesting, we like it… A picture demands so much more, but that’s how our brain has been conditionned on internet…

  • Baptiste

    Salut Jeff! De mon côté je essentiellement à obtenir ma propre reconnaissance ainsi que celle de ma tata. Cela a plus de valeur à mes yeux que la reconnaissance quelconque d’un microcosme égoïste.

    Je continue de te suivre avec intérêt. Bonne continuation!

    • Jeff Chane-Mouye Post author

      Hello Baptiste, merci de passer par ici ! Je suis un peu éloigné des réseaux sociaux depuis un moment et je ne suis plus trop ton actualité. J’ai vu que tu avais lancé un nouveau projet “Nitrate & Bobine”. J’espère en voir plus bientôt ! J’ai suivi avec grand intérêt ton virage argentique et je te l’ai déjà dit, je suis assez impressionné par les résultats de tes photos. Est ce à dire que tu délaisses le numérique ? ou s’agit il d’une parenthèse ?

      • Baptiste

        Hey salut Jeff! Excuse ma réponse tardive, je n’ai pas été notifié de la validation de mon commentaire. Du coup il a fallu que je repasse ici par curiosité…

        Merci pour ton attention! Oui j’ai vendu mon dernier boîtier numérique. J’ai besoin de plus palpable, d’artisanat…

        Nitrate & Bobine avance doucement à son rythme mensuel… tu sais c’est un projet très exigent… pas facile de sortir chaque mois une photo réalisée spécialement pour un nouveau morceau! On bosse au pas de course!

        A bientôt Jeff! Lâche rien! 😉