It’s perhaps a bit shameful to confess it, but I listened to and loved this Britney Spears song back in the day. I wasn’t very young at the time (25), but the clip was very catchy, with a concentration of American pop culture in just over 3 minutes. Our schools in France have absolutely nothing in common with American schools, with their lockers in the corridor. It’s a cliché that comes up a lot in American films and TV series. To come back to the song, there have been many covers of it by many artists. You can listen to Travis’ cover here.
I don’t even know if people still listen to Travis or know who this band is. That’s when I think I’m getting a bit old … Travis is a Scottish pop rock band whose hit single ‘Sing’ was released in 2001 … And the singer is like Jesse Pinkman on stage with a guitar (video here)! Jesse who? Oh yes, another oldie, Jesse Pinkman, one of the two main characters in Breaking Bad, released in 2008 … When you start getting references like that, it’s because you’re old. That’s right, 52 this year.
But I’ve completely strayed from what I wanted to talk about in this Blog. It must be that the writing style of my friend and talented photographer John Harper has rubbed off on me a bit, or that I probably don’t have much to say and am just embroidering to keep this Blog going a bit longer than it should… Not so long ago, I was criticising photo competitions with their phoney awards and the image they give of street photography. And here I am, submitting 10 of my photos for a black and white photo competition organised by ‘Réponse Photo’ magazine. It’s not a street photography competition. But of course I only entered “street” photos.
So what, then? You change your tune, Jeff? You say these competitions are crap and you still enter them? Yes, I’m aware that I’m not being very consistent. I’ll admit that at the moment, photographically speaking, I’m a bit at the bottom of the wave. I think it’s multi-factorial. But it’s a fact that I’ve been taking very few photos for several weeks now. That’s probably why I submitted these 10 photos for the competition. Just to exist and feel like I’m active at the moment!
I still think competitions are rubbish and pointless. The winners are always debatable and depend on the judges. A bit like the rest of us, they have their own preferences and tastes. In short, there’s nothing new here. A competition doesn’t tell you a photographer’s worth. At best, they gain in visibility because they are highlighted by the competition in which they took part. Here the competition is simply entitled: Black and White. There’s sure to be a whole host of entries, including portraiture, landscapes, abstracts and street photography. In short, there’s no limit to the genres. I’ve only proposed Street. That’s all I know how to do.
So I’ve cracked again, I’ve submitted a few photos to a competition but the cool thing is that you won’t hear me moaning about the result this time. It won’t be street photography this time. And I don’t really care about the result. I’m just happy that this competition has allowed me to finally write a blog, even if in the end you won’t see any new photos from me. Just rehashed photos that you’ve already seen. There aren’t even any interesting prizes from my point of view in this competition. No equipment, just photo editing software. Basically useless stuff for me. I only use Lightroom, and even then I have to use 0.01% of LR’s features…
So yes, I’ve fallen back into the thing where you post or share to exist. The thing I’m always denouncing… The worst thing is that my photos are B&W street shots. In no way have I applied myself to post-processing. B&W is not emphasised. The content was more important than the choice of colour or monochrome. That’s always the case when I take a photo. In fact, I always shoot in raw and I don’t apply any filters on my camera and the image on my LCD is always in colour. So why enter this competition? It’s free… Yes, I know, pitiful. But I exist!
Even though I don’t take many photos at the moment, there are quite a few I’d like to share with you, but I’m always limited by my lack of imagination when it comes to writing any kind of Blog… The photos remain on my computer for the time being. Maybe I’ll make a slideshow and post it here ( Fuck YouTube…)
For those who want to take part in the Réponse Photo competition (free), it’s here!
These picture are stunning Jeff!
These are the essence of what I personally love and try to achieve in street photography.
Best regards.
Max
Thanks Max. Nothing new. Some photos are cliché like the silhouette with the hat or the woman on the rooftop with the statue. But if I had to come across the same situations, I would photograph them anyway. The first one with the man who looks like Picasso on the beach is very old. 2016. I interacted with the old man but the pic wasn’t posed. I don’t do that anymore. Incidentally the one of the old man smoking was made this year in Vietnam and I also interacted with the guy without asking him to pose. 9 years difference with the two of them
52! Still a baby, surely? If I think of Travis it’s “Why does it always rain on me”, that might say more about me than anything else.
I’m at the bottom of the wave too, not riding the crest if that helps in some kind of group therapy for street photographers. Still, there’s always the archive to fall back on and what a great collection you have Jeff. I know each of these photos, all are absolute winners regardless of what the judges might think. In other news, I have a blogpost sat on my computer. Just needs a polish before publishing. One of the main problems is finding any good recent photos to include.
You still have time. Submit some photos John! You’ve got terrific B&W photos. Far better than mine. I feel that I’ve been at the bottom of the wave for an eternity.
Next week I will try to attend to a massive carnival with thousands of people. I went once two years ago and it was fun for photography. I hope that I will be able to produce some decent work.
Waiting to read your blog!
Just so good Jeff …! And I can totally see how the content was more important than the choice of colour or monochrome here. That’s pretty much my rule … I almost always shoot intentionally in colour in RAW, but if the colour is then a distraction, I’ll happily switch to monochrome in post! And YES, that Britney song still rocks … (and I’m even older than you!!)
Content over the form. Still the old debate about photography… I guess that as most of the time I’m shooting fast, there is little place for form. The moment is more important than the composition. It has always been the case for me.