On Second Thought
August 26, 2008
I have received several emails from fellow photographer/bloggers in support of Mr. Laforet and his new blog so I feel the need to reconsider. He and his blog unfortunately showed up just I was thinking about blogging’s successes as an alternative to the traditional forms of making your mark in the ever competitive field of photography, both commercial and fine-art. So I apologize if he got the brunt of my concerns. Based on his generous and thoughtful comments, he is obviously a very smart and very nice man, and to be fair, he has only just started. I hope that we get to know more of him (and his work) from the blog as he goes on. I think there is a great opportunity for an Alec Soth of the commercial photosphere just waiting to be taken. My post earlier today was more about the my fear of the format itself getting gobbled up by the “big boys.” I really value the open environment of our little world which has given voice to many people we might otherwise have never heard about. To me, that is something worth protecting.
August 26, 2008 at 4:40 am
I read your last post and this one at the same time and I agree with the first one. Wicked commercial photographer. But pretending to be a slightly independent blogger or photoblogger and then linking to the newsweek page all time and with no different material… and the sig at the bottom saying he only wants comments on the other page makes me think he doesnt even bother to read his ‘personal’ blog page. If you are a corporate blogger like Scoble was when he was at Microsoft – and he didnt pretend he wasnt, then embrace it. Just don’t try to pull a fast one.
**I finally created a wordpress account just to comment on your page. Love reading and checking it out.
August 26, 2008 at 9:26 am
I’m actually more in favour with your first post. Laforet is just one hell of a photographer, I love his tilt-shift photographs that render the world scaled down. Reading his blog was like watching the toy Olympics. However the fact that we get a link to a news site instead of a closer look at an awesome photograph is disappointing. I feel as if his commercial connections are limiting what he can share.
August 26, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Ok… My final words on this, from the interview with Simon Barnett of Newsweek on P.E. about why thye are having their photogs blog.
P.E.Tell me a little bit about working on an event of this magnitude from a DoP’s point of view. Lot’s of meetings, last minute adjustments of coverage and a ton of frames to edit?
S.B. For us, this is the first time that our focus is overwhelmingly to our web presence, so with that we’ve come up with a new approach to editing. Each of the three photographers will manage their own photo blog, editing and uploading their best images –along with, I hope, some very personal anecdotes about what it’s like to be there experiencing it. I hope this creates a form of photo “Survivor” between them, where they are in a kind of creative competition. Then, I’ll go in to their blogs each day and edit what I deem to be the ‘best of’ which will be up on a showcased Newsweek.com gallery around noon each day. It’s kind of photographic natural selection.
So, this is my original point, while this was a very cool idea for Newsweek, but personally what I like about blogs, is hearing the individual thoughts and interests of the writer. Which is a challenge when you become involved in a larger venture. So this is just one more evolution of the photo blog format, and hopefully it will not become the norm.
August 27, 2008 at 1:46 am
I have to agree with your first post…. He’s a great photographer, but the blog just feels too slick to me. I like blogs that feel home spun and hand crafted, and Laforet’s blog is far removed from either of those. It’s very annoying to be shifted to the Newsweek web site every time you click a photo.