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Archive 2013 · Truly Classic

  
 
canerino
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Truly Classic


JFK and Jacqueline's wedding photos from LIFE magazine. I love how simple they are:

http://life.time.com/history/when-jfk-and-jackie-wed-life-photos-from-newport-september-1953/?iid=lb-gal-viewagn#1

It raises a question for me...will my images stand the test of time? Will your images stand the test of time? Do you care?




Sep 13, 2013 at 09:42 AM
Tony Hoffer
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Truly Classic


canerino wrote:
JFK and Jacqueline's wedding photos from LIFE magazine. I love how simple they are:

http://life.time.com/history/when-jfk-and-jackie-wed-life-photos-from-newport-september-1953/?iid=lb-gal-viewagn#1

It raises a question for me...will my images stand the test of time? Will your images stand the test of time? Do you care?



Are you trying to imply that balloons, mason jars and VSCO won't stand the test of time? BLASPHEMY!



Sep 13, 2013 at 10:11 AM
mineymole
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Truly Classic


Well I guess I might argue that part of what makes those images stand the test of time are the subjects. If they were anyone else we might not look at them quite the same way. What I notice is how many verticals there are when I wonder if horizontal might be better

Also - what if they had been shot in color? Do we think of something as classic because it's in BW? Just playing devil's advocate.

Edited on Sep 13, 2013 at 10:20 AM · View previous versions



Sep 13, 2013 at 10:14 AM
joelconner
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Truly Classic


I regularly look at Grace Kelly's wedding photos...so beautiful simple, and timeless.


Sep 13, 2013 at 10:19 AM
myam203
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Truly Classic


The gimmicky things in our images will surely look dated at some point, even if our clients always love them. The stuff I admire most though is the portrait work from guys like Dan Winters or Norman Jean Roy in magazines like Vanity Fair, which doesn't rest on many gimmicks. I'm always trying to capture something that doesn't look contrived, so I hope my images stand the test of time.


Sep 13, 2013 at 10:33 AM
ai3x
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Truly Classic


I think Diane may have hit the nail on the head here. I love them but had they been taken of any other couple yesterday I'm not sure I'd feel the same way.

Don't get me wrong though, I think quite a lot of our current fads are not going to age well.



Sep 13, 2013 at 10:38 AM
canerino
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Truly Classic


mineymole wrote:
Well I guess I might argue that part of what makes those images stand the test of time are the subjects. If they were anyone else we might not look at them quite the same way. What I notice is how many verticals there are when I wonder if horizontal might be better

Also - what if they had been shot in color? Do we think of something as classic because it's in BW? Just playing devil's advocate.


Taking photos of Camelot surely makes one's photography infinitely more interesting!

But popularity of the subjects aside, the photos have a truly classic feel to them. Perhaps it is because of the BW? Perhaps it is because the photos are actually older! But maybe its because the photography is about the people as people...surrounded by their guests...happy and in love.

Robinson posted a set of his boss' wedding photos and I found them equally as classic. Maybe it's the simplicity of the images? Are we trying to hard? And by doing so, inserting ourselves into their memories?



Sep 13, 2013 at 10:50 AM
mjgphotoz
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Truly Classic


Everything we shoot is dated by the clothing styles, surroundings, processing, posing, etc. This we cannot escape. Fads start because someone does something a certain way, and for the time, place and subject, it is totally awesome and it evokes a unique visual and emotional result. Others, as well as the originator, attempt to create the same results, not considering that the specific original file/image was what made it work so well. After we see enough "bad" implementations of a fad, (think selective color, and yes, it CAN work remarkably for some photos) we relegate it to the "don't ever use this again" department and begin to refer to it as a fad that only a non-professional would use, followed by an appropriate shake of the head, and the files the fad bred remain on disc, web and album for posterity. The word classic, to me, represents an image that moves me in spite of, not because of, the dated clothing, surroundings, processing, etc.


Sep 13, 2013 at 11:10 AM
dhp_sf
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Truly Classic


I agree with Mary above. I was going to say something similar but she said it so well already.

Why are we so reluctant sometimes to embrace the present? I'm not saying we should all go out and copy each other, but there's something to be said about embracing the time as it is. It is a record, is it not, of an event that happened, that at some point in the future people will look back upon?

The content, if captured well, I believe is the constant factor in creating a "classic" image. The rest is context and it is going to be whatever it is going to be, but there's no reason to shy away from it just because it's not what your style would be.



Sep 13, 2013 at 11:30 AM
dhp_sf
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Truly Classic


canerino wrote:
Robinson posted a set of his boss' wedding photos and I found them equally as classic. Maybe it's the simplicity of the images? Are we trying to hard? And by doing so, inserting ourselves into their memories?


Personally, I've always thought that simplicity is way underrated across many creative industries.



Sep 13, 2013 at 11:32 AM
myam203
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Truly Classic


dhp_sf wrote:
I agree with Mary above. I was going to say something similar but she said it so well already.

Why are we so reluctant sometimes to embrace the present? I'm not saying we should all go out and copy each other, but there's something to be said about embracing the time as it is. It is a record, is it not, of an event that happened, that at some point in the future people will look back upon?

The content, if captured well, I believe is the constant factor in creating a "classic" image. The rest is context and it
...Show more

Content trumps everything, but it's more about the gimmicks that won't stand the test of time. Weird processing and lighting, cropping and compositions that make no sense, or just about anything where it's apparent that the photographer is trying way too hard to do something different for its own sake.



Sep 13, 2013 at 11:49 AM
canerino
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Truly Classic


myam203 wrote:
where it's apparent that the photographer is trying way too hard to do something different for its own sake.


I think this is really what I am trying to say. The photographs of JFK and Jackie's wedding are unabashedly simple and about the couple. I think this is probably the main reason that we can look at them in this forum today and say 'yea, those are nice photographs' especially considering the time they were taken but nobody can say 'yea, those are really cheesey because now xxxxx is the trend'.



Sep 13, 2013 at 11:56 AM
dmacmillan
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Truly Classic


Those weren't the photos taken by the official photographer, although similar in style. As best I can discover, the "official" photographer was Toni Frissel. The photos are very PJ, and reminds me of the work of Jeff Ascough.

I did conservative, "classic" photography back in the late '70s and early '80s. I didn't use twinkie filters, multiple exposures and the other trendy techniques of the day. Instead, I offered my customers classic posing and multiple source lighting, even on the candids.

I wish I had the flexibility of digital back then. I would have loved to not be restricted to shooting with flash because of slow film. I probably would have been a more conservative photographer.

Still, non standard post processing can be done well. Serg's recent wedding at the camp was spot on, the PP really fit the mood of the wedding and the place.




Sep 13, 2013 at 11:56 AM
dhp_sf
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Truly Classic


canerino wrote:
I think this is really what I am trying to say. The photographs of JFK and Jackie's wedding are unabashedly simple and about the couple. I think this is probably the main reason that we can look at them in this forum today and say 'yea, those are nice photographs' especially considering the time they were taken but nobody can say 'yea, those are really cheesey because now xxxxx is the trend'.


In that case, yes, I agree! I fall victim to the lure of the "different" every once in a while, but I try to view the work and ask myself what I was trying to accomplish. If I can't answer that question, then I feel it was a failed experiment.

Then again, there are times I just like something... the gut. I don't know.



Sep 13, 2013 at 12:08 PM
stevez32
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Truly Classic


Asides for one or two of the cake shots and perhaps the stairway shot, if you had modern couples in the same positions and same environment these would not be well received by most commenters here (for what thats worth at least). I suppose I'm not sure what you are seeing as "classic" and how you define the term as desirable except for a photo that has subjects from years past.

I know it is difficult to separate the subject from a photo, but I think if someone is trying to gauge their work on how it stands up today (technical merits, and composition) and tomorrow you would have to do this type of analysis. In this case I think nostalgia is clouding your feelings for the photographs artistic merit.



Sep 13, 2013 at 12:45 PM
Mark_L
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Truly Classic


While I really dislike the trendy/fad aspect of the wedding photography industry, in a lot of cases it will probably be the dress, bouquet and hair styling that will date a shot.

myam203 wrote:


If the content is solid and captured well all the rest of the 'processing' and gimmicks will only detract from it imo.



Sep 13, 2013 at 03:17 PM
dhp_sf
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Truly Classic


Mark_L wrote:
If the content is solid and captured well all the rest of the 'processing' and gimmicks will only detract from it imo.


absolutely. I've seen photos of great content that (in my mind) were ruined because of heavy-handed processing. if a photo needs "fancy" processing/textures/what-have-you to make it look interesting, it's not an interesting photo to begin with.



Sep 13, 2013 at 03:27 PM
jeremy_clay
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Truly Classic


Jokes on you, they hired their 'tog off of Kijiji.


Sep 13, 2013 at 04:05 PM
D. Diggler
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Truly Classic


stevez32 wrote:
if you had modern couples in the same positions and same environment these would not be well received by most commenters here


And so what does that say about the commenters here?



Sep 13, 2013 at 04:26 PM
mjgphotoz
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Truly Classic


So true, and interestingly, I am sure most of us have had the experience while editing similar photos, deciding to delete one of the images because perhaps another was sharper or whatever, and the more we looked at the photo, the more we actually felt compelled by it. Perhaps we used it in an album or print, and when pressed could not actually verbalize what it was about the photo that moved both us and others more than the similar candidates would have. In reality, we had not just captured a moment in time as a "perfect" image, but rather we had actually captured the emotion/character/soul of the person or subject. For me, no amount of post processing can trump that achievement nor will outdated fashion or settings undermine it.


Sep 13, 2013 at 04:38 PM
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