Gimmicks

I am so sick of photographic gimmicks.

And it seems that the only way to get ahead in this business right now is to make use of them.

Contest winners in recent years are often gimmicky. Clients want the certain special looks which an artist creates then everyone copies.

Photography has always been an art where the subject was center-stage. But the general public has apparently bored of looking at good photographs of interesting people, places and things. Now folks want to see computer modified versions of reality that bear little resemblance to the actual subjects. Photographs where someone's aptitude with a computer becomes the central factor. Case in point.

I make no bones about it, I am not a fan of Photoshop. Never before in the history of this art has there existed a tool which so easily allows someone to transform crappy photographs into stunning works of art ... or whatever they are.

But I take solace in the fact that there have always been photographic gimmicks of one kind or another, and that the photographs that stand the test of time do not employ them. Yousuf Karsh's portraits are a prime example.