Comments on: The Most Beautiful Thing

By: Weekly Links for 1/28/2011 | Steven Joerger

Weekly Links for 1/28/2011 | Steven Joerger — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 14:51:52 +0000

[...] The Most Beautiful Thing from Guy Tal [...]

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 00:19:35 +0000

One thing I’ve been pondering lately is how a lot of photographers preach this idea, but then lead photo tours that almost do the exact opposite. It seems as if as soon as money is involved minds are immediately changed. (as is the case with many things) Not saying its right or wrong, just thoughts…

One of my favorite blogs to visit is yours, I often come back numerous times your posts always make me think.

By: Guy Tal | Pro Nature Photographer

Guy Tal | Pro Nature Photographer — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:19:04 +0000

[...] OTHERS IMAGES: Guy Tal is a great photographer and a great writer. In this post on his blog he shares his ideas and thoughts about the requests that he fields from readers asking where he [...]

By: Continuing on Personal Expression… « Sam’s Rant

Continuing on Personal Expression… « Sam’s Rant — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 19:12:19 +0000

[...] on Personal Expression… Following up on my last post, which of course springboarded off Guy Tal’s inspiring thoughts on creative development, I’m sharing some images I made last weekend at Abraham Lake in the [...]

By: Chris

Chris — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 19:18:21 +0000

Thank you, I thought that might be the reason you don’t seem to have any photo tours.

By: Guy Tal

Guy Tal — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:26:06 +0000

Thanks again, everyone for the fantastic and thoughtful responses! Chris, that's a very good question. I tried to answer it on my recent interview with Dave Taylor (see question #6). I hope it addresses what you had in mind. Guy

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 19:47:22 +0000

I agree fully with the point, but what about photo tours and the like. Having never been on one, nor ever likely to go on one are they not in place for people to get to place to take similar images to the photographer who is leading it?

By: David Leland Hyde

David Leland Hyde — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 03:10:56 +0000

People asking for the location of a photograph most often are mainly curious. They want to touch the gates of the Playboy Mansion, visit Ground Zero in New York, see the bathroom where Elvis died, climb Half Dome to say they did. This makes sense up to a point. It is human nature to be curious. We can probably sleuth out whether a person’s intent is to copy, just by asking “Why?” Why do they want to know? I am suspect of anyone who says they want to photograph the same image to “learn.” What the heck will anyone learn from making a successful copy? Sure it is useful sometimes for a writer to type out a few paragraphs of Steinbeck or Tolstoy, but ultimately Guy is right. Read it, study it, but don’t copy it and call it yours. The “learning” is almost always limited from exterior sources. Also, if you look at the big picture of yourself in relation to all photography, do you want to be the person whose work looks much like all the rest of what was being done in that particular era, or do you want to stand out and leave a mark, be a leader?

By: Moira Pomeroy

Moira Pomeroy — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 21:17:26 +0000

Wow. Some folks don’t appear to read very carefully.

But even so, this is a useful discussion; like many of your posts it has become a bit of a lightning rod and I think most of us are appreciative of your viewpoint, Guy. (And indeed share it.) From my perspective, even the dissent is a sort of a backhanded compliment: it just serves to highlight the integrity – so rare today – necessary to take a stand and stick with it in the face of criticism, complaint and contradiction.

I’m also someone who’s not shy about speaking up and I tend to do it even when it’s not in my own best interests, ‘cos I’m just that way. So for that reason, too, you get my vote, Guy. Keep on keeping on – and keep on reminding us what it’s all about.

By: Carl D

Carl D — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:47:57 +0000

Hey Guy

Great post, as usual, thank you.

The “pressed for time” argument is, simply, bullsh**. I’m glad Miles Davis didn’t simply readapt Charlie Parker’s work because he was ‘pressed for time’ when he wrote and recorded the ‘Kind of Blue’ album. I can’t imagine the Mona Lisa if Leonardo had simply whipped out a quick sketch instead of a painfully crafted masterpiece. Maybe Bob Dylan should’ve just compiled Shakespearean quotes and saved himself ‘time’.

Art is time. You either make the effort, spend the time, and get what you get, or you make up some nonsense about how your schedule is more important than the time, effort and work of those whose back you crawl through the world on.

Someone said something about ‘the copyist is only cheating their self’, or similar, which I also disagree with. The copyist is cheating the artist, is cheating art, is cheating the audience, and is cheating photography. In short, it’s lame.

Cheers

Carl