Finally something beat Gursky's Rhein II. Peter Lik just sold a shot of Antelope canyon for $6.5 million. While certainly better than Gursky, I'm kind of surprised it was a shot from such a clichéd photo spot.
What Lik's picture has that the others do not is the phantom in the sun beam. Oh, and his name goes a long way too I suppose.
TheDman wrote:
Finally something beat Gursky's Rhein II. Peter Lik just sold a shot of Antelope canyon for $6.5 million. While certainly better than Gursky, I'm kind of surprised it was a shot from such a clichéd photo spot.
Most of Lik's work (at least the stuff he puts in his website's gallery) is very clichéd; certainly well done, but very lacking in originality and uniqueness. With nearly every one of his images, I feel like I've seen one just like it many times before, done by someone else. He seems to go to all the typical places too: Grand Canyon, California beach, New York City, Arizona desert, etc.
rook2c4 wrote:
Most of Lik's work (at least the stuff he puts in his website's gallery) is very clichéd; certainly well done, but very lacking in originality and uniqueness. With nearly every one of his images, I feel like I've seen one just like it many times before, done by someone else. He seems to go to all the typical places too: Grand Canyon, California beach, New York City, Arizona desert, etc.
Agree completely. It's kind of shocking that the guy has sold $500 million in photos, while other, far more talented shooters are scraping by.
Mr. Jones is clearly and idiot.
dsmeltz wrote:
Mr. Jones is clearly and idiot.
Yeah, I was a bit turned off when he proclaimed photography is not art, only technology. No doubt photography is technology, but it can be art as well - the art of expression by means of light and shadow. Perhaps Jones needs to enroll in a few art history classes to get it!
rook2c4 wrote:
Yeah, I was a bit turned off when he proclaimed photography is not art, only technology. No doubt photography is technology, but it can be art as well - the art of expression by means of light and shadow. Perhaps Jones needs to enroll in a few art history classes to get it!
When he basically said "big deal, I can do that with my ipad" it told me that he's a complete photography newbie that doesn't understand the work and thought involved.
I believe he has a skill set that trumps talent sometimes called the mastery of marketing.
FredB
Loc: A little below the Mason-Dixon line.
If you read Mr Jone's column CAREFULLY, you'll see that he's not necessarily decrying the potential for artistic photography. Rather, he's pointing out the somewhat obvious cliche of the photograph itself, the fact that it is, in reality, not much different than the other half-million pictures that have been taken at this very spot, and the fact that the "art" of the photo appears to have been enabled simply by converting it to B&W. I agree with much of his critique. Lik has produced some nice stuff, but much of it, IMO, is oversaturated and cliched.
FredB wrote:
If you read Mr Jone's column CAREFULLY, you'll see that he's not necessarily decrying the potential for artistic photography.
Oh, he's
well known for decrying photography's potential as art.
FredB wrote:
Rather, he's pointing out the somewhat obvious cliche of the photograph itself, the fact that it is, in reality, not much different than the other half-million pictures that have been taken at this very spot, and the fact that the "art" of the photo appears to have been enabled simply by converting it to B&W. I agree with much of his critique. Lik has produced some nice stuff, but much of it, IMO, is oversaturated and cliched.
I agree completely. Find most of Lik's stuff to be way oversaturated, as if it were pp'd by an amateur who only knows where the hue/saturation slider is in Photoshop.
As for this photo, I am kind of surprised that the highest-priced image is from such an overphotographed area. At my local zoo there are signs placed around the place that say "Kodak Photo Spot", usually some macaw or something that they've stuck out on a branch close to the walkway, so people with small cameras can get a good, close-up shot. Lik's photo should have a "Kodak Photo Spot" sign. Not that I wouldn't shoot it if I were there, but I wouldn't expect it to be my most critically acclaimed shot.
FredB
Loc: A little below the Mason-Dixon line.
The linked article is more a denunciation of hanging photos in an art gallery than the idea that photography can be 'artistic'. But he does come across, most times, as an overstuffed buffoon. Kinda sorry I agree with him on this, maybe my stuffing is showing as well..
BHC
Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA
FredB wrote:
The linked article is more a denunciation of hanging photos in an art gallery than the idea that photography can be 'artistic'. But he does come across, most times, as an overstuffed buffoon. Kinda sorry I agree with him on this, maybe my stuffing is showing as well..
I'm not sure: is an overstuffed buffon the same as a pompous windbag?
Yes "over-saturated." He obviously found this effect sells.
I also note some photographers know how to promote themselves well.
Finally, some people have money to burn, and fancy themselves collectors.
So be it.
This photog contents himself with doing photography for its own sake, and to fulfill himself, minus the influence of any economic bias from money-seeking.
FredB wrote:
If you read Mr Jone's column CAREFULLY, you'll see that he's not necessarily decrying the potential for artistic photography. Rather, he's pointing out the somewhat obvious cliche of the photograph itself, the fact that it is, in reality, not much different than the other half-million pictures that have been taken at this very spot, and the fact that the "art" of the photo appears to have been enabled simply by converting it to B&W. I agree with much of his critique. Lik has produced some nice stuff, but much of it, IMO, is oversaturated and cliched.
If you read Mr Jone's column CAREFULLY, you'll see... (
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