The State of Play

Everyone has a camera these days. It's on their phones, you can't get a phone without a camera these days. Compact point and shoots are de rigeur for everybody. On a recent trip to Bali, every second Japanese tourist had a Canon G-10 slung around their necks. It's all at once encouraging and discouraging. Just take a look through the various photo-sites and you'll see what I mean.

There is simply a whole load of trash out there passing as 'interesting' and 'good'. Digital makes it too easy to take a bad photo and the methods of dissemination, coupled with enforced political correctness makes it difficult to say anything resembling truthful critique of a photo, let alone comments along an open no-holds barred style. We hope to change that.

So let's start with a few basic facts (and the list is by no means exhaustive):

Sunsets are boring.


Canon G10

Kids are boring.


Leica M8, Summarit35/2.5

Pets are even more boring.


Nikon D700, 17-35mm Nikkor


Good photographs require work. That means effort. They pop to the viewer, whether the viewer ultimately likes it or not. Liking or not liking an image does not say anything about whether it's a good photograph or not. It may not be something you want to hang on your wall at home, but it's something that made you think, and sometimes, remember.