…Does not make you a photographer. (but it kind of makes you a dick?)
And I am certainly no photographer. I’m just some asshole with a decent digital SLR and an iphone who prefers taking pics with the iphone most of the time anyways, so what do I know about photography, right?
But here’s the thing….I might not know a ton about photography, but I know TOMES UPON TOMES about music, and this fucking REEKS of 1975.
“Progressive” music is at it’s peak. Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Mike Oldfield…hell, even ELO and Utopia. It was all huge in the mid to late 70s and it all emphasized competence, performance, and execution over artform or expression.
Insert PUNK FUCKING ROCK here.
It was a direct affront. Who needs your mixelodian scales when I know an A, C, and E chord? “My sweeps are lazy”, you say? “What the fuck is a sweep?”, I say.
Good enough. Start a band.
It was the great democritization of rock n roll.
And out of very rudimentary, plebian beginnings came wonderful, wonderful things. Wonderful in its simplicity. Wonderful in its naivete. Wonderful in its sheer ambivolence. Wonderful in it’s ability to inspire others to pick up a guitar and try it themselves as well.
Expression won out over perceived “competence.” And years later, I’d STILL rather hear The Damned over The Weathermen ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.
Now don’t get me wrong…Jaco Pastorius is a musical god. A legend. Likewise, there are few musicians who have created so broad a sound as Jeff Lynne. (insert “but” here)
SOOOOOOO….
back to the quoted text up top. “taking pictures does not make you a photographer”
To me, this is like saying…
“writing shitty punk songs doesn’t make you a band.”
“playing your local youth center doesn’t make you a band.”
“doing Bad Religion covers at a local bar doesn’t make you a band.”
Actually…yes it does. And in most cases, probably a better one than 99% of the “real” bands that are out there. Because you’re doing it for the RIGHT reasons.
All titles are self-administered. You got a $40 point-and-shoot and a pirated copy of Photoshop CS2? You’re fucking Ansel Adams in my book. If you want to be.
Or maybe you’re just an asshole with an iphone and a blog.
wow.
There is a lot that is wrong with the above. Celebration of mediocrity is going to be the death of us all. Enjoy it while you can.
Additionally, Nobody is touting execution over expression here - ideally we’re looking for both.
I…I really don’t know who I agree with above. I do know that the current larger discussion beyond photography and into pictures and sounds as a whole is one of the most interesting in the history of what we refer to as “mass media.”
