When I first began making images many years ago... it was before the internet and digital photography. If you wanted to see what other photographers were doing, you either checked out photography magazines, went to a gallery, or photography books.

It seems to me that different countries (in general) had different looks or styles. I remember at one point liking the work coming out of Japan for it's minimalism, etc.

Of course there's always been lots of variety even within a given country or city, but in general you could pick up on a popular look/style for a given geographic locale.

Do you think that's still true today? I think I've seen evidence of that... even here at 1x. I think the internet and the fact that photography is so much easier to get into now has had an impact by simply putting decent camera gear in more hands.

I wonder if sites like this or other sites... that tend to influence photographers into a particular style/look... will eventually result in much photography that looks very similar? When I say sites like this that influence photographers into a particular style/look, I mean that if the work doesn't look like a group of photographers making decisions whether or not to publish... that means that if photographers want to be published, they will tend to alter their vision to comply with the "judges/screeners". This is NOT a criticism in any way, but a speculation based on observation. I've noticed that even I have been effected by this. There are images I like and want to show here, but I don't even submit them because I don't think they will fit the general aesthetic of the screeners. That means the style of what I am submitting here will eventually be whittled down to one look that I think might fit here. Again, merely an observation and not a critique.

Another way of explaining what I think is happening is the following. I've traveled a bit and have been to several countries over the years. Not as many as some, but certainly more than average. And, over the years... especially in the small towns and rural areas... you could definitely see a different style with the people. In each town I noticed the young people in particular had their own identifiable look and style. It was always great to move on a few hours away and see the style change.

Unfortunately, I noticed that began to change around the time that people started getting cable/dish TV from around the globe. All the young people were watching MTV and getting their style cues from it. Soon, you could see pretty much the same styles everywhere you went. As a result of one small group (MTV) defining what "cool" looked like... the variety I loved so much, slowly and surely went away and everyone seemed to be conforming to basically the same general styles of clothing and music taste.

Do you suppose this same sort of thing might be happening right now with photographic styles?

I' have been in photography a long time and indeed there differences of style between continents.

In the past, I remember, how Russian photographers were different by adding drawings on there photo's, Japanese very illustrative and simple...
Here in Belgium, that time, many photographers had an white house/windmill in there photo's, sometimes they still do, even if they don't have any change more to be accepted in photo-contests.
They thought, because the year before a similar image had won gold, we gone do the same.
There was a time that many made photos of the Venetian masks, for the same reason.
Now, in Belgium (and probably in others countries too), street and life photography is the new "hype", for young photographers and others.

Conclusion: I think, amateur photographers were and are influence by awarded photo's and what is the "hype" of the moment and I see many changing style, in good or bad. (Not my kind of cup, because I'm not good in it, because I'm "crazy")

Now a day, many Eastblock countries, Polisch (and still of others) photographers, are very illustrative, with textures overlays in there pictures with special landscape/houses you can find in those continents... this had influence on many others (also on me)

I suppose, has there are no frontiers anymore on international websites, we are all influenced by the different styles of continents.
And 1x is a good example of this, because here are the best photo's all kind!!!!!

Sorry for my English.

Skip, probably not. I see a much more diverse photography base than ever existed before. Before you shot Landscapes like Ansel, street like HCB, etc and all genre's were driven by a certain 'figurehead'. Yeah, there were other 'masters' that were followed but there was a very decisive line between all genres.

That's all be blurred and expanded on. Yeah, you still have people shooting nature stuff like Galen but they've also expounded on it by including some of their own vision. There are also cool things happening in outsider photographer (which I guess is sorta what I do). Strange images that until years ago never really existed.

So while a geographic style might not exist, I think many other different styles have developed as an outcrop and helped level the field.

As for not uploading your shots: Why not? The worst that can happen is that they'll be rejected. This isn't life and death here and it isn't going to cost you anything. The 'look' of the front page has evolved dramatically since I first started coming here years ago and will continue to evolve as the years go on. I think it's much more open to different 'styles' than it was 2 years ago. Hell, even Ben's getting stuff published. :D

I suppose you're right about this. The "hype" has always been a result of who ever was winning contests and many tend to fall in line with whatever that is. It was the same before and the same today.

I do like the fact that the "styles" are getting blurred and new ones emerging. That's definitely a positive outcome of globalization.

As for "rejects"... well, you're probably right there. I think I'll just start submitting what I want and not give it a second thought. I only mentioned it because I've noticed when I choose an image to submit, I now choose it based on what I think the "site/screeners" might like instead of what I like. And, I was using that change in attitude to illustrate my point. But yes, you are correct. We should not alter what we choose to show based on what we think others will approve of. :-)

This "Outsider" genre you mention... have any good links to check out? This is the first I've heard of it.

Skip, just do a google search for outsider art and you should get a bunch. There's a couple galleries in Chicago (and probably all major cities) that have shows for it. It usually borders on the macabre and dark idea stuff.

Oh yes. I'm certainly familiar with Outsider Art. I thought you were saying there was a specific "outsider" photography movement. My mistake. :-)

I think it's true. I don't really like it, personally. Photogs that do everything with one processing style or look, no matter how interesting the look, often strike me as boring. Sorta like photogs that use one action in photoshop to define that style, even worse if it's a pre-purchased filter. Totally Rad Actions or Lucis Arts for example, or HDR...or very recently the blue channel look (Roegi gallitz i think the photog's name is). Another photog, Dave Hill, has a unique style but looking through his gallery gets pretty pretty pretty quick when you realize that lighting set up is similar in EVERYTHING.

Ever see a photographer who seems like their style is stuck in the late 80s? With the swatch book of muslins, the one generic pose, the one light Rembrandt lighting throughout every shot...that's how it is, no matter what - if it's all looking similar then it's inevitably going to get boring.

Heeey this is interesting!! Yes, style, style... one of the main worries of young photographers. There´re styles as always has been as fashions, trends, tendencies and aesthetics lines. And I think yes to the question that nowadays, the global net wold has a deep influence on all we do.
I´m looking through my finder and I see images that I previosly saw constantly, maybe I see too much photos along the day, but it´s really difficult to be original.
How many coastal sunset or dawn images are around here, specially those with a dead tree on the FG, or blurred soft waters or dramatic portraits in B&W with hard unsharpmask and contrast to enhance the beards or white hairs. And thousands of flowers with short DOF to create such dreamy effect. The bold colours of the 80s and early 90s now substituted by pale tones in all magazines and tv advertisemens.
I like all of these because I have to deal with all these styles due clients ask me to shot in certain style they like. I´m not so famous artist stuck on a peculiar style that people call me for that, dangerous anyway when fashion passes. I´m an artisan not an artist.
Regularly I think about styles and fixed themes or subjects, well, fine if the photographer is happy with that and even more fine if they got credit for, but I enjoy and have more fun shooting almost every theme they ask me to, trying new things constantly.
I´m sure screeners here, not as a group but individuals has their own preferences, if they like what I submit, fine, if not fine too, I will try another. Because I like to take images, differently and varied I can keep posting for fun. At the end my portfolio here will be a puzzle, but maybe funny and amuse to see, maybe.

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I don't think so, or at least not as much. The internet has brought people together in such an unbelievable way. Photographically I am most inspired by a Turk, a Lebanese woman, a Romanian, an Indonesian, a Frenchman, and a fellow from Finland. All of these people create atmospheric and abstract works of art and even though they may live in completely different corners of the world, they all create in a similar fashion. They are different people with different beliefs but must have something similar in their personalities. I think our environment shapes our style to a certain extent, but it is our personality and our inspiration that chooses a style. We can be enjoy and choose what to be inspired by.


The supermarket killed the culture. I do think this is happening in photography, but then I have no idea as I haven't been around long enough to see it. Sites like deviant art, fotoblur, artlimited and even 1x to a certain extent appear to favour the same kind of images, which is perfectly normal. A highly praised photo on flickr is likely to be liked a lot here and there. Whether it is the fault of digital photography or cable TV that most of us enjoy the same kind of images is not true I don't think. From what I've seen, natural human aesthetics favour bright colour and technical ability.

Style is as fashion, short term.

A good photographer have to find the character not the style. Character is the way we see the word around and how this world is represented and not the colours, textures or lighting. It is something that defines our vision.

All of us have a clear and particular vision, but the challenge is represent this vision in our photo works.

That's the easy part.

I think there has been a lot of cross cultural influence before the internet. A lot due to Political upheavals in europe in the twentieth century. German photogrpahers in England ( Brandt and John Gay etc ) Hungarians everywhere ;-) and other eastern Europeans, ( Capa, Weegee, Kertesz, Koudelka, etc ) HCB's influence is profound worldwide. Perhaps cultures took the influences and put their own slant on them rather more noticably before the internet. I don't think we are all going to be homogenised into a global culture at all.
Jon

I am positive we won't, at least not to the extent of some other forms of art, because photography is deeply rooted on reality. It is the form of art which is the most based on tangible reality. So as long as reality is not homogenised it will be OK... :)

Indeed I believe that photography is deeply influenced by where you come from, but also by where you stay (at least most of the genres). There is a book I picked on library featuring photos of America from both Robert Franks and HCB when he stayed in the US. Though you could tell almost everytime who has done what it is noticeable that HCB's "style" was affected by the place. I personally found it more politically/socially engaged than other works from him (note that HCB took pictures virtually everywhere in the world, but he has resided a significant time in the US and that may have made a difference - I am saying that also with regards to my own personnal experience).

Having said that I also think that today some technical gimmicks and "rules" stuffs enter the game too much with the side effect of some homogenisation... but I know, I know ... that I will be called a purist for that ;)

Great responses! And, the more I think about it... I think photographic styles are being fused, created, mixed and branched off at such a rapid rate with global internet communication and digital photography/digital editing... that perhaps it's MUCH less homogenized as it used to be.

There do seem to be styles prevalent in particular cultures (I've been fond of what I've seen coming out of Poland, Bulgaria and the general region... but the more and more I think about it... styles seem to be morphing much quicker than they used to.

It must make setting "the approved style" at any given time very difficult. Or, I suppose one could just accept an "approved styled" as just the pulse of the moment and nothing more?

Hmmm...not sure that's true.

I meant "reality, as tangible facts that come up represented by photonic beams going through a lens and finally captured by film or sensor"... but not necessarily "truth".

I KNEW it had something to do with photonics, I just never could prove it!

See, King, just lay it out there and let live on it's own...

Problems with photons is that there are too much of them everywhere. There are those finding their way through lenses (some would call those ones "the purist photons") and those trapped in LCD monitors litting some RGB pixels or whatever (that others would call "the corrupted photons") ... :))

There are no photonic beams...only photonic waves.


'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,?that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

No king there is no humor...only sarcasm.

...sigh...no one understands irony.

style is all about evolution and evolution isnt all about photography or art in general. as we mature we see the world with different vision and that vision shows in our art.
i stopped uploading and let the maturing process evolve :)
i still capture images but they are very different of what i have in my portfolio.
it seems that the process of creating art motivates the quest of self searching......

It seems that way to me, too.

you know king although i never met you you remind me of a character from a book i love :), Jubal Harshaw from the book stranger in a strange land by Robert Heinlein. i hope you find it a compliment if you know the book

I know and grok the book. This from Wikipedia for those who don't:

Jubal Harshaw is a fictional character featured in Stranger in a Strange Land, a novel by Robert A. Heinlein. He is described as: "Jubal E. Harshaw, LL.B., M.D., Sc.D., bon vivant, gourmet, sybarite, popular author extraordinary, neo-pessimist philosopher, devout agnostic, professional clown, amateur subversive, and parasite by choice."

Fits me perfectly. How astute of you.

:)

Oh brother!!

water brother please :)

Yes, my son?

Where art thou?

If you guys now start speaking in Latin, I'm really going to get sick!

This conversation is definitely more palatable than the one currently going on FB with our old friend VT...

What led you to use the word "palatable" regarding the VT FB remark?

Oh I don't know...maybe irony, maybe sarcasm, maybe juxtaposition, not really sure. I bet Jubal Harshaw could tell us, if only he was here...

If only he *were* here. Calls for the subjunctive tense.

Why is there a period and a capital letter in the middle of that sentence??

I'm.
Influenced.
By.
Advertisements.

Funny, because I've just bought a book featuring photos of America from Walker Evans and HCB and my conclusion is more or less like yours :-) We can't deny that our reality conforms our style, whatever that is.

Should be the same book. I always confuse Walker Evans and Robert Frank.

:-)) Nice one, isn't it? Sitting on my table together with my latest acquisitions/presents: "Cazadores de luz" and "A shadow falls"... but I'm afraid quality isn't contagious :-D

Just in case: "Cazadores de luz" (light hunters) is a groups of 99 Spanish photographers with very interesting images:
http://www.cazadoresdeluz.com/cl/Bienvenida.html

One thing I would like to add is that there seems to be confusion between "Style" and "Motif".

I see many people shoot the same stuff with the same ingredients. Let's pick one. Lone figure walking in the shadows at night or in low light. Or lone figure doing something towards an edge of a frame.

This IMHO is not an expression of an artists style. But one of motif.

Style I feel lhas to do with impact, technique, presentation, angles, etc. Motif has to do with the subject matter and setup.

I have made a rule for myself this year to keep my style (whatever that is) and shoot many kinds of motifs. And not upload or repeat to upload a "formula" because it is accepted here.

Short term 1X benefit. Long term creative disability.

I just browsed it on the library but will likely buy it one day or another. By the way I dig your PF.

Style is a straightjacket that some find a comfortable fit but most struggle to rid themselves from incorrect perception. Actors get pidgin-holed, artists/artisans/photographers get 'styled.' It's human nature. 1x has a certain style (God save me from time-exposed rocky foreshores, foggy lanes and lonely jetties) and that's fine. Actually it's not, but it's a subjective thing. The thing is, shoot what gives you the buzz. Then move on if you find the batteries fade. Take clues from others but DON'T shoot to fit in with anyone else - even 1x.

Dig it! Splendid reply.

YES ... Peter.... and lets not forget the endless stream of grizzly and grimy toothless old people with leather faces who show up on 1x with with such nauseating predictability!!!

Well, while we're at it, hope about a few more streaky train light shots or a couple more of those sappy red sky sunsets!! And, oh don't get me started about the friggin' bugs...

Or the lonely tree. Or the cats ... oyyyyy!

You *are* referring to photographs and not to photographers...right?

KD, having seen myself this morning in the mirror of reality, I believe I resemble that remark. Ursula, I hope you are not referring to my published cat shot? heh

I'll stick to lonely ships.. and sharks..

LOL.. Seriously, I've got one of those too that I WAS going to submit next. Dang... maybe I'll try something else instead. ;-)

Heh, good one!

Bloody mountains as well, sick of the sight of them on here, they all look the bloody same anyway........

..well the ones I photograph anyway...

:-)))

Oh crap... that does it... I don't have anything else left to submit. ;-)

Seriously though... aside from the somewhat aggravating process of getting something live here on 1x, it does seem to be (overall and in general) one of the most diverse collections of quality images I've seen.

LOLOL... well I am glad we can all see the humor in this... and treat it lightly as it should be ;)

As a grizzly, grimy, toothless old man
Who loves his cat and lives in a tree
Those sappy red sunsets are a beauty to me.
But they bring out the bugs, a friggin nuisance for all.
The itching, the scratching, the long sleepless night.
Time to hop that freight with the streaky train light.

Interesting thread. I have to agree with Skip that some of the most innovative and interesting images are coming from the eastern european countries. 1x is great in the fact that it brings so many styles together for everyone to appreciate.

Who would have thunk it! Steven, you're a poet! :)

Ok, right, apart from stunning mountains, foggy roads, misty windows, hands on misty windows, grizzled bearded men, empty jetties, lonely piers, lonely trees, lonely ships, lonely foreshore rocks, time exposed foreshore sunsets, motion blurred water, sad kids, streaky light street scenes, birds comped into skies, extreme short dof bugs and bloody sunsets, what have 1x ever done for us?

Ehm, maybe nothing for you, but for me and I believe for most of the serious members here :

- a lot of inspiration
- a lot of hours looking to fantastic pictures
- a lot of learning
- a lot of friends - not only virtual
- an easy to use website module
- a lot of fun
- etc., etc ....

Thomas, clearly you are not a fan of Monty Python or irony ...

Exactly!!

Let's call my answer "double-ironic" :-)

FINALLY... sombody with whom I can agree.... I said somthing similar to this once before on the forum and was shot down like a dog!!

Hey Ian, my dogs have always lived a pretty good life. If I keep hanging around this site, I may rethink and want to come back as a goat..... :)

I love intelligent remarks. Your comments, too, Peter Davidson.

Although that's subjunctive"voice", I believe, not tense. And I think you forgot to mention photos hidden beneath textured layers, Peter. Trends? Styles? Styles and popularity affect photography now more than location, perhaps.

The subjunctive is a verb tense sometimes referred to by other names, such as the subjunctive mood...but let's not quibble over little things. Who is your favorite dead poet?

Bob Dylan, oh wait! He only sounds dead...

Same here... I feel like I can't upload a single shot that I have taken (not toothless old men) because other people ONLY shoot the same motif and have killed it off with all the repetition..

Why do the crew keep publishing the same images by the same people.... move along people........I'm going to go and shoot my toe nails...