Why is this one causing so much fuss? There haven’t been so many comments for an essay in a long while. And why is that the main point of most critics seems to be ‘the integrity of burn’? DAH put it very squarely (and maybe he did over-explain himself indeed). It’s just photography that you don’t like. It’s not miasma and it doesn’t need to be always so lofty. Why is everyone taking it so personally, as if we invited to our party a non-cool person and he’s ruining it, is beyond me.

Don’t take yourself so seriously guys, it’s bad for your hair too!

(and it IS fun to know Thomas, I promise.)

Excellent, Sidney.

Stress less people…. Everything is okay. I think it would be really fun to know Thomas.

I haven’t seen Burn for a while, but I’m glad this essay was up when I did. It makes me realise, like others have said, that we should all just chill out a bit and not take photography too seriously.

Cheers.

DAVID…
i dont want to sound irrespective…
but…why dont you show us some of the worst of the worst among the tons of essays you’ve received so far?
something you really disliked, some photography found ridiculous or pathetic….
just to know what bad photography is, according to the curator…
Let’s start a separate section, “Le salon des refusés” here on Burn,
this is a serious suggestion, please show us something I’m sure we would find some true gems.

cheers

Next week on Burn, a toddler with a Kodak.

In the meantime, check out http://raoulgatepin.com/photographs/mainstream/ (thanks to Waxy for the heads up) for a much more stylish “day in the life” series.

FWIW, I’m a huge fan of Martin Parr, but I doubt even he could have done much of interest with this clichéd concept.

Then again as I’m writing this I’m thinking that photographers in general should always be ready for negative commentaries and take it on the chin, it’s part of the developing process.

But honestly what was the point in posting them? to provoke your audience? To test them to see what the reaction would be? To point out that there are different styles, different tastes?

Who cares? I can see “bad” photographs and “bad” projects anytime I want… but that’s not what I want to see when I come to a platform which is supposed to be showcasing the work of emerging photographers… and should surely be showcasing the better work being submitted?

Back to the images themselves.. I’ve seen the same idea done better. much better. funnier, more polished, better aesthetically, compositionally, overall just better.

It will never cease to amaze me how you will continue to enlighten… But I think you would have more luck talking to the proverbial wall than you do with Jim.

I am not a fan of the essay either, but I also realize that I don’t have to be. I find it fascinating that a newspaper editor/photographer can believe that his view is the only correct view. Tunnel vision is a serious handicap to a photographer.

what if i only published here work that i personally liked or was my aesthetic?? choke choke…we have published close to 200 essays since we started….why does every essay published need to be definitive? or why would every essay published here be perceived as what i am “doing” with Burn or a direction i am taking? choke choke…not trying to be clever either…just showing a broad spectrum, some of which i like and some of which i do not…some of the “popular” essays here include work that is surely not my personal thing either…sure there are many photographers whose work i could publish and there have been many that i have published and many more that i will publish…most magazines you know what you will get every time…gotta please either the audience or the advertiser…choke choke…besides Jim all you gotta do is wait…relax…new work coming…but if i tried to please you, this whole game would be over…that is exactly what is killing the big media…trying to over please their audience, trying to bend to the advertiser…the magazine and newspaper aesthetic is by nature the aesthetic of the advertisers…surely i am over making my case for this particular essay, but it does make for interesting conversation and please understand that i totally appreciate the comments from you and from others who may question my judgment or the validity of any body of work…isn’t that the point of Burn?

i well knew of course that some of these negative comments would be rolling in on this essay..these comments are almost word for word what Henri Cartier-Bresson said about the work of Martin Parr when he first saw it….the really “funny” thing for me is not Thomas’ pictures (which do not strike me as funny by the way-NOT my sense of humor), but how photographers get so “angry” or “sad” when they see pictures which fall out of their projected aesthetic norm and they see “bad pictures”…i love bad pictures…..i mean , for heavens sake, they are just pictures….a beginning photographer’s reaction to the world around him and using his camera to make some kind of statement…i doubt Thomas is going to continue with this genre OR maybe he will tweak it out and actually do something with it…who knows?

more power to you, two fingers to the photo snobs!

I have spent a LOT of time with comedians and in many cases the exaggeration in comedy is a way of covering up insecurities. How about SHOWING the insecurities rather than joking about them?

For me the essay started with the last image. That one isn’t funny. It was very nicely done without your feeling the need to ham it up for the camera. I’d like to see how you REALLY feel about your financial situation, etc. when you’re not making funny faces.

Start with that and see where it leads you. I think you could have a very nice piece.