OK, so you've seen a few of Grant's photos from the time we were out shooting in New York. Here are a few of mine. Unfortunately, I didn't build a nice gallery so you have to click back and forth.

New York Photos

It's slightly edited...

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), May 09, 2002

Answers

nice. umbrella system, up on high and the chess players speaks to me easily. now i wanna go to NY (it's been a while)

and how dare you posting photos w/o giving us details on which camera you used, lens, settings, film, developer, etc.? ;-)

-- pat (modlabs@yahoo.com), May 09, 2002.

BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO! but as one pundit put it, "street shoot'ng in new york is almost cheat'ng!" And you're blackballed from the Casino!

-- Glenn Travis (leicaddict@hotmail.com), May 09, 2002.

Here in Toronto,Canada its phography month!Galleries and exibitions everywhere...in bars,restaurants,movie theatres.Well Jeff yours are better than anything i've seen so far,except for Brett Westons photos.But i am like you,person of the street.the fluidity,the passion,the rythm,the dance of life reverbate thru your photos. as for my English style education,Jolly well done Sir! Gotta load the box with b/w....cant wait for tomorrow!

-- jason gold (leeu72@hotmail.com), May 09, 2002.

Totally Spirer, Jeff you are the man!! I love "Curves and Shadows" It makes me dream. Thank you for sharing.

-- Jorge Ortega (quebecnikon@aol.com), May 10, 2002.

Take a look at

http://www.streetstudio.com/

and,

http://www.zoom-net.com/common/us/home.htm

especially the "Archives" in the latter site.

-- Cosmo Genovese (cosmo@rome.com), May 10, 2002.

BRAVO, BRAVO, BRAVO!

I bury my face in my hands in pity. So much for Walker Evans & HCB et. al. spending years perfecting their craft.

Don't focus. Bravo! Don't compose. Bravo! Don't even bother to straighten the camera. Bravo! Stick with the same grainy B&W film we used 30 years ago and of course creepily sneak shots from behind of people's behinds…

(Sigh) Bravo. Yeah, right.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), May 10, 2002.

Thank you, Jeff, for sharing these with us! I've added you to the list of my favorite photographers some time ago.

-- Oliver Schrinner (piraya@hispavista.com), May 10, 2002.

While I wouldn't be as snide about it, I have to agree with Jeff. Some of these are nice photos. They assure me you can do consistantly better work than what you've got up there. I'm glad you shared with us, and I'd like to (humbly) offer some constructive criticism.

I think some faster film would do you a great great service. Occaisionally, motion-blur is really effective. But if it becomes the norm, it loses it's efficacy. You know what I mean? You just sort of get continual blur and it's hard to stay interested.

I also think that you can never be close enough. Take Beserkely as an example. I think it would have been neato to get real close up on the head. Shots from eye level look like just that. It's fun to see a new perspective on things, don't you think?

Anyway, good job! It takes guts to post in public. I like to think we can all try to (kindly) help each other. I think if you'll bother to consider my two points, your photos will come out better more often. Happy shooting!

-Ramy

-- Ramy (rsadek@cs.oberlin.edu), May 10, 2002.

Great series Jeff! I love "Curves and Lines". It would be a totally different photo without that person on the left climbing the stairs... you can almost feel the effort. I also like the "Model Scout" with its eye contact.

-- Al Smith (smith58@msn.com), May 10, 2002.

Great photos Jeff. It is interesting to see the varied opinions, only proving that one persons cup 'o tea.....However, concerning Andrews posting. You do realize Andrew that such 'heartfelt critique' is exactly the kind that most people totally ignore? Ramy says some of the same things you do in a way that will probably be listened to and respected whilst people read your and probably think that you should get out more (or maybe post some of your own and see if the raves come rolling in).

-- Bob Todrick (bobtodrick@yahoo.com), May 10, 2002.

The Game is brilliant.

-- jay bee (jbee193@aol.com), May 10, 2002.

Really nice pics. ' Up on high' - the winner.

-- William Westergren (westergren@skynet.be), May 10, 2002.

You do realize Andrew that such 'heartfelt critique' is exactly the kind that most people totally ignore?

Yes, which is why I usually keep quiet when it comes to stuff like this.

I figured out a while ago that on the net, the more mediocre and lazy the images, the more they will get praised. Truly talented and original work is mostly ignored as it is threatening to the average forum poster (who are mostly camera owners rather than visually creative image makers).

As for not getting out more, hey - I'm out there shooting more film (and programming and running a business) than most. I post to this forum, on average, about 10 times a week. Hardly excessive.

-- Andrew Nemeth (azn@nemeng.com), May 10, 2002.

Excellent, Jeff, as usual. You've got a real Moholy-Nagy vibe going. And an idiosyncratic sense of composition that really works.

I have to look at some more.

-- Steven Hupp (shupp@chicagobotanic.org), May 11, 2002.

i'll ask you once again on this thread andrew, ever hear of william klein, garry winogrand, daido moriyama?

or is your 'knowledge' of photograhpy and its potential only limited to what you read in 'popular photography' magazine?

-- grant (lotusphotography@yahoo.com), May 11, 2002.

Especially Daido...

-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), May 11, 2002.

I enjoyed these photos looked at every one,again thanks for posting.

-- allen herbert (allen1@btinternet.com), May 11, 2002.