“Vivaldi-isation.” NB.
Do you remember the very first time you heard Vivaldi’s Four Seasons? I was about 12 at the time and my then piano teacher recorded a compilation of classical music to broaden my cultural horizons. That was when I first heard the concertos: I thought they were just sublime. Now, 33 years later, I have grown to loathe the Four Seasons in its multifarious forms. It is played so often, in so many incongruous settings and barely recognisable forms that it has been cheapened to little more than an alternative to silence. Over-exposure has ruined my – perhaps our – capacity to enjoy it.
Frankly, there are some wildlife locations that make me feel the same way. I hate that I automatically flip past yet another picture of a brown bear at Lassi’s place in Finland. That I won’t even bother to open a grey seal picture on a forum as 19 times out of 20 I know it will be another of the endless variations of seals lying on a sandy beach at Donna Nook. That the kites of Gigrin Farm no longer hold any mystery to me. I’m dismayed that so many photographers believe that these remain worthwhile locations to work when all they are doing is contributing to the “Vivaldi-isation” of the subject – making it too familiar – and breeding indifference to it in the process. Such is the pressure of photographers on some locations that it seems inevitable that “visitor management” will become necessary – a certain death knell to creativity.
Rather than gilding lilies already straining under many layers of gilt, I’d love to see more nature photographers finding their own voice, telling us new stories, introducing us to some new tunes. Admitting that a great picture is more than a good one improved upon. And the starting off point for that may be photographing what’s on your mind rather than what’s in front of your eyes.
I must agree with you and I think this problem inhabits all aspects of most craft and art forms. In landscape photography, the boulders in front of Dunstaburgh, bluebells and Roseberry Topping, Buachaille Etive Mor all solicit the same reaction. It is sad because these places/views are fundamentally attractive to the Vivaldi proponents because they allow easy access to the beauty of the genre. Four Seasons is a beautiful bit of music but, like you, I now only want to listen to it if it is interpreted by a master conducter/orchestra and the same goes for these locations. Which is why I think that perhaps the subject matter needs ‘more’ attention from brilliant photographers in order to bring back that love of the subject matter (I emphasise perhaps and think here). When someone reinterprets a stunning location (or subject matter in your case) the results impress because the photographer has had to apply there skill and imagination to circumvent such weight of expectation. I took two pictures from Locah na h’Achlaise a couple of years ago in order to try to re-present the location and found the excercise challenging and enjoyable (centre and centre bottom here http://www.timparkin.co.uk/gallery/colour).
However, I should emphasis that challenging oneself like this is no more than an interesting side project rather than the meat of a photographers repertoire.
This blog attracts such eloquent responses! Thank you Tim.
Best
Niall
I agree wholeheartedly, Niall! Of course I can rattle off the list of iconic landscape and wildlife locations here in the US but the point would be the same. There is no lack of excellence in technique out there, but still a gaping chasm when it comes to creativity and emotion. Too many photographers follow the life-list or trophy-hunting mentality and focus (no pun intended) on “bagging” well known subjects and locations rather than taking the time to truly understand them and be inspired by their beauty. There’s nothing wrong with it per se, but I feel that the spirit, fragility, and meaning of the places and ecosystems often falls by the wayside and their appeal diminishes as viewers are repeatedly bombarded by the same compositions over and over.
Guy
Niall, only if you live in Italy and love classical music (and your partner is an angry, professional violinist) can you truly understand Vivaldophobia…part of the 4-seasons is de rigeur at EVERY concert (whilst members of an Italian audience feel free to get up and wander around, talk…answer their mobiles! !!!!)
Cliché is fine if it is for private consumption but we should not be indulgent and expect others to lap it up. But one is fighting a tide when certain monthly photo mags seem to publish the same bit of seacoast from the same low angle or the same Arizona cave as a cover every few issues….Thought, vision and inspiration are the keys..as others say here just taking time to let nature suggest an approach. A tiny problem with desperately trying to be different or creative for its own sake is that this can become a cliché, too…heyho, almost time for a glass of red!
After years of seeing the work of Ansel and his imitators, I had felt the same way about Yosemite. Overfamiliarity had bred an indifferent attitude in me. Then, finally, I went for my first visit. And was blown away by the staggering beauty of the place. The years of overexposure washed away in a moment.
The problem is that when a master executes a vision, it becomes the default way to see that scene. It becomes so ingrained in our way of seeing and understanding that place, it becomes difficult for other artists to break free of the master’s technique and style. Artist’s must always resist this — their job is not to just record the beauty they see, it is to record the emotion they felt while they were seeing.
You got me thinking…! I’ll need to do some more thinking on this for my own blog.
Whilst I sympathise with the view of over exposure of some honeypot sites these are places where the inspired cut their teeth.(saying that I declined DN this year due to this very reason ).However ,familiarity breeds contempt as s’one once said and t’is a poor day when one looks down on a subject ‘beneath’ them .
But that 1 in 20 …every now and then an image comes along that changes ones perspective.Danny with a Gigrin Kite in the snow ,Edwin Kats with mono razorbill ( man in black ) ….. inspirational images that just make you think.
I am in agreement in better management and ‘crowd’ control at certain locations ,Derbyshire Dippers ,Donna Nook to name a couple….forums are now full of trophy photo’s that convey nothing more than just that .Will it kill the creativity I think not .
I will still be spitting and polishing the brown stuff ,but that 1 in 20 may come up with a shine.
Quote “Such is the pressure of photographers on some locations that it seems inevitable that “visitor management” will become necessary – a certain death knell to creativity.” End Quote
Hi Niall,
The above statement is already happening here in Australia right now. Some National Parks and Wildlife refuges restrict people to viewing platforms and they are not allowed to get close to the subject or move about to get a photograph from a different angle.
I can understand the need to protect the environment and the wildlife but it does make it more of a challenge to photographers to come up with something original.
All the best ….. Aubrey
Hello Mark
And thank you for your response. Well creativity WILL, inevitably, be killed once we have restrictions put on where, when and how we can photograph our subjects. And the real point of the post is this: we all have a LOT more chance of getting that one in 20 image if we work the same subjects at DIFFERENT locations. Donna Nook isn’t the only place in the UK where you find grey seals (and isn’t even very typical habitat for the species) and Flatanger isn’t the only place where we can see sea eagles. It just needs a bit of work to find the different locations.
Best
Niall
This response is from: Andrew Mason andrewj.mason@btinternet.com , sent to me by email:
Your blog on Vivaldi and creativity has prompted me to forward the attached photo which is on the talkphotography discussion group. I am not a member of this forum but understand that the events took place a couple of weekends ago at Donna Nook.
There are more photos like this at the discussion group at http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=181905&page=3 – you have to scroll through 5 pages of comments to find them.
The behaviour of those involved in this event is beyond belief and I cannot express how I feel about it. This goes beyond trophy photography and enters the realms of hunting.
In principle I will go to “honey pot sights” but with respect to the environment and wildlife. However, I much prefer remote locations where I can be more at one with nature. I time I hope to spend more time in such remoter places.
I had debated whether to go to Donna Nook this year but in light of this photo and the discussion thread I will not go. Instead next year I will go to one of the remoter locations in Scotland.
Niall / Andrew,
I followed that thread on talkphotography but can you blame amateur photographers (like myself) trying to get a wide angle shot when a professional photographers take images at the same place with a wide angle lens?
As well as inspiring us, professionals should set an example.
As for Grigrin I believe it is possible to get similar Kite shots without going there, it just involves a lot more time and effort. Something photographers don’t need to do anymore when they can pay money and get whatever shot they want. I was taught that photography is all about putting in the time and learning about your subject, it is beginning to turn into who can afford to go to the “honeypots”
Liam
Hi Liam
I certainly agree with you about ‘who can afford to go to the honeypots’ as this is certainly the case with a lot of the Scandinavian sites where you are looking at around £150 per day if you want to start adding brown bear, osprey, sea eagle and golden eagles to your portfolio. These are not sites that I have visited though they are certainly places I would like to go, not because it would make any financial sense because there is a good chance that it wouldn’t. Instead it would simply be because I would love to see sea/golden eagles close up.
I can remember the work of Conny Lundstrom with goldies years ago really breaking new ground but now these sort of opportunities are more readily available to anyone who can afford to spend £1000/per week.
As for the wide angle shots of seals I think it is vital that all photographers remember that just because someone else is doing something unethical it doesn’t mean that we all have to follow in order to compete. Set your own high standards and never compromise on them, of course it’s frustrating when you miss images that someone with less conscience is getting, I get frustrated when magazine publishers constantly use images of captive subjects when perfectly decent wild images exist but I just have to get on with it, maintain my own standards and just work that little bit harder. Use DN as an example of what not to do and if you see a pro behaving like a dimwit then use that as a motivation to try and turn pro by doing the right thing, it can be done.
I have just been catching up on blog responses and seen the alert provided by Andrew Mason to talkphotography forum. I saw that Niall could not express how he felt about it…I went outside to calm down and kick a wall. It is hard to credit the selfish stupidity of some of those photographers who, one presumes, would claim to ‘love’ wildlife.
Ironically, early today, I engineered an encounter with a ‘hunter’ who comes several times a week firing near our home.. just outside the legal limits (at least since our last ‘discussion”) to shoot blackbirds, thrushes…even bluetits. They are winged targets, not living creatures and they die in the cold twilight just to reinforce in some perverse way the manhood of this subhuman. I tried reason but his ignorance, the insistence that “this is tradition” and it is “my right”…and that, incredibly, “he loves nature” made me realise that I had to walk away before I lost control. He was the one with the gun, but I had stopped caring.
I felt the selfsame anger, born of a feeling of impotence, well up in me when I saw the way ‘humans’ with cameras surrounded the animals. The utter lack of concern as long as some get the ’shot’ they want. There is no difference for me between the idiocy of the hunter who ends the life of songbirds and the ingrates who risk inducing stress and the possible desertion of pups…both do it without a care in the world.