William Carr - Superb

[mueller123]

Hi guys,
i have seen his photos and from Peter Lik. The both have very similar photos. They are both in Vegas and some objects (like the marble tree) are indentical. My question: Who of them has this ideas first? Or none of them...I dont know..

In my opinion we talk about art. And i think in art is everything permitted if you dont harm somebody. I think that there are a lot of pictures out there which are much more worse than the pix from Carr. And in a free world i am happy with different opinions about art. This is inspiring.

Sorry english is not my native language and i hope you could understand this.
Mueller

 

[GrahamWelland]

Images are nice. However, his site is just as pretentious as his video. For example, his blog would have you believe that he finds outstanding locations and sights as he travels and that these are spontaneous hidden locations. This is an example:

William Carr discovers the most photographed tree in the Pacific NW!! (my title not his)

Since I live just down the road I can tell you EXACTLY where this is ... and it's in the Japanese Garden in Portland. Now it's a nice image and all that but his description is all about BS, sorry, aspirational marketing.

 

[stephengilbert]

Gee, Graham, the fact that thousands of photographers have shot that tree doesn't mean Carr didn't discover it. He just never knew about it before.

I didn't look, but did he "discover it" on some other photographer's website?

 

[GrahamWelland]

To support a gallery in Vegas I suppose that he has to compete with Lik et al which means the same images, the same super saturation and the same expensive illuminated print techniques.

Now I must admit that Peter Lik's gallery in Death Valley Junction almost put me in the ditch as his prints radiated out of his tiny gallery building as I drove by the side of the road there. Like I said, I don't have any problems with these technically perfect super saturated decoration pieces but please don't describe them as wonderful moments that happen once in a lifetime. Yes, yes, I know, I'm just an old fart ...

They are pretty though and I'd give one to a relative as a gift

 

[GMB]

With all due respect to my fellow Getdpi members from the US--and in particular Guy and Jack who founded this great forum--this video is sooooo American. A loud, over the top, kitsch, hard sell, that ticks any cliche one could possibly imagine: the dramatic music, the silhouette of the photographer with his tripod and camera mounted walking in the sunset (would you carry a $30+k mounted on the tripod over the shoulder ), the cinema voice, the "art consultant" (to make folks feel comfortable to pay big dollars for what's effectively a mass product), and best of all, the last man standing in Grand Canyon (funny that the light in the video is so much different from the light in the photo that he was supposed to have taken there).

As to his photos, several of them are actually good (and some of them I wish I had taken). But I see nothing unique and nothing that touches me. Sure, they are "art" (what is not art these days?). But like the video, they are "loud" and there is nothing original and no concept (other than showing something that's beautiful and enhancing the colors). Nothing wrong with that, of course. But, in my view, this does not even get close to the latest water series from Burtinsky or, to take a less well known example, the Course of History series of Bart Michiels. These are photos that speak to me much more.

So much for the video's message that this guy is the greatest living photo artist. But I am sure he sells well, and if promoting sales is what this video is all about, and if that works (and I think it may actually work as there are too many folks with too much money who love these shots), all credit to him (or his head of marketing).

 

[Guy Mancuso]

Here is the problem is we don't want you to think this is sooooo American because that's not how most of us are. Its cheesy **** with crust on top. That's the real problem here. I know I don't want our foreign friends to think we are this cheesy . I'm certainly not.

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

Jack,

I appreciate what you are saying and my comment was not made with you in mind. I pretty much looked at his images and ignored everything else. Quite honestly, I wish I had taken a couple of them. I still feel that there are times when some of the comments (here and elsewhere) are a bit snobbish and elitist. However, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I do love this forum.

You should read the Leica threads...especially the S2 owners

 

[johnnygoesdigital]

It's the "no further embellishment can take place " comment that reeks. Art is an interpretation that takes many forms and medium, but he seems to imply that these photos are all captured in camera through the gift of nature and chance. The Japanese maple seems to have liberal amounts of an HDR program as do other photos in his gallery.

I think the video promotes the narrator more than anything!

 

[Pierrard]

I'm often multitasking on my computer so I had it muted the entire time and saw only the images.

While I do think a lot of them were very good, of course art is open to subjectivity, and so anyone may have positive or negative reactions to the work itself.

I'm quite glad I didn't actually hear the guy's narration now.

 

[GMB]

Here is the problem is we don't want you to think this is sooooo American because that's not how most of us are. Its cheesy **** with crust on top. That's the real problem here. I know I don't want our foreign friends to think we are this cheesy . I'm certainly not.

I know you are not (if I thought you guys were I would not hang out here).

I have many US friends and since over 12 years work for and with Americans. The marketing and sales are just much "louder" that what most Europeans accept. Of course I am generalizing here--I know that. But it is my experience that in the US it is more acceptable to say "I am the best" or "My experience is unique/unrivaled" and that people actually expect you to say that, whereas in other parts of the world that is likely off-putting.

This video in my view is a hard sell directed at Americans with enough dough to pay his prices, which makes sense because the market for this type of photography is much bigger in the US than anywhere else. And I think it actually will help him to sell.

 

[stephengilbert]

I don't think it's coincidental that his gallery is in Las Vegas. His sales model reminds me of "art" I've seen for sale in tourist hotels in Hawaii.

 

[hcubell]

As best as I can tell, the precursor to Messrs. Lik, Carr and Lough is Michael Fatali. However, IMO, he is a very creative guy who actually found a number of the iconic locations that others now copy.

 

[cerett]

You should read the Leica threads...especially the S2 owners

Hmmm, I thought the Leica Forum was by invitation only . . . . .

 

[sc_john]

As best as I can tell, the precursor to Messrs. Lik, Carr and Lough is Michael Fatali. However, IMO, he is a very creative guy who actually found a number of the iconic locations that others now copy.

Fatali, now there's a real lover of nature and the environment… Fatali Pleads Guilty to All Charges - Photo.net Nature Forum

John

 

[Landscapelover]

I've owned Nikon, Canon, Sony, Phase 1, Hassselblad, Leica S2 etc. because I can afford them and love their quality, nothing else. They are just tools.

What I've found out was very interesting. When I first joined the Leica S2 group, 5 people emailed me, greeting and giving me advices. We've become friends. It's rarely happened with other groups. It's hard to judge people. It is not nice to make fun of them especially if you aren't even in contact with them.

I like the pictures of this guy but it's too commercial to me.
Come on! Putting him in the same league as Ansel Adams and Clyde Butcher? Most of his pictures look very familiar although I've never heard of him or seen his pictures before.

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

This isn't very different from a lot of other marketing directed towards ignorant, rich people. Is it "Typical American"? It would probably be seen as that in many parts of the world, some places even in a positive sense. When I was a kid, everything was "bigger and better" in America. This guy seems to be really, really big

He does seem to be a rather decent photographer though. What astonishes me is the terrible technical quality of the video.

 

[Wayne Fox]

Personally when someone tries to compliment me by saying my piece looks like painting, I cringe. (that seemed to be the main point of the art consultants. I couldn’t handle more than that so I quit watching)

I have no desire for my work to be thought in those terms. There are many more “paintings” that are not art compared to those that are, and I certainly don’t want my work thought of as a substitute for true art which has to be painted. This is why I no longer print on canvas.

As far as Carr, he’s following the Peter Lik model, Vegas market, saturated face mounted acrylics, self promotion. I would hope a lot of that is his PR guy pushing him, sad if he really sees himself as that amazing. Guessing the video was for his Miracle Mile Gallery, similar to Lik who’s heavy self promotion is all about convincing those walking in the door in a few seconds that he’s a world renown artist.

As far as his “35 million” number, he must be counting the millions of postcards he’s sold in gas station throughout the southwest.

 

[Shashin]

It is funny. Lots of people here are sort of slamming this guy's marketing, but, if you think about it, he has been getting a lot of hits from here. It is bring him attention, the point of marketing. He might be onto something...

 

[Shashin]

Another thought. He seems to know his market. Las Vegas is not really the place for restraint and understatement.

 

[fotografz]

Pretense and over-the-top displays of bad taste is not the exclusive domain of the US.

The newly rich of the world sure are doing a good job of beating the US at its own game.

Like any multi faceted culture, there are the tasteful, and there are the masses clamoring for ever more examples of a cultural train wreaks.

Many of the very worst US TV programs originated in England.

The French minister of culture once described Disney World Paris is a "Cultural Chernobyl". Didn't stop it from becoming the most visited attraction in all of France and Europe.

30% of the visitors to Las Vegas are foreign. That's a lot considering how far they have to come.

etc. etc. etc.

I wouldn't get to pretentious about the pretense of others.

- Marc

Oh, and I agree that the Leica S folks have been cordial, informative and unpretentious in their communications and have become extended friends in the process … just because they can afford their favored tool don't make them uppity as implied. Nice people, like many on this site. :thumbup: