Relativism? Sounds more like jealousy pure and simple. So, with that motivation, it's easy to subscribe any other opinion as stemming from insecurity ... like everyone else is some quivering mass of ignorance.Agreed
The level of photography conversation is also degenerating. Insecure amateurs and precariously positioned professionals attack all opinion that isn't relativist. Any talk of hierarchies, social or otherwise, makes them really uncomfortable.
I like the guy's work ... if you don't, that's fine by me. Not uncomfortable that at all.
Glad you know me so well that you can declare some sweeping statement of how I feel or think to forward your own agenda.
It was you who attacked other's opinions by discounting their interest in how it was done and tagging it as nothing special ... and then slyly equating that to talent, or lack of.
Who cares about hierarchies, social or otherwise? Only you evidently. Personally I don't care how it happened, and if the politics of hierarchies, social contacts or even sponsorship played a role, who gives a shyt? You do what you have to ... and it often does take some talents in those areas of interaction to make something happen.
This photographer probably knows how to play the game to get to the desired end result ... because he is also a successful commercial photographer where hierarchy, social skills and a positive attitude go a long way.
-Marc