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William Carr - Superb

Landscapelover

Senior Subscriber Member
I am glad I clicked the link. I then watched the video for a minute. It's good but not great.
I then saw another link and watched the video for non-stopped 33 minutes. After watching, I know exactly whom I want to become. The best photography VDO I've ever watched. Most of you've probably watched it.

Ansel Adams BBC Master Photographers (1983) - YouTube

It's just an inspirational to watch a great human being talking about something you've passionated with.

After watching, I am ready for my busy schedule today!

Thanks for the link!

Pramote
 

johnnygoesdigital

New member
There's some nice photography, but not as innovative as the narrator would have you believe. Self promotion is a skill all on its own, but in this context it painted a more sordid sense of prominence.

Let the photography speak for itself....and not that narrator guy!
 

Anders_HK

Member
All the anti posts surprise me and made me go back and watch the video two more times... I guess following puts thumb on what I am drawn to in his work...

@ 5:05; Fine Art Consultant "The brushlike quality, the painterliness of great artists is something also found in William’s work, and this is also what separates the aesthetically pleasing from the technical correct photographs.", William Carr: "Using the camera as a paintbrush in a sense, that allows you to do brush strokes, and those brush strokes in terms of the lighting and the composition, and the shutter speed and how you can slow the water down, that is the difference and that is when an artist transcends from being a snapshots photographer to an artist."

I find the above pretty well narrow down why I also like Ansel Adams, Peter Lik and Clyde Butcher, as works of fine art.

Difference in opinion are obvious... it would have been interesting if GetDpi was around in Ansel's time to gage the fellow photography community... perhaps it would have been looked down on that he used expensive lens? :D

Lets run a survey, how many here like Andreas Gursky, hands up? :watch:

Can we still be friends??? :thumbs:
 

johnnygoesdigital

New member
I too, just had to watch the video again...with closed doors and shades drawn! Again, I think the guy has talent, but the video starts with saying he's a musician! Then further in the video mentions that once a photo is taken, no other embellishments can take place. Does that include post production and generous amounts of HDR? Gursky is a great digital photographer, but he has a unique, original style that does resonate. I once saw a painter at a summer festival and this artist was a true master - almost Vermeer quality. Each painting took weeks or longer to create, and he was selling original works for less than most limited edition photographs. Having an exaggerated sense of your importance diminishes the quality of the art because your implying the viewer can't make that determination on their own.

As a side note to William Carr...narrate the video with your own words and voice. It's more personal and compelling. We'll sense your devotion and interpret for ourselves what it means to be a master.
 

etrump

Well-known member
Please! Most of his art is in a postcard rack around Vegas for 1.25. He should at least be honest instead of implying his sales are fine art prints sold.

Some if his stuff is good while most of it is average. Same as most photographers myself included.

The postcard market went in the toilet so he opened his gallery at which time he didn't even have a website. More power to him, I hopes he sells a bundle as well as anyone on this site. The more fine photography is accepted the better it is for all of us.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
One thing is for certain, and that's he's quite full of himself.

It sort of reminds me of a (rather narcissistic) photographer on another popular site that a few years ago wrote about how they had made "millions of dollars" in the fine art photography market, and furthermore was willing to impart his vast wisdom on us plebeians, and all we had to do was buy his $1000 DVD -- the article included a portrait of him standing next to an old Ferrari of some sort. Anyway, several readers took him to task right away, slamming him for the arrogance. I reminded them that over a 30 year career, $1,000,001 dollars amounted to about $33,500 per year net income, not really a lot to brag about. In the end, all that braggadocio accomplished was killing off a significant portion of his credibility. I think this guy Carr has perhaps succumbed to a similar case of poor judgement...
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Im banning myself further here.:D

but I will say I am getting bugged very much lately whats going on outside this forum with regard too arrogance. Please shoot me if I EVER get like that. Well at least tell me. LOL
 

routlaw

Member
Please! Most of his art is in a postcard rack around Vegas for 1.25. He should at least be honest instead of implying his sales are fine art prints sold.

Some if his stuff is good while most of it is average. Same as most photographers myself included....

... The more fine photography is accepted the better it is for all of us.
+1

Good points. Hard to say whether or not your last statement is true, only time will tell.

I see photography in general as being and has always been the bastard step child of the art world. The mere notion of photographs being painterly or looking like a painting doesn't do much to help either as opposed to standing on their own two feet for what they are. It was at about this time in the video when the lady is discussing his photography as paintings I couldn't take it anymore and turned it off. As long as we all allow our photographs and photography in general to be considered as emulating paintings (or some other art form), we've already lost cause… raison d'être.

Pretentious might be an understatement.

Oddly enough and for what ever reason film making does not seem to suffer this same anomaly or lack of respect in the art world. I can't recall ever anyone comparing a film of any kind to a painting or any other form of artwork.

It amazes me so many made it to the end of thing, let alone more than once.

Rob
 

cerett

Member
Forget the music; forget the narration. I thought some of his images were unquestionably excellent and am really surprised at some of the comments to the contrary. Happy to see he was using a Hasselblad.
 

rsmphoto

Member
Seriously, it's so self-aggrandizing and syrupy it's almost a parody of itself. It requires a large self-image to not be embarrassed by such hyperbole about oneself... and work, no matter how good the work is.
 

cerett

Member
One more thing . . . I detect a certain degree of snobbishness here that I have also felt in other threads. I love this forum, but find this aspect of it somewhat disappointing.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Cerett,

IMHO and speaking for myself only: I feel it's one thing to be a good photographer, but quite another to come off so incredibly arrogant that you are tantamount to T H E god of art. And in this case, the latter is so prevalent in this guy's video, it turns me off to his art no matter how good it may have been -- I simply could not stand it to stay with it long enough for him to get around to showing his actual art... My point is that to my mind, a discussion like this one helps other photographers avoid considering that type of self aggrandizement and promotion even a remotely good idea...
 

torger

Active member
The boasting self-promoting style shown in that video doesn't work around here, actually when I first saw it with sound I thought it was some sort of parody. Here in Sweden we're fascinated by American culture, and parodies by going over-the-top but pretending to be serious and using that kind of movie trailer voice is quite popular. And fun.
 

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Technically well presented images although I didn't see anything original to be honest. Lots of trophy wall hangers well executed by the look of it but ultimately it's clones of work that others have done (to be honest, we've all done them!). From a commercial perspective it sells lifestyle art work / decoration that you see in most hospitals and Dr's offices & on the walls of trophy homes. Nothing wrong with that but let's just call it what it is.

I didn't get any sense of his own vision or style. I've seen every single one of those locations (and to be honest the images) before. I got no sense of a "William Carr" image.

The narration and production just makes me want to cringe but ultimately perception is everything and if it gets him business and financial success then good for him. However, it left me cold and was over the top.
 
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MaxKißler

New member
Thanks for posting this link. It's a nice way to show how you can destroy your credibility and possibly lose most self respect thanks to a mere 10min video.
First the "epic" narration (more like epic fail) then the overly dramatic music, mantra like repetition of contradictory artsy bullcrap talk and finally some no name fine art consultants who describe your work as "painterly"? Seriously? I could only watch that to the end because I expected it to be a joke!

Btw, I understand "painterly" in combination with landscape photography more like "not sharp enough" to get a decent print. Maybe that's his style and the reason he's not using a cable release? Alright, I'll take that back; A cable release is not necessary, the built in self timer works quite nicely.
Nevertheless, there were a lot of images I've already seen before taken by other photographers but I've not seen any "original" images. At least no interesting ones...

I'm at the very beginning of my career (and don't aim to become a fine art photographer anyway) and may have not accomplished that much to judge him this harsh. Perhaps he will sell some more images thanks to this vid and have finanicially speaking more success than me, but at least I'm planning to keep my dignity.

"He is truely guided by the light." - More like guided by a marketing consultant. Ahh, whatever. At least it shows that you're never old enough to make a fool out of yourself..
 
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cerett

Member
Cerett,

IMHO and speaking for myself only: I feel it's one thing to be a good photographer, but quite another to come off so incredibly arrogant that you are tantamount to T H E god of art. And in this case, the latter is so prevalent in this guy's video, it turns me off to his art no matter how good it may have been -- I simply could not stand it to stay with it long enough for him to get around to showing his actual art... My point is that to my mind, a discussion like this one helps other photographers avoid considering that type of self aggrandizement and promotion even a remotely good idea...
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.
 
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