There is no imagination left in the professionnal fields of stock RM and RF photographer. Nothing. zip. Zilch.Nada. Has to be, because when you look at the images being offered by most stock agencies, they all look the same. Especially those taken with a piece of plastic added to their lenses.
Stop it. Please. whoever is responsible . I do not know if it is the photographers or the editors, but if I see one more image taken with that Lensbabies extension, I will start to cry too, like a baby. It is like those filters used in the late 70’s early 80″s that changed light into multicolor 4 tip stars. It was used so much, by photographers, movie directors, TV shows, that it is rare to see any images from that period without them. Those filters were stuck to photographers lenses, like Lensbabies these days.
I even see news editorial photographer using it. Aaaargh !! I guess reality has become such a bore that we need to distort it. Find another trick, quick !! and stop copying each other. I do not know if those bean counters with a humongous corporate background and a degree in Historical redundancy are telling you that “the numbers indicate that picture taken with lensbabies sell 80 % better than does without”.Of course they do, Image Buyers cannot find anything else.
One cannot find a food picture taken without it anymore. It was interesting at first but now it is becoming repulsive. I will call my congressman if necessary, pass a bill that bans the use of those things. Be creative, someone, quick. and throw these plastic things out or give it to someone you hate.
Trends in photography are like rulers of countries, they are made to be replaced. If one stays too long, the system gets corrupted.
I must be out of touch, because I just discovered Lensbabies yesterday. They are incredibly annoying. (It brings to mind what my dad always used to say about the fuzz boxes used in music in the ’60’s and ’70’s: “An engineer works his whole life to make an amplifier with perfect response, and some fool with a diode screws it all up”)
At least this lemming-like following of trends is nothing new. In addition to the star filters, let us not forget when all the wedding photographers were putting electrical-tape crosses on their lenses, so the out-of-focus candle lights would look like crosses.
I’m also a little wary of products that are supposed to help you get “back to basics” but then cost a fair piece of change, like the Lensbabies, or the pinhole lens adapters. Paying a bunch extra so it can look like you have a cheap lens just seems wrong.
I also think about one of the photography magazines that every year gathers a bunch of pro photographers together to take pictures with point-and-shoot or even disposable cameras. While the absolute technical quality (resolution, that sort of thing) isn’t as high as their normal work, they take excellent pictures, because it isn’t really about the camera.
It’s sort of like if you think about a painter. There are a bunch of different brushes a painter can use, and he can get different effects with the different brushes, but in a pinch, he wouldn’t really need them. The Lensbaby is like giving the painter a rubber stamp.
Be well…
Lynn Grant