CareLyn Anita wrote:
and you ...?

I use them as a barometer of change in the marketplace, something I need to stay in tune with. While change is a constant, a side effect of it is repetition. A lot of the art work on display in ad campaigns today is a rehash of styles that were used in catalog work in the late 60's and throughout the 70's into the early 80's. I find this interesting in that catalog photographers have always taken a beating at the hands of ad photographers. It's an elitest thing. I've also noticed through the years and especially recently with the advent of digital cameras that a lot of the production value in major ad campaigns is dwindling to a point and shoot style. I think this is a passing fad and the next great series of images will be inspired as they always have been. Someone will come up with something new and the others will follow.

Bob Randall Photography wrote:
are countless. We live in a visually oriented world in which pictures are a major form of comunication. You see them everywhere you go. Most of them are beautiful and well thought out and properly executed. Some of them push boundries and make you think. Do you truly observe them? Do you ever learn from them? Do you conform to them? Do you rebel against them? Do they affect your style or approach?

I've found that I'm inspired almost every day when I am walking around. I see so much art and beauty in the simplest things. Parts of others work somehow find thier way into my own images at one point or another, (techniques and visualizations).
my grandfather was a fantastic photographer and one of his many lessons to me was to always be aware of change and learn to adapt.
It will be interesting to see what the next 10-20 years will bring to the art/photography world.

Rich

Bob Randall Photography wrote:
I use them as a barometer of change in the marketplace, something I need to stay in tune with. While change is a constant, a side effect of it is repetition. A lot of the art work on display in ad campaigns today is a rehash of styles that were used in catalog work in the late 60's and throughout the 70's into the early 80's. I find this interesting in that catalog photographers have always taken a beating at the hands of ad photographers. It's an elitest thing. I've also noticed through the years and especially recently with the advent of digital cameras that a lot of the production value in major ad campaigns is dwindling to a point and shoot style. I think this is a passing fad and the next great series of images will be inspired as they always have been. Someone will come up with something new and the others will follow.

I find that an interesting observation and would have to agree...But I think the rehash of  the catalog styles you are seeing may be a fad as well.Perhaps these people can't refer to good old publications so thay get thesse great ideas for the advertising they are involved with from $2.00 bargin boxes full of old catalogs  lol...So many people in current pop culture seem to be clinging right now to the knowledge they possess of what vintage or retro is ... constantly looking back instead of forward.
An example of this is car  television ads and songs that you hoped you'd never hear in a commercial.
This has been going on for years.
In all types of mainsteam popular advertising (and media) I do find rehashing going on quite often , or trying to expand on an an idea that has already been beaten to death.This can be seen in major Hollywood films all the time.
I also find in advertising , a simple product ad will take up ten pages in a magazine . Perhaps the reason is that quantity will improve the whole ad campaign. To me it appears as people will 'have' to notice because it is such a vast spread.The vastness becomes the main object  instead of the tag line or images or product itself. Quantity for quality and alot of gimmick.
I just was involved in a video invite to an event  for a t shirt company that targetted a retro crowd and although the images and objects used were some what "retro" and rehashed , it still had a very fresh edge... due to editting and concept.
There is hope....

On another note I often look to photos for inspiration of movement ...poses ... I look to fashion photos to inspire new ideas for creating costumes... I personally strive to keep uniqueness and newness in my life and my creations ..but there is always some one else who has done it all before ,and 40 times  better. I view images and paintings with the same part of my consciousness that I read poetry with... or listen to music with.
I would love to see some imagery above Kubrick in film ... but who , and when ? Kubrick blows my mind........ is that possible?

D. Brian Nelson wrote:
Images are pervasive.  I don't own a television and seldom buy magazines because I am susceptible to advertising and want to avoid it as much as possible.  Most other images that surround me are also trying to sell me things.  For the most part I don't notice billboards or posters, no matter how good they may be. 

When advertising imagery is removed, not much is left unless one spends a lot of time in galleries and museums.  Or airport walkways showing local art.

We're also surrounded by a dynamic and human world with the potential for the same visual impact.  The world is something I do see and study, rather than rely on advertising photography to translate it for me through its own commercial distortions.

-Don

While a majority of what you say is true, I will take exception with the last sentence in the first paragraph. Either paragraph 3 is false or the last sentence in paragraph 1 is false. I believe the last sentence in paragraph 1 is false and you just wish it were true.

Bob Randall Photography wrote:
While a majority of what you say is true, I will take exception with the last sentence in the first paragraph. Either paragraph 3 is false or the last sentence in paragraph 1 is false. I believe the last sentence in paragraph 1 is false and you just wish it were true.

I saw that apparent contradiction, so used "for the most part" to qualify the last sentence of para 1.  Some advertising does catch my eye, generally through use of bold color geometrics.  Subtlety, no matter how good, seldom does anymore.   (Notice the "seldom" qualification here.)

Advertising, movies and pizza delivery are what America does best. 

-D

D. Brian Nelson wrote:

I saw that apparent contradiction, so used "for the most part" to qualify the last sentence of para 1.  Some advertising does catch my eye, generally through use of bold color geometrics.  Subtlety, no matter how good, seldom does anymore.   (Notice the "seldom" qualification here.)

Advertising, movies and pizza delivery are what America does best. 

-D

You forgot the atomic bomb and the war machine and public housing and Jerry Springer............

Marko Cecic-Karuzic wrote:
Which has always puzzled me, frankly. (How could people not notice them? How could they not be inspired, or get pissed and rebel, or something? How could people be so utterly unaware of them?)

Maybe there's just too much noise in our lives and we tune most of it out.

My interpretation... without specific effort to do otherwise, we note only those images (or other stimuli) that reinforce our established perceptions or which are anathema to, and hence jeopardize, those perceptions. this is precisely how we survive the onslaught of stimuli. every now and then, however, there is something that does both... those need effort to be reconciled, and so require thought (and perhaps growth).