PENTAX site Check it Out

http://www.pentax.fr/_fr/photo/photographes.php?photo&photographes

Benjamin Kanarek

Thanks for the link - very impressive images.

thanks for sharing that link Ben, as I think I've said to you before your style doesn't usually appeal to me much, but I just love the one of the girl in the purple dress throwing the shoe.

all are technically great as always, just not my kind of style, but that one I really like.

So do I.

Is she really throwing the shoe, or is it a picture of a model standing with her hand in the air, with a separate, static picture of a shoe superimposed on it?

Ben's style doesn't usually appeal to me aesthetically, although I do find myself looking at them for quite a long time, and the sheer technical mastery is unarguable. I have great respect for his work.

But might I take this opportunity to lay down a challenge to Ben? I've often wondered how good these pro photographers are, in terms of their intrinsic talent, as separate from the resources available to them.

K10D. A lens that you can get for under £100 on eBay. A tripod is allowed, but only natural light. No studio, no professional models, no makeup artists, no wardrobe consultants.

What can he do? Just how much better is it going to be than the rest of us peasants without the resources that the pro guy has?

I'm genuinely interested. This honestly isn't just a sour grapes kit-envy post. I say "not just". Obviously it is a bit. But the interest is genuine too. It's a little bit along the lines of "how good might I hope to be, if I really made the most of the learning opportunities available to me in this one short lifetime".

The photo of the shoe was captured in real time. As to pro gear? About four years ago I did a shoot with a circa 2002-3 Canon G5 using the hot shoe for a synch X Adapter and one Multiblitz 200 Watt Second off camera strobe. I doubt if you could tell the difference between that 5 mega pixel consumer camera and a DSLR today at A4 resolution.

It is NOT the camera. It is the concept the theme the team and vision that makes the image. Not the camera. I've seen tons of guys with 'Blads around their neck that couldn't shoot their way through a paper bag.

Ben

Thanks for replying. I appreciate that.

If that means it's one exposure not two, then I'm impressed. If the model actually threw the shoe, which is not what you say here, then I'm even more impressed.

I understand that it's not the camera. I understand that it's also not the lens, unless you want to enlarge to enormous sizes, which is not at all what I'm talking about.

I guess I'm talking about what is achievable opportunistically, rather than with studio control.

Since John Riley offered some very helpful feedback on some portrait work I did, I've taken his advice and looked at a lot of portraits. Most of them I dislike for the contrivance that is evident in their construction. Not the sort of contrivance you do, since you don't pretend to make them look natural, so that's fine. The sort of contrivance I hate is where it's trying to look natural (or even worse "interesting" but obviously isn't.

When I have the camera in my hand, I spend a lot of time not bothering to take the shot, because I know that not enough about it is right, so there's no point. The light isn't right, there's a distracting background, I'm a fraction of a second late reacting, so I know that the moment will have passed by the time I release the shutter. It matters not, but mostly I don't take the shot, and I would be ashamed if anyone saw most of the ones I do take. A lot of the reason that I miss things is simply because most of what I'm looking at is outside my control.

I think what I'm asking, is can professional photographers see (really see) better than amateurs? Can they really exploit the things they happen upon, the things where they don't have the control that they do in the studio?

What can they really do - with a decent camera and lens, but without the resources that being a pro gives you - that we can't?

one difference between pro and amature is this:
pros get paid.
the other difference is this:
if they don't produce the best shot possible under ANY circumstance, then somebody else gets paid.
so there's no reason amatures can't get pro calibre shots, just no pressure.
if you're getting the shots, and don't mind the pressure, then just hang up the "Open for Business" sign, and stop calling yourself an amature.

I think many amateur photographers are better than many pro's, perhaps because they do it for love, rather than money, and can choose what they do.

A pro has to be good enough to deliver the goods, on time, every time, but good enough is not the same as great.

Ben stands out in his field, not because he is professional (though given his talent it would be a waste if he wasn't), but because of two things:

First, he has an artist's eye. His shots are invariably highly creative in their conception.

And second, he has mastered his craft. His ability to light a picture is far beyond what most of us can even dream about. This is vital, because the most fertile imagination is useless if you lack the technique to turn an idea into reality.

The team, the equipment, etc., are obviously essential, in the same way as petrol is essential to a Ferrari. But they are no more than tools. It's his creativity and his craftsmaship that are the key to the quality of his work.

G

Ben - is your http://www.benjaminkanarek.com/ site new? I just linked to it from the Pentax FR site... I particularly like the Alien Hospital shots - awesome concept!

There's been a bit of a debate going on in other threads about Flash websites but I think yours is a great example of how it can work well.

Will

Visually I agree, I still don't like sites which play music at me with no obvious way to turn it off though. If it hadn't been Ben, who's work I know to be outstanding, I would have left as soon as the music started.

You are a "PHOTOGRAPHER" as soon as you commit yourself to the responsibility of pressing the shutter and expressing your "ID" through the vehicle of the camera. You are who you are as I am who I am. Apriori, that is my view.

Thank you and so astute..You missed the most important factor for me, The Passion, the Joy and the Love of one of my chosen modes of expression. Without those, this discussion would be moot. As I would not exist on this forum not in this metier.

Ben

Hello Will;

Yes, it is my official web site..

Thanks, Ben

Just click the "Pause" button which turns off the music..

Ben

Thanks Ben, as I wasn't doing anything else with my sound card at the time (a rarity, I'm usually listening to something which is why music on sites annoys me) I just hit "mute".

Technically superb shots as always, and a good number which I rather like. Perhaps I am warming to your particular style of portraits