Mario’s Bike
Monday, July 3rd, 2006
A typically sad web discussion is going on over this photo. A Flickr user posted it and invited comments from a notoriously harsh “critique” group. The group made many disparaging comments to which the “photographer” generally responded with “you idiots.”
The joke is that this photograph is by Henri Cartier-Besson, a famous and respected photographer.
Now the poster feels pretty smug over this turn of events but I think both sides are on equally loose footing. The critiques were largely poor, most going for technical issues that have nothing to do with art. The poster shouldn’t feel so smug though as the photo is not that great and is resting on the name of the celebrated photographer rather than its own merits.
What is really sad is to see previous critiquers back pedalling when they should be sticking to their critiques. If they felt that it was too blurry then it shouldn’t matter whether it was Cartier-Besson or Donald Duck that took the photo.
I’d hope Henri would want his photos judged individually and not have to rest on his name.
