Mt Spokane Photography said:
Your only as good as your last shoot. Unfortunately, this is going to be hard for him to live down.
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Fauxtographer Ruins Olympic photos.
- Thread starter RLPhoto
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Your only as good as your last shoot. Unfortunately, this is going to be hard for him to live down.
I looked through bing images and it looks to me like he specializes in sports/action and red carpet shoots. I don't think portraits are his forte. I kinda feel bad for the guy, but then again, he gets paid to do this. I'm just a schmuck with a camera, so no one cares that I suck 
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After looking at the link to his work, it appears that the photographer was merely out of his element, or even out of his depth, and should not have been given this assignment. Granted, I don't know the precise circumstances behind the shoot, but the best of these images just seem to be "undeveloped" and the rest just plain not good enough in general. I really, really hate to be so critical, especially if the shooter is suffering from inexperience and its attendand lack of knowledge of how to pull off such material, but the results do speak for themselves - mediocre to poor.
I just feel plain sorry for the photographer and embarassed for the person from the Olympic organization who misappropriated this opportunity to create some competent material. My guess is that should he eventually learn how to shoot in a style consistant with this assignment, the photographer will be forever haunted by this highly public failure; this is a personal tragedy for him, and a not very good representation of our best athletes for the world to see. Pity, pity, pity.
:-[
Regards,
David
I just feel plain sorry for the photographer and embarassed for the person from the Olympic organization who misappropriated this opportunity to create some competent material. My guess is that should he eventually learn how to shoot in a style consistant with this assignment, the photographer will be forever haunted by this highly public failure; this is a personal tragedy for him, and a not very good representation of our best athletes for the world to see. Pity, pity, pity.
:-[Regards,
David
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These remind me of the corny refuse one finds on lame photo-edu-inspiration sites... "Now show the edge of the flag/white for realism. Make sure you have a hole in your backdrop; this adds a gritttier feel. Also, what swimmer doesn't want to be photographed looking like the cover of a cheap and sleazy magazine? Use ultrawide on gymnasts; nothing gives an in-your-face action feel like ultrawide distortion on an otherwise attractive female athlete. When you light the subject, keep their eyes dark to add a feeling of tension." And so on.. this is why I never go one those websites anymore...
But, yes, to me it looks like he had his college assistan taking the shots while he played solitaire. Maybe he was paid by the russians to make the USA look like idiots. Either way, were I the olympic committee, I would have him pummeled to death with a 600 f4...
But, yes, to me it looks like he had his college assistan taking the shots while he played solitaire. Maybe he was paid by the russians to make the USA look like idiots. Either way, were I the olympic committee, I would have him pummeled to death with a 600 f4...
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I have a feeling the photographer did not have unlimited access to these folks. Probably less than a minute each, because there were 100s of other photographers, all waiting their turn. You get what you can and hope for the best.
One thing for sure, I don't think any of these shots will make to a box of Wheaties! LOL
One thing for sure, I don't think any of these shots will make to a box of Wheaties! LOL
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Wow the tears in the white paper look terrible, couldn't he have taken a few minutes to shop those out? It seriously looks like these images are for some comedy publication making a joke out of the olympics. I bet some higher up insisted that they let his inexperienced son take the pictures. There is no way this guy got this gig based on talent.
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I don't see how/where this guy became The Photographer of the Year as one cited but I found that he received an award - picture of the year 2009...
http://dalje.com/en-bestseller/joe-klamar-wins-picture-of-the-year/278595
.. for a photo he took of Obama...
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/090331/GAL-09Mar31-1812/media/PHO-09Mar31-157031.jpg
http://dalje.com/en-bestseller/joe-klamar-wins-picture-of-the-year/278595
.. for a photo he took of Obama...
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/090331/GAL-09Mar31-1812/media/PHO-09Mar31-157031.jpg
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picturesbyme said:
WTF? i kept scrolling waiting for the rest of the picture to load until i realised that was it.
:-[
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It's very easy to criticise these photos from the armchair. Clearly the photog did not have enough time to make decent looking images and has limited experience on posing people (the 'dive' shot, anyone? ???).
I feel sorry for him for the results of this shoot. He was probably rushed off his feet and stressed by people who have unrealistic expectations when someone more experienced/established (somebody mentioned Joe McNally) would probably have answered back along the lines of "Hang on... you're not going to get a portrait from me within 60 seconds."
The photographer probably decided it was better to have tripe than to have nothing. Hopefully he will learn from this assignment and it won't ruin his career too much.
I feel sorry for him for the results of this shoot. He was probably rushed off his feet and stressed by people who have unrealistic expectations when someone more experienced/established (somebody mentioned Joe McNally) would probably have answered back along the lines of "Hang on... you're not going to get a portrait from me within 60 seconds."
The photographer probably decided it was better to have tripe than to have nothing. Hopefully he will learn from this assignment and it won't ruin his career too much.
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wickidwombat said:RLPhoto said:wickidwombat said:
Agreed, This is laudable of fauxtography.
I could have done better with a rebel, 50mm, and a couple of whiteboards.
I think if strapped a camera to my arse and wasnt looking I could have done better than that
Lol, that would make a good SNL skit.
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DanoPhoto said:wickidwombat said:
now I know what you meant...picture of the year?
I could've done better than this with my iPad 2.
I would even have been able to do an underwater shot with it, which the "photographer" couldn't do with whatever equipment he used.
Really embarrassing.
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Z said:
The athletes could have got better shots of them selves using iphones at arms length making facebook faces
and yes I would think that to present something as important as your national olympic team you may as well send the hat round and drum up enough coin to pay a real proffessional like joe mcnally to do it properly, shoot it all in a stadium.
I would rather have claimed i had a memory card failure and lost all the photos than actually post those on the internet regardless of time constraints
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The photographer explains his actions here.
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/07/06/photographer-joe-klamar-explains-his-controversial-olympic-portraits/
Preparation is key.
http://www.petapixel.com/2012/07/06/photographer-joe-klamar-explains-his-controversial-olympic-portraits/
Preparation is key.
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RLPhoto said:
No. Just making excuses. (should have said that wasn't my day, sorry I messed up)
As one of the comments said it in that article: "Stop making excuses for this ...!"
Look at his "red carpet work"... even with the time issue those are just as bad snapshots as these.
How he got the job or the award for that photo is beyond me...
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I think it is interesting that they keep talking about 100 athletes in 3 days. There are many of us out there that shoot individual/team photos that eclipse that number in an afternoon. He said he had a days notice...so he should have dropped everything, researched and gotten prepared. He wasn't asked to shoot the local baseball league...this was the Olympic team...you drop everything...immediately. And take every piece of gear you have. When I go on a shoot for team sports, I am bring 5 strobes (I use 2) and 3 small flashes, 3 bodies and every lens I have in addition to light modifiers, remotes, etc. and I get asked why I bring so much gear to "take a picture"...and my reply is because "it's the gear I don't realize I need till I get there". It is more work lugging that stuff but better to have the gear and be prepared than to make excuses.
It is easy to sit back and say "I could have done better"...but stop and think about everything involved from the environment to the other photogs, to dealing with the athletes, the stress, among other things. I can only imagine that sick feeling this poor guy has. But I bet you he will never go into a situation unprepared again. That's if this episode doesn't ruin him.
It is easy to sit back and say "I could have done better"...but stop and think about everything involved from the environment to the other photogs, to dealing with the athletes, the stress, among other things. I can only imagine that sick feeling this poor guy has. But I bet you he will never go into a situation unprepared again. That's if this episode doesn't ruin him.
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