Topic: Olivia Bee

[imagesfrugales]

Hi there, what a discovery for me on New Years Day. First I red the articles on Ms. Tavakolian, thank you hookstrapped, then I browsed "l'oeil de la photogrphie", a fine magazine I didn't know before, and there I red an article about the young photographer Olivia Bee:
http://www.loeildelaphotographie.com/2014/12/31/trends/25146/olivia-bee-kids-in-love

I looked for her flickr stream and what I saw simply blew my mind. How can a girl of 13 years be such a great photographer? She's about 20 now, look for her old posts on her stream., e.g.:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/-oliviabee-/page101/?details=1

I don't want to comment more here on her pictures, make up your mind yourself.

You can use the /?details=1 addition to the photostream links to get rid of the unsane "justified" view.

[Indofunk]

You can use the /?details=1 addition to the photostream links to get rid of the unsane "justified" view.

THIS is my best discovery on New Year's Day

[Late Developer]

You can use the /?details=1 addition to the photostream links to get rid of the unsane "justified" view.

THIS is my best discovery on New Year's Day

I have no idea what "/?details=1 addition to the photostream links" means or how to "do" it.  Any really, really simple and obvious one syllable words advice would be appreciated.

As far as the photos are concerned, they're nice.  However, the whole 13 year old photographer thing got me thinking.  I got my own first camera and started taking photos seriously at 13.  That was in March 1974.  There will have been, without exaggeration, millions of teenagers taking photos of an almost infinite number of subjects but, without access to any photo-forums or (anti)social media sites, their photos may have been shown to a few friends and family and then stored, discarded....who knows?

I'm not suggesting that I produced anything as good as this girl or that many have / had the same talent. However, we live in privileged times in terms of getting our stuff seen.  The biggest hurdle we have to overcome is to "sort the wheat from the chaff", so to speak.  But at least we can get our stuff out there...

[Indofunk]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk  ==> annoying justified view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk/?details=1 ==> magical non-justified view!

[Indofunk]

Sorry, you wanted one-syllable words:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk  ==> bad
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk/?details=1 ==> guud!

[Late Developer]

Sorry, you wanted one-syllable words:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk  ==> bad
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk/?details=1 ==> guud!

Much better, thanks!!    I'm a cyber-numpty.  I like using the internet, apps and programmes but I have absolutely zero desire to know how they work.....

[timor]

I'm not suggesting that I produced anything as good as this girl

You didn't have a proper artistic director at the time. Most of the pictures of Bee is clearly product of mind educated in art and more. Some pictures feature adults and that is an indication, some have elaborate props and composition, staged symbolism only adults can read. She might have talent, I hope to live long enough to see it, but right now she is a selling point of someone else and maybe a preparation for her future. Most people, if they are sensitive enough, with proper training can be very good photographers.
Let see, how long this comet will be on the firmament. 

[Francois]

I know that I didn't get a camera until I was what... 17?
And even then, film processing was really expensive so I didn't shoot as much as I should have.
I was 21 when I first had internet access. And in those days the web was in its infancy. There's not much you can do in term of socializing when you have an FTP terminal. I accessed the web using NCSA Mosaic while going through a SLIP emulation layer on the old HP server at 14,000 bauds...

Now we see kids who look like photographic geniuses... but we forget how limited our communications and knowledge bases were at the time. All I had access to were the 20 some odd photography books they had on the shelf at the public library.

I think many of these kids simply have a better access to information than we had.

Nowadays, anybody can market themselves to millions of potential viewers.

[Indofunk]

I was 21 when I first had internet access. And in those days the web was in its infancy. There's not much you can do in term of socializing when you have an FTP terminal. I accessed the web using NCSA Mosaic while going through a SLIP emulation layer on the old HP server at 14,000 bauds...

One of my favorite things to do in college was to go to the library and find someone else online and chat with them. I can't even remember the name of the program I used, but it was pretty much a VAX version of texting. No, wait, maybe it was on a UNIX machine. Maybe it was just the talk command

[Francois]

And the old green TTY terminals. Sending mail with pine...
Recompiling Slirp to run on HPux...
That really doesn't make us any younger...and thinking that kids nowadays will never know the pioneer feeling we had back in those days!

[imagesfrugales]

Let see, how long this comet will be on the firmament. 

She's 20 now and a pro, working for Harpers Basar or Elle e.g., her latest work can be seen on the first flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/-oliviabee-/page1/?details=1

[Indofunk]

And the old green TTY terminals. Sending mail with pine...
Recompiling Slirp to run on HPux...
That really doesn't make us any younger...and thinking that kids nowadays will never know the pioneer feeling we had back in those days!

When we're grandparents, the kids (who will be our present age) will be talking about how they were the pioneers of the smartphone era and how the new kids won't ever know that feeling. "You remember when we actually had to pay for DATA plans??"

[ManuelL]

Having a product/industrial photographer for a father and a trained photo lab technician for a mother, I had quite early access to photography. At least I remember large portions of my childhood spent in the darkroom. However, as it is so often the case, being in close contact with photography through my parents gave me the impression that I never ever want to be a professional photographer. Commercial photography never seemed to be much fun to me. Doing photo experiments with my friends on the other hand was great.

[Late Developer]

If she's working as a pro for the likes of Harper's Bazaar, I suspect she'll be shooting digital for the pro shoots and some Photoshopper will be PP-ing her stuff. 

Maybe she's still shooting film for fun.  I'll have a closer look at her Flickr when I'm not at a 'puter that's been programmed to stop me looking at Flickr (as well as millions of other sites) 

[charles binns]

I was 21 when I first had internet access. And in those days the web was in its infancy. There's not much you can do in term of socializing when you have an FTP terminal. I accessed the web using NCSA Mosaic while going through a SLIP emulation layer on the old HP server at 14,000 bauds...

One of my favorite things to do in college was to go to the library and find someone else online and chat with them. I can't even remember the name of the program I used, but it was pretty much a VAX version of texting. No, wait, maybe it was on a UNIX machine. Maybe it was just the talk command

One of my favourite things to do in college was get wasted . I didn't spend much time in the library when I was at uni.  It certainly didn't have any computers!  It had a microfiche machine though.

[imagesfrugales]

Sorry that I forgot that only film based photography is good photography. Anything else can be done by anybody else using photoshop ;-)

What I especially like about Mrs. Bees appearance is that she doesn't stress any "lookwhativedonewiththisorthat" technique at all. She almost never explains how she made a shot. We always have to talk about films and developers and lenses and so on. We are limited fanboys, to speak only for myself of course. That can also be fun, that's why we do it, but it's not the only way to see the universe. It can be very rewarding to see beyond one's own nose every once in a while. That's what kids like Mrs. Bee can teach people like me. And that isn't only funny, to see the own limitations revealed by a child.

And of course, beeing a pro isn't always fun. Besides that, what is wrong about teaching a child to do something well? Was Mozart a humble wunderkind and a minor artist without own impetus because he was taught how to play piano and to compose by his father? Is an author who learned to use his language in school a worse author? Nothing comes from nothing.

Rant finished. Promised 

[Late Developer]

Sorry that I forgot that only film based photography is good photography. Anything else can be done by anybody else using photoshop ;-) Not the point I was trying to make. I'm not anti-digital by any means.

What I especially like about Mrs. Bees appearance is that she doesn't stress any "lookwhativedonewiththisorthat" technique at all. She almost never explains how she made a shot. We always have to talk about films and developers and lenses and so on. We are limited fanboys, to speak only for myself of course. That can also be fun, that's why we do it, but it's not the only way to see the universe. It can be very rewarding to see beyond one's own nose every once in a while. That's what kids like Mrs. Bee can teach people like me. And that isn't only funny, to see the own limitations revealed by a child. Nope, much as I like kit, the end result is what I'm after. Again, in the big scheme of things, I couldn't care less whether it's digital or film - though my preference is film.

And of course, beeing a pro isn't always fun. Besides that, what is wrong about teaching a child to do something well? Was Mozart a humble wunderkind and a minor artist without own impetus because he was taught how to play piano and to compose by his father? Is an author who learned to use his language in school a worse author? Nothing comes from nothing.  My comment about "being a pro" was about the fact that it'd be a shame if she lost control of what she enjoyed doing as a result of doing it professionally.  I hope she's still doing what she enjoys - professionally and/or for fun.

Sorry if my comments caused you to rant.

Rant finished. Promised 

[timor]

Let see, how long this comet will be on the firmament. 

She's 20 now and a pro, working for Harpers Basar or Elle e.g., her latest work can be seen on the first flickr page:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/-oliviabee-/page1/?details=1

I have no doubts she is a good photographer, but do you see ? Someone made name for her, she now makes money, but as a photographer she shoots someone else's pictures, she is an assignment photographer and I just can't tell, how much of her is in her pictures. As Francois said in the other thread: money control her. She choose, to be famous the "easy" way, thru the hype. I hope in the future she will fall back to her own creativity and create something  great without a need for "propaganda of greatness".

[Francois]

sorry to burst your bubble but in a world where kid's primary plan for the future is being famous no matter what (numerous studies have shown that), what are the chances of her changing a "winning formula"?

[imagesfrugales]

I admit there was a bubble in my mind and it did burst. The bubble with the imagination that people were looking at pictures. Instead some are speculating about things they definately can't know. Does anbody here expect that a young musician only can perform his art if he denies any payment. Gigs only for nothing? Records are given away only for free?  Anything else must be fake? Beatles and Stones were nothing but pretenders?

When I look at the pictures of Olivia Bee I am amazed and - yes - impressed by the imagination, phantasy and power of a young photographer far beyond the displaying of another billion pictures of trees, lakes and rocks. Yes, the power of the youth can be frightening.

[Francois]

I must admit that personally, if I was offered a job in one of those big magazines I'd jump on the occasion!
It sure beats being a wedding photographer or other photography related jobs like that.

Heck, if Ana Wintour asked me to do it in a monkey suit I'd do it!

(I really need a job)

[timor]

When I look at the pictures of Olivia Bee I am amazed and - yes - impressed by the imagination, phantasy and power

I do not think you lack that. You may lack sufficient level of self-orientation...

[Francois]

I think I know why the imager don't move me as much as they do for you...
Photos are related in a way to memory. For a picture to move me, I have to relate to them on some level. Sadly, looking at her flickr, I don't get that emotional connection. I will admit that technically they are good and that the rendition is interesting. But sadly it just doesn't move me as much as they do for you.

[hookstrapped]

Her photos remind me of something but I just can't place it... Oh yeah, this

http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=7555.0

[Pete_R]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk  ==> annoying justified view
http://www.flickr.com/photos/indofunk/?details=1 ==> magical non-justified view!

Funny how opinions change. Back when Flickr introduced the non-justified view everyone wanted the old justified view and the ?details=1 (or just click on the Edit button) was the answer to a prayer. Personally, I still use it.

If you don't like the new page click on Edit and save a link to that and use it as your start page. It looks more like the old page and displays the information under the image as before.

....and with a single tip that nice Mr Robinson, saves Ed from needing to look for a new photo hosting site. AWESOME, Peter. Thanks a thrumpty million. I definitely owe you a beer.

[imagesfrugales]

Her photos remind me of something but I just can't place it... Oh yeah, this

http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=7555.0

In my eyes her pictures are no snapshots. Au contraire. I'm increasingly amused by this thread. Time for a cappuccino and some more pictures by Mrs. Bee. She shows about 2000 on flickr