George Lange's Best of 2006

March 13, 2007 4:33 PM

Photographer George Lange compiled his favorite work from 2006 in a mesmerizing slide-show, well-worth a few minutes of your time.
posted by jtajta (34 comments total)

Glenn Beck. Mesmerizing.
posted by phaedon at 4:38 PM on March 13, 2007

I'm underwhelmed.
posted by rbs at 4:41 PM on March 13, 2007

I don't know. There might be some good work here, but the photos flash by too quickly to get more than a sense of them. Or at least they do until it gets to the stop motion stuff which is slightly interesting but also fairly annoying.
posted by willnot at 5:01 PM on March 13, 2007

I could not help but expect an Apple product announcement of some sort at the end of that. He seems to have however intentionally or inadvertently nailed that particular aesthetic to the wall. What that says about his photography, I don't really know.
posted by cortex at 5:03 PM on March 13, 2007

I hate this. I do like some of the photos - I would like to be able to look at them and not have them fly past. If they are worth anything as photos then they deserve more than a two second viewing. And what's with the soundtrack? Photography doesn't really need music to back it up, does it? I know you can mute it, but still. This is more like a bad ad (or CV) than a portfolio. That's a shame, because from what I could briefly see, the photographer has some talent.
posted by Elmore at 5:09 PM on March 13, 2007

cortex: you're absolutely right. Dorothea Lange this ain't.
posted by nasreddin at 5:16 PM on March 13, 2007

I liked it...

there IS a play/pause button if you want to study a particular image... some great shots here, and I liked the way he put the slideshow together..

thanks!
posted by HuronBob at 5:19 PM on March 13, 2007

I second the use of the pause button to... well... pause the video. I could be wrong but that's probably why it's there..

I also liked this. Quite a bit.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 5:25 PM on March 13, 2007

Looks to me that static versions of most of the photos in the slideshow are viewable on the first link, so why all the moaning folks?
posted by stumcg at 5:29 PM on March 13, 2007

Thirding cortex. At first I just thought most of them looked oddly ad-like (especially, full-page-magazine-ad-like) but yes, it's like Apple ads. I did like the stop-motion stuff, but it was also ad-like (specifically, an ad highlighting either a digital camera or photo-organizing software).
posted by Many bubbles at 5:32 PM on March 13, 2007

Loved this. Especially liked the peek at the process. Thanks.
posted by ColdChef at 5:34 PM on March 13, 2007

I liked it as well, thanks.
posted by jonson at 5:34 PM on March 13, 2007

For a work of self-promotion, this is actually pretty darn good.
posted by brain_drain at 5:37 PM on March 13, 2007

Liked it. Loved it! Thanks.
posted by wemayfreeze at 5:50 PM on March 13, 2007

I actually thought the stop motion bits worked the best in the slide-show. Outside of those (and I did use the pause button) I would say there where a few that really stood out, the rest... well where not awful, but not what I'd choose to put in a self promo show if I had a good body of work.
yeah... apple ad
posted by edgeways at 6:40 PM on March 13, 2007

That was kinda cool! I look at stock photos all day long, though, and that's what a lot of these looked like (to me). They're too clean or something. They each look like they'll turn up in a hundred different magazine ads, same photo for different products. But for what it is, the presentation was pretty neat.
posted by katillathehun at 6:56 PM on March 13, 2007

I was just thinking that my day didn't have enough pictures of standard-fare attractive white people.

Oh, but he threw in some token Asian and Black folks. That makes it better.
posted by spiderskull at 7:01 PM on March 13, 2007

What's aggravating to the aspiring photographer in me is that, excepting the celebrities whom I have no access to, I could have taken almost any of these shots. Thing is, I wouldn't have. Most of them look like they would have been a totally mundane situation and not photo-worthy.

Of course, since he's a pro and I'm just a wannabe, we can see how a mundane everyday moment, becomes a good photo in the hands of an expert.

[sigh]

Back to practicing I guess.
posted by quin at 7:15 PM on March 13, 2007

Dunno about that photo Burhanistan, it's hard to tell with that quality of an image. I'm a bit skeptical, for one thing it says this is only visible once a year, seems like with the movement of the sun back and forth in the sky at the very minimum it's be twice a year, as well the mysterious non-committal aspect of it's exact location raises flags. Of course it is possible, but I'm unconvinced.
posted by edgeways at 7:19 PM on March 13, 2007

Oh, but he threw in some token Asian and Black folks. That makes it better.

Asians and Blacks, being mostly vampires, are notoriously hard to photograph. Cut the man some slacks!*


*Khaki with cargo pockets!
posted by ColdChef at 7:20 PM on March 13, 2007

That video was mildly interesting, but I thought the one he showed when he spoke at his old school was better. It's at the bottom of his last ten minutes page.
posted by pinespree at 7:24 PM on March 13, 2007

Burhanistan: Not sure how it's relevant to the discussion (:P), but gut says no, and Snopes seems to agree, for the most part. It's a painting.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 7:27 PM on March 13, 2007

also what quin said
posted by pinespree at 7:29 PM on March 13, 2007

quin: dream baby dream.

Other than that, if I wanted to listen to Suicide whilst looking at photos, I'd probably just play the CD & view the snaps through an appropriate photo viewer.

For whatever reason, this came across as aggravatingly glitchy, even after the entire show had made its way through the tubes to my machine.

Unwatchable.
posted by UbuRoivas at 7:52 PM on March 13, 2007

Made me dizzy they flashed by so fast... crikey, why would an artist do that to their work???
posted by e40 at 8:05 PM on March 13, 2007

I didn't enjoy the speed of the slide show but I do like his photos. All of those pics are on his site anyway so I went there to look at them at my own pace.
posted by inconsequentialist at 8:35 PM on March 13, 2007

Gah! I don't have A.D.D. and couldn't stand the montage, I like -you know- looking at pictures as opposed to have them flash by leaving me with a feeling of "wtf was that?"

Still, it seemed there were some nice pics in there.
posted by Vindaloo at 9:20 PM on March 13, 2007

Thanks for the post, jtajta - I enjoyed it! I liked his chef portraits, too.
posted by madamjujujive at 9:41 PM on March 13, 2007

I liked the photos a lot, and that awesome Suicide song really made it for me; they're such a fucking great band. YouTube has a live version, if anyone wants to see it.
posted by mediareport at 11:24 PM on March 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

I feel sick. Put me down in the no-likey column.
posted by johnny novak at 2:42 AM on March 14, 2007

What quin said. This was like my middle school era photograph club wall, except with some hollywood people. I'm glad he has a job, you know, for him, but I see nothing technically or aesthetically remarkable about most of it. I don't usually chime in to be a hater, but I really wanted to say more then 'meh'.
posted by cavalier at 10:45 AM on March 14, 2007

Wow. I totally misread what quin said. I'll shut up now.
posted by cavalier at 10:52 AM on March 14, 2007

Verra nice...
posted by bullitt 5 at 11:54 AM on March 14, 2007

Enjoyed that, thanks.
posted by nickyskye at 9:20 PM on March 14, 2007