Ken Rockwell?

Thing I have against him as noobs take his word as gospel (because they can't see the crap amongst the OK stuff he says) and they have to unlearn some dumb ideas.

His information on lenses is pretty useful at times, but his opinions on lenses I largely ignore.

While I was away, something happened to the web I knew and loved. It got TWEETED.

We used to go searching for knowledge in its deepest recesses. Now we expect someone to point to us to a site that's "popular". It was more individualistic before, and now there is a mass psychology working.

The problem I see, is those who got so many LIKES from Tweets, are immediately given credibility, whether it is deserved or not. The n00bs thought anything they didn't already know was brilliant. And for some un-known reason, no one told them differently.

So now we have some very popular (and rich) "experts" who are idolized, but under any scrutiny, would be full of holes. And the money they've earned causes the Steve Jobs effect to kick in. Whatever they say or do is coming from the voice of GOD! And we should all give them more money, buy more of their stuff, for they are the key holders.

"There is no right or wrong, just popular opinion", is what people are being judged on now. Not right or wrong. No one is allowed to make an honest judgement any more. Just look at how popular they are!

And now I have to figure a way to undo this mess, one student at a time.

Better start with The Macallan.

MLKstudios wrote: While I was away, something happened to the web I knew and loved. It got TWEETED.

We use to go searching for knowledge in its deepest recesses. Now we expect someone to point to us to a site that's "popular". It was more individualistic before, and now there is a mass psychology working.

The problem I see, is those who got so many LIKES from Tweets, are immediately given credibility, whether it is deserved or not. The n00bs thought anything they didn't already know was brilliant. And for some un-known reason, no one told them differently.

So now we have some very popular (and rich) "experts" who are idolized, but under any scrutiny, would be full of holes. And the money they've earned causes the Steve Jobs effect to kick in. Whatever they say or do is coming from the voice of GOD! And we should all give them more money, buy more of their stuff, for they are the key holders.

"There is no right or wrong, just popular opinion", is what people are being judged on now. Not right or wrong. No one is allowed to make an honest judgement any more. Just look at how popular they are!

And now I have a figure a way to undo this mess, one student at a time.

Better start with The Macallan.

Please, don't stop with your photography students..........

MLK wants to be the new Ken Rockwell.

Stealthy Ninja wrote: MLK wants to be the new Ken Rockwell.

That's how I took his post. Oh great.

uJi9 wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote: MLK wants to be the new Ken Rockwell.

That's how I took his post. Oh great.

oh noes

I think Matthew aspires to be himself. The thing w/the internet and blogs where anybody who can type can write a blog) there's so much information to sift through. Somehow something being online gives it some sort of credibility to many people. I usually look at the source and tend to not go by any one source for information. If someone's new to photography I would hope they'd be looking at more sites than just Ken Rockwell's.

Exactly Sharon.

If you are new to this game, how do you know what is real and what is memorex? If it's something you've not heard of, or were told is important (like HDR), than anyone who professes a knowledge of it gets immediate credibility for handing out free instructions on the web.

Of course some of the info is good and valid, but not all of it is.

Matthew

Also as a teacher of the arts and photography, I never ask my students to do things MY way. I want them to discover THEIR way.

Henry Peach wrote: I think he is pretty much earning his living blogging about photography. I don't believe he's ever worked as a professional photographer. I've heard he was an engineer, but I think the blog and related activities is all he is up to now. It seems to me he is both a photography enthusiast, he incorporates photography into his life and leisure time whenever possible, and a gear fanatic.

He's one of millions of other goof-ball, know-it-all, internet photographers writing about what they they know, but his blog has become more famous than most. I'm not a fan, but when I have visited his site I've found most of the information sound. I think his equipment reviews are as accurate or more so than the internet average. He obviously understands the traffic increasing value of controversy: there's no such thing as bad publicity. He's pushed a few sound bite opinions that have ticked off other popular photo-bloggers and gear fanatics, and so he's sort of the photo-blogger photographers love to hate.

He ticked off the guys over at Luminous Landscapes when he wrote an article about how the gear doesn't matter. Nothing he wrote was anything new, but I guess his web notoriety focused the accusations of heresy on KR. One thing I learned from that tussle was never tell the guy holding the $50K camera that the gear doesn't matter.

Another thing he said that seemed to make some people mad was that tripods were obsolete because of the great high ISO quality of DSLRs. Many, many years ago he made folks angry when he said the 6mp APS-C sensor spelled the end of 35mm film. Last I checked he'd gone 180 with that one. Now he says 35mm film is superior to digital sensors. He was calling film "real raw". They're all like political sound bites: not worth much of anything in the real world, but guaranteed to get people riled up.

Very interesting, entertainment!

icepics wrote: I think Matthew aspires to be himself.

Nah I'm pretty sure he wants to be like Uncle Ken.

Everyone can make a blog. Everyone has opinions. That is all Ken is. A person with his own opinion writing about camera equipment and photography based on his opinion. He states facts such as what brand the camera and lens is and the rest is opinion. But his opinion gets people in trouble. As newbies take his opinion to heart and try to learn photography. When they do start to understand photography, they soon find out Ken is not worth the time.

And I do believe some people try to be like Ken.

Ken has some good info mixed with bad. I think his value is in entertainment value - and he is not alone. Education should come from a variety of sources just like everything else in life. The REAL learning is to get the variety of opinions and learn how to keep the best and discard the rest.

So, read his blog, and several others. It's always better to have more views to consider instead of being spoon fed by a single source.

Matthew has his opinions like everyone else. Some are spot on and some are off the wall. Respect that they are opinions and he is entitled to them just like Ken is. You can learn from both but always look for other sources and weigh the data. Don't be a "blind follower" of any one source or you could find that the view as you go off the cliff is spectacular but you won't enjoy it.

Education should come from a variety of sources just like everything else in life.

Ideally, I would agree. Especially agree in the later phases of learning. But the multi source approach may not fit everybody in the very first phase, starting from zero. I try to steer newbies toward good sources, and the blogs do have a real appeal. As the better bloggers will at least be consistent and present a more light hearted style. Of course there are also good sites with multiple authors, but they end up with a piecemeal presentation. Leaving our newbie to try and pick his way through the pieces. Some newbies are Ok with that, but I think they are a minority.

Rockwell is off my radar. I never go there, or recommend that site. But I see no need to start a war with the guy or his fans either. It's nice to have choices.

mumbles

Thank you Kelly. You nailed it! I couldn't agree more.

Step by step is the best. Then go off on your own, with a solid foundation beneath you. Else you'll spend decades learning what takes only a few months of structured teaching.

John made a good point, whether you're new to something or not it's not the best idea to follow one person's blog or website blindly. I think some of it is that there is so much information out there compared to when some of us were starting out and we didn't have the internet. If I find a website that has information that seems helpful and makes sense I look at their links and one thing leads you to another.

Now it seems to be a matter of sifting thru a lot of crap to find what's worthwhile to learn from. If someone's new to photography they certainly have plenty of things to choose from, it wouldn't be good to only read one person's blog and only follow that. You can't really blame Ken Rockwell if people read him and nothing else, what a narrow view of photography that would be.