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Brooklyn Beckham’s New Book is Causing “Photography Critics” to Lose Their Minds

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People are just nasty on the Internet.

Brooklyn Beckham, the 18-year-old son of soccer star David Beckham, is publishing a photo book. What I See is a hardcover photo book featuring a “collection of around 300 personal photographs – most shot by him but with some shots of Brooklyn taken by others — offering a rare and intimate glimpse of the world through his eyes.”

Beckham has been in the public eye as a model and has amassed an Instagram following of over 10 million people, to which he shares his photography, along with modeling photos of himself.

Last week, Beckham shared a selfie with a copy of his new book on Instagram, embedded below.

After the photo went live on Instagram, the self-annointed photo critics of the Internet absolutely lost their minds.

https://twitter.com/juliakszry/status/878551868506595329

This is just a tiny sampling of the massive hate-filled messages being slung his way. Plenty of bloggers and comment threads have taken aim at attacking Beckham’s photography and screaming nepotism is the only reason he got a book deal.

Guys…

The kid has over 10 million followers on Instagram, which is a place where he does what? Posts photos.

While we live in a digital world now, Beckham clearly has an affinity for analog. Most of the shots of him with a camera, show him using a film camera rather than a DSLR. So, it kinda makes sense that he’d like to put his analog photos out in analog form.

Moreover, he clearly has a passion for photography, regardless of where his technical skill falls now. What will be interesting to see is what his images look like in a decade, assuming he sticks with it.

Artistic value has always been in the eye of the beholder. You may cringe at some of Beckham’s work but that doesn’t meet that it isn’t enjoyable to his fans. I always think about great photography as a combination of a great skill and a great subject. But many times, a great subject and marginal skill is all you neet to make a great photograph. For those 10 million-plus fans, the great subject is found on either side of the camera with Beckham.

If you are a publisher and want to sell books, wouldn’t it make sense the publish a book with an author that has the attention of over 10 million people?

Everyone who thinks they “deserve” a photo book because their photography is better than Beckham’s, go make your own. Something tells me your “great” photography won’t sell at the same level when you pitch it to your 582 followers.

Now, let’s turn the tide. Who, at the age of 18, wouldn’t dive in head first into a passion project and publish a photography book if given the opportunity?

Let’s say you have parents with a net worth north of $450 million-ish, like the Beckhams. Do you buy that Leica or Hasselblad you really want that every photographer says is the standard by which you should compare all others? Or, do you buy the Canon Rebel T6i?

I want a Leica and a Hasselblad but I shoot with a Canon 5D Mark II and an old Mayima 645AFD. Am I so petty that I care what an 18-year-old rich kid shoots with? Um, no. Do I blame him for buying the best? Of course not. I’d buy the same stuff.

I don’t know anything about Brooklyn Beckham other than some the nasty responses I’ve read to his book launch online today and browsing through his photos on Instagram. He could be a terrible person or he could be a saint. However, raking the kid over the coals because he got published and you didn’t is petty jelously and the worst of what the Internet is about.

How many of these jackasses would say these things to his face? None. Everyone is an expert and tough guy behind a keyboard.

What is the kid suppose to do anyway? Just forget about photography and hang his camera up for good? Take photos and never share them? Then, he’d be called out for being too secretive about his life and snotty to his fans.

The kid was born to rich and famous parents. Lucky for him. But you don’t have to hate him for that alone.

His book’s success will be determined by a free and open market. Your book will too.

 

Comments

  2. “His book’s success will be determined by a free and open market. Your book will too.”

    Not if you can’t get it published.

    Marie Cosindas passed on recently. I don’t need to look at Beckham’s photos to know who was the “better” artist.

    • You can self publish and sell it on Amazon at a minimal expense (see the Create Space link above). Then, let the market decide if it is worth buying.

      • When you self-publish, who’s going to provide the lavish promotion expected from a “real” publisher and bookstores?

      • The “Value” here isn’t in the photography. It’s in Beckham’s name.

        It’s easy for a celebrity who is frequently featured as a “heartthrob” in TigerBeat and other teen lifestyle publications to sell pretty much anything. That doesn’t mean the market decided that the art is any good…

        • Whether art is “good” (or not) is a subjective determination. However, whether the art has value is an objective determination that the market will decide.

          • Nonsense. The art is not what has the value in this case, it is Beckham, and his stature as a teen idol.

            The market driver here is the cult of celebrity (and the desires of teenage girls) NOT the quality of the artwork. No amount of trying to wriggle around that will change the fact.

  4. Maybe people are critical of his art ONLY because of his connections. Jean-Michel Basquiat was a nobody and he made “crazy looking, child-like art” and yet he became famous and is now well-thought of.

  5. Everyone is entitled to their opinion …….. no matter how wrong.
    Don’t like broccoli? Don’t eat it. Don’t like a book? Don’t read it.
    Assuming that the subject(s) is legal, no child porn for example, and assuming that the book publishing deal is legal and un-coerced, what possible right do we have to pass judgement?
    I hate the “Cult of Celebrity” but I find that it’s remarkably easy to ignore.
    I’ll not be buying or even viewing this book but neither will I be criticizing the author, the publisher nor those that chose to buy it.

    • Well said. We spend far too much time criticizing or praising others, especially on social media. Let’s spend more time focusing on worthwhile things and let’s ignore those things that are not. No doubt this kid has more opportunity because of his family, but he will also have more challenges. Just look at the onslaught of criticism he is facing. We don’t know who he is inside, so let’s not speculate. If you like his book or are curious, buy it. If not, ignore it and move on with your life.

  6. Waaaa, nobody will look at me! Grow up idiots, everything and everybody is NOT equal….Don’t like it, don’t buy it, go improve yourselves, you sound like a pack of loser snowflake demotards!

  7. Thank you for tackling this subject with Twitter postings that abound with all the thoughts you expressed. You are right — Brooklyn Beckam didn’t chose to be born into a family with such fame. He is finding a path for himself with something he loves to do. He is willing to take risks to put himself in the public eye not just for being part of a famous family, but for doing work that he loves.

    • “Brooklyn Beck[h]am didn’t chose to be born into a family with such fame.” No, but he doesn’t hesitate to take advantage of it.

      His photo portrays him as what he probably is — a spoiled 18-year-old brat devoid of self-awareness. His father has apparently failed to teach him about the non-value of celebrity. (Beckham pere probably doesn’t understand it, either,)

  8. You have a valid point about the freedom to explore artistic persuasions, whatever the skill levels; painters have done the very same throughout the centuries. Beckham can obviously afford to indulge himself. There is room in photography for Beckham as there is for the poor person who can use an entry level DSLR to produce stunning works of art.

    You indicate that you shoot with a Canon 5D mark II and a Mayima 645AFD (a typo?). Both of these cameras were flagships when introduced to the market. Though they are becoming a bit long in the tooth, they are still excellent cameras. The Mamiya in particular is not a “planned obsolesce” type of camera.

  9. I think I saw one comment suggesting that one of the bookstores that has bought copies of the book is going to flog them off at half price. I can’t imagine who dreamed up such a nasty and stupid comment – the book has only just been published – there is no possible reason for any store, at this stage, to buy copies of the book to sell them at half price, because the store would be losing almost half the amount it paid for them on the sale of each copy. The comment was pure “troll”.

    Then I scratched my head and thought back. There was a guy years ago who copped abuse of this kind. Because he was well connected, and because – at the same time – he wanted nothing more than to be a photographer. Well he became one of the greatest photographers in the UK, after all the crap that was flung in his direction. Is there something about the UK psyche that generates this kind of thing? – some kind of inability to deal with the spectacle of someone who didn’t go to Eton actually being successful?

    I hope that Brooklyn is stronger than his critics, and rises above this pathetic and unseemly outburst, and goes on to become a successful photographer, too, if that is what he wants to do with his life.

    I also hope that these critics learn something from the way they have been savaged for their comments. It is one thing to have an “opinion” – it is quite another thing to actually be “right” – and furthermore, anyone with any sense of decency or any breeding would keep such unpleasant comments to themselves, and not pollute the rest of the world by spraying them all over the place.

  10. You know, I wish the young man all the best with his endeavor. I hope it becomes a best seller and is on everyone’s coffee table. I know if I get a chance to see a copy at our local book seller, or Costco (This is their type of book I think), I’ll buy it.

    I don’t feel any jealousy towards the young man. There are tons of them out their in their parents basement who do nothing but play video games, have no aspirations, no motivation. That’s something to get angry at and want to discourage. But what this fellow did was take his passion, used his contacts (Which we all do when given the chance) and do something with.

    I think I’ll go out now and take a photo or two