Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: seamus finn on May 02, 2010, 11:46:53 am

Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 02, 2010, 11:46:53 am
Hello all,

Just back from a trip to the Almeria region of Spain.

Discovered these bird sellers in a street in a town called Requetes.


[attachment=21784:bird_sellers_lum.jpg]


In a square in Almeria, these two stilt walkers were in deep conversation, as were the couple seated on the bench. I was struck by the incongruity of the scene, especially when I spotted another couple - the two stone figures on the extreme left, who seemed  to be also studiously ignoring one another!



[attachment=21785:stilt_walkers_lum.jpg]


















Title: A few from Spain
Post by: wolfnowl on May 02, 2010, 01:52:34 pm
The first one doesn't do much for me, but I like the second one, especially because, as you've pointed out, there are three distinct groups.  Foremost are the two stiltwalkers, one of whom is taking a break, reclining on the bench.  In the middle is a couple who are either so involved with their own conversation they're ignoring what's going on around them, or being surrounded by costumed people on stilts is so commonplace as not to have to take notice.  And on the left, the two statues who are each in their own world, or ignoring each other completely.

Mike.
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: Patricia Sheley on May 03, 2010, 03:14:30 pm
Quote from: seamus finn
Hello all,

Just back from a trip to the Almeria region of Spain.

Discovered these bird sellers in a street in a town called Requetes.


[attachment=21784:bird_sellers_lum.jpg]


In a square in Almeria, these two stilt walkers were in deep conversation, as were the couple seated on the bench. I was struck by the incongruity of the scene, especially when I spotted another couple - the two stone figures on the extreme left, who seemed  to be also studiously ignoring one another!



[attachment=21785:stilt_walkers_lum.jpg]
Seamus...did you by chance spend any time shooting that manually expressive man in the center of  image two...looks as if  varying angle and heights had much to work with in this location...any others?  Also if I visually crop just behind madame's shoulder(madame on the left) the image gains vitality...just my eye though...

(also selfishly wish the pair of bird vendors and all their accouterments could have been found by you in early morning light with a lens of more compression...love the elements available in that one...actually it would make for a great workshop assignment...turn the class loose on those elements with each of their own field of view and compression choices making the composition...) I covet some extended time in Spain one day... Pat
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: RSL on May 04, 2010, 06:52:21 am
Seamus, I'm on the road and don't have time to comment extensively, but I agree with Mike. #2's my favorite.
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 04, 2010, 08:17:00 am
Pat,

I took only one shot of the stilt-walkers scene. I was sitting on a nearby bench, recovering from the hot sun. My first instinct was to crop tightly in processing as you suggest, but after much indecision, I reluctantly came down on the side of including the two stone figures as a further element reflecting the incongruous nature of the scene. I agree the tighter crop makes for a more balanced image but there's a price on everything! I still don't know if I made the right choice. And there's always Russ to consider when it comes to cropping.....

Re the bird sellers, again, one shot in sharp early-afternoon light with the wall in deep shade and the pavement blown out somewhat. The original is colourful enough in its own way. The final image required a fair bit of selective work to bring the footpath patterns back in the highlight areas.  

Re various lenses, I brought only one thanks to airline baggage weight restrictions in this part of the world  - Canon 24-105L plus 5D body. After a few days in the heat, this combination gets heavy enough. I suppose the whole trip was troubled from the start.  A major complication was the presence of a huge cloud of dust hovering in European airspace from a volcanic eruption in Iceland which grounded aircraft throughout Europe for several days and caused massive disruption and expense to airlines and passengers alike. As I write, the damned thing is back again, this time hanging around over Ireland where all flights were cancelled last night and are just now being resumed as I write. More mayhem for everybody - and according to the experts, it may continue on and off throughout summer. Luckily I managed to get in and out of Spain between clouds, as it were.

Pat, the idea of shooting in Spain is very appealing and I've been there a good few times, mostly in the Barcelona area. On this occasion, I went south to the Almeria region. The trip included a visit to the famous Alhambra site at Granada - one of the most visited places in the country if not the world. It's a palace and fortress complex constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the time - a majestic, magical place.

You'd think a location like that would get the creative juices flowing, but no, I felt as flat as a pancake and didn't manage even one shot I was happy with. In fact, the whole trip was a disappointment photographically. I ended up asking myself if I really wanted to photograph scenes which had already been done to death a thousand times - and better. Oh, I went through the motions alright, but wherever my mojo was, it sure wasn't in Spain on this occasion. I fear this may be reflected in the two images posted here, Mike. I guess I'm going through the equivalent of writer's block. Has anyone else experienced this, I wonder. Incidentally, I'm not blaming the volcanic dust for my woes - they were all self inflicted.

Anyway, thanks for the comments, all. Back to the drawing board!!

By the way, Russ, if you're on a shooting trip, I hope you have better success than I had....
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: Rob C on May 04, 2010, 09:33:48 am
Seamus

That's the problem with travel - its main function is to move you from location A to location B, and often when you get there, you realise that A was just as good and you'd have saved a lot of time and money not even thinking about B.

There are obvious exceptions, of course: little point looking for beaches in the middle of London, but when you have one great beach, why travel to another? But that's what makes Ryan Air go round - even if the advertised beach is perhaps fifty miles away from where you thought you were flying. You know, Glasgow Prestwick, or even Paris Beauvais, all rough-speak and almost fraudulent but probably not quite.

Writer's block: isn't that what scribblers claim is similar to photographer's blank film syndrome?

I have suffered from it all my life, the only thing that alleviated it was the commission, the catalyst that summoned up the mind etc. and made me do something, as the actress probably said to the bishop.

There is little chance of local stones turning me on either, regardless of how old, 'culturally valid' or anything else that's claimed for them; see one forest you've seen 'em all; one rock and you realise pretty damn soon that they are all rapidly going nowhere - watching paint dry is a high pressure sport in comparison. In the end, the only subjects that really light the glow are human. and even those are few and far between.

Part of the problem with photography is that people are so easily convinced that once they learn the how, they have a divine right to the next step: the what. Unfortunately, that's why there are really so few great photographers: those you would put in that bag all have the magic of the what - a magic that I am certain was there well before they realised they could express it and went on to get that camera. Most of us, sadly, try to do it  the wrong way around.

Rob C
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: fredjeang on May 04, 2010, 10:18:04 am
Quote from: Rob C
Part of the problem with photography is that people are so easily convinced that once they learn the how, they have a divine right to the next step: the what. Unfortunately, that's why there are really so few great photographers: those you would put in that bag all have the magic of the what - a magic that I am certain was there well before they realised they could express it and went on to get that camera. Most of us, sadly, try to do it  the wrong way around.

Rob C
Yes!!! The what is the real work, the how is just necessary to some extend and available to anyone without exception. IMHO.

edit: I forgot, may I ad the Why also.

What and Why, and a little bit of how.
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 04, 2010, 01:51:05 pm
Rob C,

To tell the truth, I'd travel anyway - the eternal optimist constantly poking a camera around the next corner. Having been a scribbler all my professional life, I've often found that the only way to get the creative juices really going is to be right up against a deadline with no way out. To quote yourself, it's the catalyst that calls up the mind. As for the what and the why, I think I'm still working on the how.

Regards,
Seamus
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 05, 2010, 01:54:23 pm
A few more for consideration:


[attachment=21853:abandoned_church.jpg]



[attachment=21854:boat_lum.jpg]



[attachment=21855:house.jpg]






Title: A few from Spain
Post by: John R on May 05, 2010, 02:53:51 pm
Quote from: seamus finn
A few more for consideration:

[attachment=21855:house.jpg]

I really like the last one you posted. All of the colours and elements balance beautifully. The effect is somewhat light and airy, but I like it. Many people on this site really like or prefer BW, but I don't see how a BW version can capture the feeling and juxtaposition of the colours and elements.

JMR
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on May 05, 2010, 09:50:18 pm
I'm a fan of B&W, but I like the colors in these a lot. The third is my favorite by far. 

Eric

Title: A few from Spain
Post by: Rob C on May 06, 2010, 04:21:21 am
Quote from: John R
I really like the last one you posted. All of the colours and elements balance beautifully. The effect is somewhat light and airy, but I like it. Many people on this site really like or prefer BW, but I don't see how a BW version can capture the feeling and juxtaposition of the colours and elements.

JMR




Hi John

I love b/w too, and most of the stuff that I have printed for myself is in the form of b/w conversions from Kodachrome. Trouble is, it fails when beside colour. The website that I'm trying to piece together showed me this yet again: I had made many such conversions and had put them together in a basic form a week ago, but made the mistake of including some really nice colour shots too. Almost immediately on seeing them in site form I got an attack of panic: it just did the b/w work no favours at all.

Fortunately, my internet computer started to play up and I shut down the trial site in time. The period between that and getting the computer working again allowed me the chance to rethink and redo those b/w shots as their original colour versions. I now have a more balanced set of images, but have complicated the matter for myself by having had further ideas that I want to try out for the relaunch.

But the pictures Seamus has put up here are beautiful - all of them; such a three-dee sense about the textures and romantic but dramatic colours.

Rob C
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 06, 2010, 03:04:23 pm
Thanks for the comments, all. I'll chance another:


[attachment=21864:sunboat.jpg]

Title: A few from Spain
Post by: Patricia Sheley on May 07, 2010, 12:30:31 pm
Quote from: seamus finn
Thanks for the comments, all. I'll chance another:


[attachment=21864:sunboat.jpg]


Ahh Seamus....You done it to me...try as I might to see your chart, the barkings and pleading to the Gods and commotion all about, from that pilot house, the night so long and much too cold to keep the vigil out....and then the leakages and forceful sea and terror all about...all his life maintaining , and then to come to this...every lug and screw deserting in the time of need...what could they do? complain? Naught could stall this bitter fate...

Ah sir...I could roll about the sand alongside closeup for days and weeks, morning light and dusk ...the paints and scars, the storied history waiting to spring free...

When the voices stop I'll try to see Your chart, but for now t'is you that's given my a heart a start...If you were of the fairer sex I'd name you Temptress!

Pat
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: RSL on May 07, 2010, 08:05:18 pm
Seamus, When I finally get back home in Colorado I'll have time to comment at greater length. All I have time to say tonight is "splendid work." Really splendid!
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on May 07, 2010, 08:45:02 pm
Seamus,

That image is truly evocative -- as Pat has demonstrated!

Eric

Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 09, 2010, 12:27:04 pm
Pat,

I was in a bit of a blue funk on returning from Spain but your response to the last image has changed all that - now everything is sweetness and light. Much obliged!!!


Seamus
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 12, 2010, 08:24:38 am
This shy goat herder was going about his business on the side of the road to Cabo de Gata.

Incidentally, this one is for Russ

[attachment=21944:goat_herder4_lum.jpg]
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on May 12, 2010, 09:14:15 pm
Seamus,

I like it.

(But for Russ I'll have to say, "Another face. So what?" But that's just for Russ.   )

Eric

Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 13, 2010, 06:21:06 am
Thanks for that, Eric - point taken. I hope Russ is not insulted by the offering!!!    


Seamus
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: RSL on May 13, 2010, 11:30:05 am
Eric, No it's not "another face." It's the face of a unique human being -- very different from one rock which is pretty much like another rock, or one tree which is pretty much like another tree, or one sunset which is pretty much like another sunset.

It's a fine shot, Seamus. My only beef, if I have one, is that I wish you'd included more context -- placed the guy in his environment -- the same way you placed the Druid in his woods. Still... that's a wonderful face with a great deal of the poetry of living written in it. Bravo!
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 13, 2010, 02:21:22 pm
Thanks, Russ. That's what I felt too - a hard life etched in that face. I tried to place him in his environment but things were complicated by his two playful dogs who romped around the place and occupied his fond attention during my brief stop there. All attempts to get himself, his dogs and his herd into any sort of decent shot failed miserably.  My best effort at an environmental shot was this:


[attachment=21956:goat_herder2.jpg]


Title: A few from Spain
Post by: RSL on May 13, 2010, 04:37:25 pm
Seamus, That's what I suspected happened. Sometimes it's just not possible to include enough environment. It's a wonderful face. Here's another. He's a very successful painter who lives in my town. I've known him since about 1972. When I shot this he was watching a coffin race and I had the same problem you had. Couldn't get him in his environment.

[attachment=21957:Rockey.jpg]
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 14, 2010, 08:27:45 am
Great shot, Russ. More often than not, as you and everybody here well knows, the Gods like to be perverse and sometimes just won't co-operate in aligning the elements of person and location to morph into the perfect environmental shot - or any other kind of shot for that matter - especially when you're on the run and haven't time to be patient. You managed to avoid that dilemma with your 'Starbucks at Night' image which I have returned to many times on your own website. Now, that's a face in the environment.

There are times when you have to throw the environment to the winds and go for the face - well, I do anyway. Some people of this parish may say such shots are cliches - the grizzled face, white hair, impressive beard and so on - but to me, they are a landscape of the human condition.


Regards,

Seamus
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: RSL on May 14, 2010, 11:37:24 am
Quote from: seamus finn
You managed to avoid that dilemma with your 'Starbucks at Night' image which I have returned to many times on your own website. Now, that's a face in the environment.

Seamus, When I shot that picture that poor old hobo was in the Starbucks directly below my office -- where I'm sitting at the moment as I write this. Once, about three years ago he collapsed just outside Starbucks and the emergency medical techs had to hustle him off. Unfortunately I haven't seen him for two years now. I suspect he may no longer be with us.
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: seamus finn on May 14, 2010, 12:03:26 pm
I wonder does that knowledge, or the information about the goat herder or Russ's painter friend or background on any other of the images featured in these posts, add to the pictures?

A few years ago, I went to an exhibition of war photographs taken by the top practitioners of the art. After I viewed each image, I then read an accompanying piece of text written for each picture by the journalist John Pilger.  The text, the context, changed everything. I went back and looked at them again. The second time around, the images were immeasurably more powerful.

Just a thought.....
Title: A few from Spain
Post by: RSL on May 14, 2010, 02:54:45 pm
Seamus, I know that's true because I've had the same kind of experience. But I always kick myself when it happens because deep down I feel visual art should be able to stand on its own, without the need for words. Yet I think about some of the most powerful photography I'm familiar with -- two by Dorothea Lange for starters. I always wonder whether the impact of "White Angel Breadline," or "Migrant Mother" depends on my knowledge -- some of it first-hand -- of the great depression. There's no way for me to know because I can't shed the knowledge. The problem isn't confined to photography. It seems to me that Picasso's "Guernica" would be utterly unintelligible without at least some knowledge of the war with which it's associated.