Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => But is it Art? => Topic started by: dreed on October 31, 2011, 04:00:13 am

Title: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: dreed on October 31, 2011, 04:00:13 am
Some of the landscape photographs that I've seen are technically excellent - good use of colour, shapes, contours, leading lines, detail, etc. But, and this is a big but, quite often I'm satisfied in having seen it once and do not feel the need to see it again. From time to time, this goes to an extreme - a photo might be technically excellent but I most definitely do not want to see it again. In short, some photographs I would be happy to see in an art gallery but equally as happy for them to stay in the art gallery and not have them in my home. I accept that the actual subject material which falls into each basket is going to be different for different people.

I'm curious, do others feel the same way about photographs?

I suppose from a commercial perspective, is there a meaningful intersection of what is artistic and what is desirable/endurable?

What brought this to mind was that during the last week or so, I was thinking about the Palouse PODAS photographs that were posted on this website and thinking "yes, that's really nice and well captured, but I don't want to see a tractor and dust every day when I get home from work."

Thoughts?
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Bryan Conner on October 31, 2011, 04:09:54 am
We have 4- 40x60cm prints of mine on our walls.  If I had something wife approved to hang in the place of three of them, I would do so.  But, I do not have any images that I would rather look at every day...LOL.   So, the images on the walls are (in my mind) there for guests to view.  The one print that I plan to keep on the wall is a "trophy" print/image of mine that I am proud of and do enjoy viewing each day.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: RSL on October 31, 2011, 06:24:39 am
In my home, several rooms, two hallways, and my studio are hung with my own prints. Frame sizes run from 16 x 20 upward. Since my wife prefers them, most are landscapes, always featuring the hand of man. But one room and my studio contain street photographs. I can't even imagine a photographer not wanting to see his own work on his own walls.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Steve Weldon on October 31, 2011, 11:27:53 am
I often throw an image up on the 50" plasma and look at it across the room for hours and sometimes days to see if it passes the test.  No image goes on my walls (the wife's family stuff gets an automatic exemption) until they pass this test.  Sometimes I know within a few hours, sometimes days.

With that said I have walls I use as themes for clients.  Angkor Vat, The Boat Yards, Mae Hong Son, Beung Boraphet, Wat Pho, etc, etc.. There is usually either 1 24x30 surrounded by 4 11x14's, or 2 20x24's framed by 4 11x14's.  I want to wet their appetite for future workshops.  Those were the "standard" walls.  Another wall highlights my most recent "new place."  All these are in UV plexi on 1" standoff's with thumb screwheads.. so the images from each location can be rotated every 30-45 days.

Okay, but now I've been back in the states a few months.. new house.. new clients.. I still do workshops in Bangkok but for the next four years I'll only be there for 2 30 day periods to serve existing customers so I have something to start with when I return.  In our new house I found the themes still work well, same frames, etc.. but I'm trying to come up with some local work to go on the wall.  So far I've come up dry.  I need to get tuned in to the Midwest more...
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on October 31, 2011, 12:45:35 pm
... I don't want to see ... [xxx] every day when I get home from work."...

I read once that japanese interior designers advise to always have more art than space on walls. That way, you'll rotate it every now and then, avoiding the "every day" over-exposure to one and the same, which leads to visual fatigue and ultimately to being oblivious to it.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: luxborealis on December 06, 2011, 09:39:25 pm
Your question brings to mind the different tastes in music. There are some songs you only want to hear once. Others that you might play 20 times before growing tired of. Then there are those that stand the test of time - the classics (be it rock, jazz, classical, etc.)

Just because someone hangs a photograph on a wall, it doesn't mean you have to like it enough to hang on your wall. Others might feel they can't live without it. More often than not, it's the emotional attachment to a work of art, not the craftsmanship as described in the OP. Different strokes...

I have thousands of photographs I truly enjoy looking at frequently, but would I hang them on a wall - no. I have a special few that I do. They are special because they move me in ways other photographs taken on the same day do not. For me, they go beyond the obvious subject and beyond the craftsmanship and are a product of criteria that are, for the most part indefinable.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on December 07, 2011, 09:11:03 am
In my home, several rooms, two hallways, and my studio are hung with my own prints. Frame sizes run from 16 x 20 upward. Since my wife prefers them, most are landscapes, always featuring the hand of man. But one room and my studio contain street photographs. I can't even imagine a photographer not wanting to see his own work on his own walls.



The trouble is, photographs and paintings don't go together terribly well. I have three of the latter that I inherited from my mother and they are very good. The only stuff that lives well beside them is b/w (girls) and I also have two colour A4 landscape ones (image A5 horiz. on vertical paper) there because my wife liked them very much. Now, I can't bear the thought of taking them down because they constantly remind me of her.

Starting from scatch, I'd have no paintings at all, only photographs. Again, the problem of mixing b/w and colour would raise its head, and I don't think even photographs mix well in that way. The only way I see both disciplines work is by hanging them in separate venues.

Rob C


Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on December 07, 2011, 12:17:01 pm
We have two black and whites and one color photograph hanging on one wall and they look great! They are all seascapes and they all have similar contrast. I find that contrast and tonal depth makes more of a difference in how photographs hang together - even if they are all black and white or all color.Sharon



Absolutely, and the same applies to painting and almost anything else you choose to display; you have to know what looks balanced and even the direction of the feel of the image makes a huge difference. (I try to do that on the contact sheet displays of the website, too, which can be a bit of a devil when you want to edit stuff in or out later.)

Hence, also, the art of the interior decorator, and it truly is an art.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: famalam on January 18, 2012, 02:04:30 pm
Landscapes a weird one for me. I shoot quite a bit of it personally, and have had a lot of stuff well received/purchased, but I don't like it on a wall. I've printed some of my own work to hang in my studio, and I've ended up taking it down, because there's just something out-of-place about it.

I think a landscape shot, with stunning colour, etc, belongs on a computer screen. It's not something I want to look at again and again.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: JerryReed on February 02, 2012, 10:01:38 am
My sense is that images that would satisfy for more than the momentary viewing, must first arrest the viewer to stop them long enough to look deeply into what the artist intended.  Second, the artist should be ambiguous in his intention.  To sustain interest, it should be open to different viewers seeing in the image characteristic to which that can respond personally.  If an art piece can do this, it can sustain interest.

Jerry Reed
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on February 02, 2012, 11:22:06 am
Landscapes a weird one for me. I shoot quite a bit of it personally, and have had a lot of stuff well received/purchased, but I don't like it on a wall. I've printed some of my own work to hang in my studio, and I've ended up taking it down, because there's just something out-of-place about it.I think a landscape shot, with stunning colour, etc, belongs on a computer screen. It's not something I want to look at again and again.

Yes, I couldn't agree more.

I think that part of the trouble might be that we are simply too used to seeing the real thing, and that painting, in contrast, usually offers almost everything but such acute realism.

In fact, I feel that most photographs don't even suit most types of domestic locations. It's okay having modern photographic stuff up in a city loft somewhere, in a bar or a restaurant, perhaps because there's something less personal about such locations - but in the normal home situation it feels wrong to me, too.

I do have some of my own stuff on the walls at home, but that's different, because the shots have a real meaning for me; however, I'd be surprised if other people would want to hang them at home. I can't see myself going out to buy some photographs as decoration.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: luxborealis on February 02, 2012, 07:06:39 pm
Interesting discussion. Of course it's art and of course there are photographs I would have hanging in my home to look at everyday. There is no real reason why not except for differences in taste. Works of art may speak to people in a number of different ways – or not.

Our Creative Arts Association runs a shop in a downtown mall where I have my photographs hanging alongside watercolours, oils, acrylics and other photographs. I believe my work is selling as well as any other medium in the store including large works that people take home and hang on their walls.

So I must disagree with the sentiment that landscapes don't cut it for visual art and that photographs, in general, do not suit domestic locations - it all depends on the work and the owner of the walls. There are far too many variables at work to make sweeping, broad generalizations about a whole genre of visual art or a whole genre of photography. A well-executed landscape photograph in colour or B&W can be as intriguing/captivating/compelling as any painting as is proven everyday when photographs sell to individual collectors or to people who just want something to look at instead of bare walls.

I think the disconnect is that we, as outdoor and nature photographers,  see so many excellent photographs on a regular basis (and many more poor photographs) in books, online and occasionally on the walls of galleries that perhaps we forget about how truly unique they might be to others who may never get out of the city.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on February 03, 2012, 04:36:38 am
So I must disagree with the sentiment that landscapes don't cut it for visual art and that photographs, in general, do not suit domestic locations - it all depends on the work and the owner of the walls. There are far too many variables at work to make sweeping, broad generalizations about a whole genre of visual art or a whole genre of photography. A well-executed landscape photograph in colour or B&W can be as intriguing/captivating/compelling as any painting as is proven everyday when photographs sell to individual collectors or to people who just want something to look at instead of bare walls.




I don't believe anyone has been making sweeping statements; I think all that you find here is personal opinion which perhaps flies straight into the face of your own personal view and commercial interest.

As for your last sentence in the quotation above, it proves no such thing as you claim. It only shows the juxtaposition that you choose to make in order to back your claim. In it, you opt to ignore relative prices, sizes, visual sophistication of the buyer and an entire raft of reasons why some buy photographs. By no means does it prove that photographs have either the legitimacy or the intrinsic value to be considered works of art; all it shows is something we all already know: you can sell anything to someone, even if only once.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: RSL on February 03, 2012, 07:17:54 pm
Well, I guess it depends on why you make photographs, K. I make photographs because I like photographs, and, as Garry Winogrand said, I like to see what something I photograph looks like as a photograph. That being the case, I never get tired of looking at my photographs.

On the other hand, if I were doing weddings or similar commercial work I'd do anything I could to keep from having to look at my work a second time. Maybe that's your problem with looking at your own work, which you know intimately.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: luxborealis on February 03, 2012, 10:26:47 pm
Pardon me, Rob, but why are you being so antagonistic here? When someone chooses not to share your opinion, can't you just agree to disagree?

I have no axe to grind; I've made no personal attacks; I'm only replying to what I read. I happen to disagree, then get attacked for it with statements like "I think all that you find here is personal opinion which perhaps flies straight into the face of your own personal view and commercial interest." Of course it "flies in the face of my own personal view" - that's why I started off the paragraph by saying "I must disagree".

And as far as "commercial interest" goes, I have none. I photograph what moves me some of my work sells on a regular basis in our local artisans shop. They won't rock the art world, nor will they make me rich. But they do show that people will buy photographs for their walls even when they have equally good paintings hanging alongside.

I don't judge the tastes of qualifications of those who purchase my work, not do I claim that my work has any "legitimacy or [the] intrinsic value to be considered works of art". But the point of my post is that it answers the question first posed by the OP: "Yes, some would hang it in their home to look at every day."


Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on February 04, 2012, 04:31:35 am
Pardon me, Rob, but why are you being so antagonistic here? When someone chooses not to share your opinion, can't you just agree to disagree?I have no axe to grind; I've made no personal attacks; I'm only replying to what I read. I happen to disagree, then get attacked for it with statements like "I think all that you find here is personal opinion which perhaps flies straight into the face of your own personal view and commercial interest." Of course it "flies in the face of my own personal view" - that's why I started off the paragraph by saying "I must disagree".

And as far as "commercial interest" goes, I have none. I photograph what moves me some of my work sells on a regular basis in our local artisans shop. They won't rock the art world, nor will they make me rich. But they do show that people will buy photographs for their walls even when they have equally good paintings hanging alongside.

I don't judge the tastes of qualifications of those who purchase my work, not do I claim that my work has any "legitimacy or [the] intrinsic value to be considered works of art". But the point of my post is that it answers the question first posed by the OP: "Yes, some would hang it in their home to look at every day."



Strange; I’d have thought you were doing the opposite of what you say that I should be doing by classifying alternative views as sweeping statements… all I had originally done was state my own view. It was your response to that which caused my own, later, response to you.

As for commercial interests: the moment you bother taking part in a shop/gallery you are committed to a commercial interest; how could it be otherwise? How successful or not has no bearing on it unless/until you and the group run out of finance.

But anyway, this could develop into another yes/no/yes/no saga for which I have no patience. So yes, of course I agree to disagree.

Ciao –

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on February 04, 2012, 04:57:32 am
Regarding hanging one's own work at home - I do it because it fills a need to relive times that I enjoyed immensely.

Some of it's stuff from calendar shoots, some of it's just from trips the family and I did during our first few months here, when we were sussing out the island and building up a catalogue of locations that we could later use for more shoots. And my wife happened to like some of the pics.

Then, when the work dried up and I retired, those images took on another meaning for me. Unlike someone who has lived in the same place most of their life, built up an identity through his/her work, going away leaves that past far behind in as far as identity is concerned: there's no visible personal history by which the new world can know you. And worse: there's no visible means by which you can know yourself. It's strange, but I actually saw that happen with my mother the first time she thought she'd move out to live here too: I discovered her one day in tears. I asked her what was wrong and she replied: I've lost my identity. I thought she was nuts; she returned to Britain and spent many years there after that, until she was too old to run her own home, at which time she returned, to live with us.

Some flee their backgrounds to escape God alone knows what; others simply follow the latest urge, and yet others - like myself - believe they have found a better way to do business. Yet, I think in all cases, there is a loss of something personal. Now, of course, I understand that my mother's tears were nothing to do with losing one's mind: they were all to do with realising how empty losing the past can make you feel.

So that's a strong reason for me to hang some of what I do; other stuff is inherited but is paint.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: WalterEG on February 04, 2012, 06:17:25 am
Quote from: KLaban
Displaying my own work on my own walls would, for me at least, be counterproductive. If I look at my own work day in and day out the familiarity breeds contempt.

The only time I ever really *see* my own work and can learn from it is when it has become unfamiliar, when intimacy is long gone.   
\
Eloquently expressed Keith,

And I fully concur.

Cheers,

W
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Justan on February 04, 2012, 10:46:43 am
Some of the landscape photographs that I've seen are technically excellent - good use of colour, shapes, contours, leading lines, detail, etc. But, and this is a big but, quite often I'm satisfied in having seen it once and do not feel the need to see it again. From time to time, this goes to an extreme - a photo might be technically excellent but I most definitely do not want to see it again. In short, some photographs I would be happy to see in an art gallery but equally as happy for them to stay in the art gallery and not have them in my home. I accept that the actual subject material which falls into each basket is going to be different for different people.

I'm curious, do others feel the same way about photographs?

I suppose from a commercial perspective, is there a meaningful intersection of what is artistic and what is desirable/endurable?

What brought this to mind was that during the last week or so, I was thinking about the Palouse PODAS photographs that were posted on this website and thinking "yes, that's really nice and well captured, but I don't want to see a tractor and dust every day when I get home from work."

Thoughts?


The original question is clearly about displaying any landscape photos at home, and not about one’s own work. But nearly everyone here has inferred the question has been asked about displaying one’s own photos at home. This common misinterpretation is kind of funny in a way.

To the OP: in the original statement, is there an implied assertion that there is something inherently unworthy about photographs? To my reading, the key reply is: Why do you feel this way about photos?

A friend who is from eastern Washington State (the Palouse) and is a commercial artist (professional architect) has many photos, sketches, and paintings, including some of dusty tractors and harvesting equipment. She loves to see ‘scapes from the area she grew up in and continues to visit regularly. She, like many, will always find a lot to cherish in scenes that remind her of fond times and places.

Touching the viewer’s happy memories is high on the list of what constitutes art. If the work is well done, the media doesn’t matter all that much.............to some.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on February 04, 2012, 02:59:12 pm

The original question is clearly about displaying any landscape photos at home, and not about one’s own work. But nearly everyone here has inferred the question has been asked about displaying one’s own photos at home. This common misinterpretation is kind of funny in a way.To the OP: in the original statement, is there an implied assertion that there is something inherently unworthy about photographs? To my reading, the key reply is: Why do you feel this way about photos?





Hi Justan

I didn't see that at all: I thought it was wide open to any sort of photo from anywhere.

However, taking your point, I expect that most people here wouldn't be buying anybody else's images. I think the natural inclination is to show your own work, for better or for worse; at any rate, that's my take on it. Regardless, I'm sure this will reveal a host of Avedon, Haas, Adams etc, buyers.

;-)

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: RSL on February 04, 2012, 03:12:09 pm
If I look at my own work day in and day out the familiarity breeds contempt.

Wow! That's quite an admission.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: canoeman on June 08, 2012, 11:53:46 pm
I also like beautiful images and always look at them for inspiration and appreciation. However, I wouldn't want to look at mine, or anyone's forever. You might also say that I am frugal and don't feel inclined to spend the big bucks (although worthy) for something that I know is not going to be a long-term thing. Therefore, I have compromised by displaying a couple of my own images in a way that works for us.

The only prints I do now are A3+ of a few things I really like (landscape and some wildlife). We have a simple but elegant cherry mantle in our family room. We then had two matted mahogany (to match the cherry) frames made to display A3+ prints. These were expensive, approx $500 each, and I can place them vertical or horizontal, both on the mantle, or typically one on and one on the wall beside the mantle. The thing that I did differently was that I had the backs made easily removable so I can switch the photos out any time that I want. I left the original photo bonded to the backing board, and just place a new photo exactly over the original one and hold it with blue tape catching about 1/8 inch of the edges in a few places. They have never slipped or curled, even after many, many months for some of them.

So, I hang good images on the wall to look at every day and remind us of a place we have visited, of an animal that we especially liked. But, when we get tired of it, we print something else and look at it for several months. The time varies greatly, and we have even placed some images for a second time. It has been a simple way to show our friends what we have been doing without making them look through our whole print album. They can then ask questions or not, and go to our website if they want to see more.

It's kind of like having your cake and eating it too.  Bill
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on June 10, 2012, 05:31:38 am
Strange; I find that once something has been walled, then that's pretty much it: short of earthquake or sudden (if infrequent) insanity bouts, there it remains. The downside is that I haven't enough walls - well, I have enough walls but they aren't big enough.

If I didn't think I could/would live with the piccies I wouldn't print them in the first place. I wish I could have that understanding at the viewfinder moment too, and thus save myself such a lot of time later on.

Life is sweet, if hard.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: canoeman on June 10, 2012, 11:33:37 am
One of the motivators for our frames  is that we don't have enough walls.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: michelle_elle on June 12, 2012, 12:57:30 pm
That's a good question.
I think it's a matter of taste.

For me, if the photograph doesn't have that "extra something", I too don't feel the need to see it again.
It has to make me feel something, and not just be statically beautiful.
If the feeling it enhances is one I'd like to experience again, that's it.  ;)
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on June 12, 2012, 03:19:35 pm
Some nice stuff on your website, Michelle.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: torger on June 13, 2012, 04:22:26 am
In an art gallery I like to see pictures which makes my thoughts move, they could even be disturbing and cause feelings of anxiety. At home I just want beautiful peaceful pictures that gives me harmony, which usually means pictures of landscapes.

If a picture gives me a strong "wow-feeling" first time I see it, it usually means that I will get bored with it, it's like eating foie gras every day. Pictures to be seen every day should be subtly good, it should not shove down its greatness down my throat, but rather require my collaboration to see how fine it is.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: philbaum on June 13, 2012, 11:13:02 am
Absolutely, but only select ones.

I like to photograph scenes that i can connect to on an emotional level and that i hope others can connect to as well.  Hanging the stellar ones on a wall reminds me to go out and take more such images.

Unfortunately, when i get a chance to do a show or enter a few pics into a juried show, I pick the best ones off my walls.  Which means that any sales take the best ones and leave the "others" to be carried home. 

If i wasn't able to take a special picture occasionally that i or others could enjoy, i'd give up on photography.   

Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Ray on June 15, 2012, 01:28:29 am
This is an interesting discussion. I often wonder if I should go to the trouble of printing large, and mounting a photo to hang on my wall.

My problem is, I'm not too impressed with small, or average-sized photos that one usually sees on peoples' walls, such as anything from 5"x 7" to 16"x20".

I'm not too keen on the idea that photo prints on the wall have to be approached up close to be fully appreciated.

When I was on an organised tourist trip to Europe and Russia a few years ago, visiting the usual magnificent historical palaces and churches filled with permanent masterpieces which were not just hanging on the wall but sometimes a permanent feature of the wall, it occurred to me that maybe I should print my best photos to the maximum size to fit a particular wall space, and paste them directly onto the wall as a permanent feature.

Of course, one needs a big printer to do this, and my printer is only a modest size. It prints a maximum of only 600mm wide, but fortunately as long as I want, up to 30 metres. (Epson 7600)

If I want a really big print, say 1.8 metres x 3.6 metres to fill a sizable wall, I'd have to separate the final interpolated image into 6 different prints each 600mm wide x 1.8 metres high, then paste them next to each other, onto the wall.

The problem I have is how to manage the joins in the best manner. Should I butt up each print as close as possible to disguise the joins, hoping that no-one notices them from a distance; or should I accept that the join is not going to be invisible, and make a feature of the join?

One way of making the join a feature, that has recently occurred to me, is to photograph the largest window in my house, and use the image of the window frame as a join between the various sections of the total print in order to create the illusion of looking at the photographic scene depicted, through a window in one's house.

If I could patent an idea, I'd patent that.

The scene portrayed in the photograph might be a stitched image of a view of the Himalayas at dawn, for example. I have such an image. Wouldn't it be an enduring experience to feel the illusion that your suburban house in the city precincts actually has a view of the Himalayas, through one of the windows?

Now I would appreciate it if anyone reading this could advise me of the best technique to glue large prints to an ordinary, painted, plasterboard wall, without incurring bubbles and other problems.

Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on June 15, 2012, 05:20:08 am
The answer to your problem, Ray is this: do as you would do were you hanging wallpaper. After all, that's what most displayed photography is: covers the cracks and the poor plastering, the result of excessive DIY. (This charge could also be levied at much desktop printing...)

A caveat: don't cover the windows: were you to do this, you'd have to view the 'wallpaper' via artificial light which, as we both know, induces colour shifts etc.  but let's not open another, even more internal discussion about that! Far more interesting the development of the philosophy of dancers and kangaroos, especially together.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Ray on June 15, 2012, 08:48:57 am
Don't be silly, Rob. These large prints will be Premium Glossy paper for maximum gamut, or at least Premium Lustre. They will be immaculate. Wallpaper indeed! Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are no cracks on my walls, Rob. They're all lovely, flat, smooth, painted surfaces. I've never hung wallpaper in my life, and don't intend to start now.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: slackercruster on June 15, 2012, 09:34:56 am
I used to rotate pix.

Now I just plaster the walls with em...

(http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv219/keepitlow456/Misc/bedroomfisheye.jpg)
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on June 15, 2012, 10:11:05 am
Good God! Reminds me of my vey late teens when my bedroom was plastered with Italian wine bottle labels.  There were two Italian stores in Glasgow where you could buy wine from the barrel, and they also bottled wine and used a variety of labels which was my main source, not being a drinker at that tender stage.  I took their implied word for it that they knew which was which... Later, my garage wall sported two life-size posters: one of Ava and the other of my newer crush, Brigitte; can't say I didn't have an eye for a classy dame as well as some nice wines.

Those were the good olde - no, not again!

;-)

Rob C

Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on June 15, 2012, 11:13:11 am
Don't be silly, Rob. These large prints will be Premium Glossy paper for maximum gamut, or at least Premium Lustre. They will be immaculate. Wallpaper indeed! Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are no cracks on my walls, Rob. They're all lovely, flat, smooth, painted surfaces. I've never hung wallpaper in my life, and don't intend to start now.


Well, then let's look at the problem (challenge, as some prefer to call these things) again: after many moons have waxed and waned (Wayned in the U.S.?) my walls are far from pristine - more Capella Sistina, to be honest, so I thought that perhaps now, since the accompanying illustration of the (recorded) restructuring, a true work-in-progress, a pretty print à la mosaic might be a better option. For myself, if not for your present domestic arrangement. But I don't know, walking all over art has its spiritual downside, I guess...

You really should discover the art of hanging wallpaper. It has many fringe benefits: you learn how to walk the plank; you discover long-lost oaths from your own distant and even ancestral past that might otherwise have become extinct – at huge cultural loss – and you do save a heap of money best spent on photography. Well, sometimes. But for walls, I guess any competent printer used to 42" rolls of Kodak or Ilford products would have no problem at all doing his thing with anaglypta and paste instead. Again, you see the advantages of the wet processes of yesteryear...

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Ray on June 15, 2012, 09:26:34 pm

Well, then let's look at the problem (challenge, as some prefer to call these things) again: after many moons have waxed and waned (Wayned in the U.S.?) my walls are far from pristine - more Capella Sistina, to be honest, so I thought that perhaps now, since the accompanying illustration of the (recorded) restructuring, a true work-in-progress, a pretty print à la mosaic might be a better option. For myself, if not for your present domestic arrangement. But I don't know, walking all over art has its spiritual downside, I guess...

You really should discover the art of hanging wallpaper. It has many fringe benefits: you learn how to walk the plank; you discover long-lost oaths from your own distant and even ancestral past that might otherwise have become extinct – at huge cultural loss – and you do save a heap of money best spent on photography. Well, sometimes. But for walls, I guess any competent printer used to 42" rolls of Kodak or Ilford products would have no problem at all doing his thing with anaglypta and paste instead. Again, you see the advantages of the wet processes of yesteryear...


No need for all that nonsense, Rob, but thanks for your help ;D . My main concern is rolling out the air bubbles as I apply the print to the wall. For this, I don't want a paint roller, or the very narrow type of roller that is used for the edges of wallpaper, but a solid, firm, rubber roller of a decent width.

After a lengthy search on the internet, I believe I've found the right tool for the job. The roller is only 8" wide, but I think that might be sufficient to do an excellent job that meets my very high standards. Epson Premium Glossy paper is not cheap in Australia. There seems to be some monopoly at work that keeps prices high.

Of course, another issue in pasting an image directly to the wall, is the permanence of the thing. The image has to be really good, so that one will never tire of it, otherwise, several years later one might be confronted with the chore of removing it.



Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: philbaum on June 17, 2012, 01:10:57 am
One alternative is to make a tryptch in 3 parts.  the width of each trytch part would be 24" wide (600mm width of your printer) by 48" high.  So the 3 bases would add up to 6' wide.  If you wanted a more pano look to it, you could make it a 4 tch or 5 tch ecetera.  Canvas would be nice, but one could also take the prints and bond them to some secure but light weight base, that could be removable.  That way, you could still paint the walls if you ever needed to get behind the print for maintenance reasons.  Just brainstorming - good luck.

I know what you're saying about large prints.  the largest i've made so far is 2' by 3', and i know that isn't particularly large, but still....  Anyway, It sold at an art show yesterday and i have to decide whether to make another of the same size or slightly larger, maybe 4'.  Its not a bad size for a house.    but a full wall size would probably be cool too :-)   
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Ray on June 17, 2012, 02:33:41 am
One alternative is to make a tryptch in 3 parts.  the width of each trytch part would be 24" wide (600mm width of your printer) by 48" high.  So the 3 bases would add up to 6' wide.  If you wanted a more pano look to it, you could make it a 4 tch or 5 tch ecetera.  Canvas would be nice, but one could also take the prints and bond them to some secure but light weight base, that could be removable.  That way, you could still paint the walls if you ever needed to get behind the print for maintenance reasons.  Just brainstorming - good luck.


Yes, indeed! This is my concept. I've already made a 600mm x 1.8metre print of my prized scene of the Himalayas, consisting of 3 stitched 5D images, camera held vertical.

From an average viewing distance, I estimate the detail is sufficient for an image 4x the size, provided one doesn't get too close. That would make it 1200mm x3.6metres. It would consist of 6 vertical strips, each 600x1200mm.

I would then have, not a triptych, but a hexaptych.

Unfortunately, Nikon have put a spanner in the works, by coming out with the D800E. I'm just so disappointed  ;D . I feel that I now have to revisit the scene to reshoot, to maintain my high standards. It's a long walk.

But Hey! Life is a challenge. We must move on to better pastures.  ;D
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on June 17, 2012, 07:56:07 am
Unfortunately, Nikon have put a spanner in the works, by coming out with the D800E. I'm just so disappointed  ;D . I feel that I now have to revisit the scene to reshoot, to maintain my high standards. It's a long walk.
Why not hitch a ride in the kangaroo's pouch?   :D
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Ray on June 17, 2012, 08:13:09 pm
Why not hitch a ride in the kangaroo's pouch?   :D


Don't be silly, Eric. It would very difficult to get any sharp images from a kangaroo's pouch with the continuous jolting as it hopped along. It would be even worse than riding on an elelphant.  ;)
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on July 05, 2012, 10:12:48 am
Don't be silly, Eric. It would very difficult to get any sharp images from a kangaroo's pouch with the continuous jolting as it hopped along. It would be even worse than riding on an elelphant.  ;)



That's astounding, Ray.

A modern shutter that goes faster than the already impossibly fast 1/1000th of a second would resolve the problems commonly associated with pouch bounce; with the exception of mahouts, no civilized body rides elephants, Ray: they sit on top of them. Haven't you noticed that ladies inevitably ride side-saddle? (Here I think of horses, not bicycles, and elephants aren't even a fantasy on my distant horizon. However, I vaguely recall seeing a trailer for an event where one such person of a blue persuasion rides a pterodactyle, legs apart.) Even Gulliver might have found problems trying it (with elephants) in Lilliput, assuming everything was to scale as we know it. I think that scale was six inches, for better or for worse, whatever that six inches might be using as yardstick; they never did elucidate, as far as I can remember.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Ray on July 26, 2012, 09:50:49 pm


...with the exception of mahouts, no civilized body rides elephants, Ray: they sit on top of them....

That's what I wrote, Rob. To quote myself:
Quote
It would be even worse than riding on an elelphant.
Trying to catch me out, eh?  ;D

A fast shutter speed certainly helps. The problem is in achieving a reasonable DoF at a reasonably low ISO which provides good DR and low noise, whilst at the same time synchronising the release of the shutter to coincide with the desired composition which is continuously changing as the elephant lurches along.

The attached photo shows the positions of the elephant taxi driver (mahout) and the passengers.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Ellis Vener on July 28, 2012, 09:13:57 pm
If it pleases your eye and tickles your intellect every time you look at it, the answer is yes
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: jule on August 05, 2012, 05:08:23 am
Just came across a couple of happy snap iPhone pics taken a while ago which showed that I have hung my images in our home. There are two more not shown in these pics I just love them... and often see something new in them - just when I  least expect it.... having a cuppa....vaccuming...sharing with others something about the image. So ..Yes - I do hang my work in our home and am not only proud to do so.... but enjoy doing so. :-)

Julie
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on August 05, 2012, 06:40:29 am
Fascinating, Juilie; you've done exactly as my son managed to do with his hot Scoobie, which is to photograph upside down. He swears he didn't stand on his head, but as he lives in Glasgow...

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: jule on August 05, 2012, 06:42:27 am
Fascinatimg, Juilie; you've done exactly as my son managed to do with his hot Scoobie, which is to photograph upside down. He swears he didn't stand on his head, but as he lives in Glasgow...

Rob C

LOL...how on earth did that happen??? They are the right way in Bridge when i view them... perhaps I should upload them upside down.. LOL

Julie
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: jule on August 05, 2012, 06:51:36 am
Fascinating, Juilie; you've done exactly as my son managed to do with his hot Scoobie, which is to photograph upside down. He swears he didn't stand on his head, but as he lives in Glasgow...

Rob C

That's better.... blood isn't rushing to my head any more Rob! hehehehe

Julie
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on August 05, 2012, 09:32:59 am
Julie,

As a long-time view camera user I now have to struggle to see how they'd look on the ground glass. Earlier was better for me. But these are nice once I turn my monitor upside down.   ;D
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on August 05, 2012, 03:33:48 pm
Remarkably nice pix from a cellphone; these handy devices are possibly going to become even greater threats to traditional cameras than we might currently believe. On top of which, they are so damned useful by dint of always (almost) being in the right place at the right time: where we happen to find ourselves.

I think there's a new revolution taking place under the blankets, one that'll affect far more than just point 'n' shoots.

Not quite ready to abandon my current cameras - Slobodan? - but who knows how the next generation of snappers may find themselves able to apply themselves to the art of snapping.

Rob C
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: jule on August 05, 2012, 04:57:28 pm
Julie,

As a long-time view camera user I now have to struggle to see how they'd look on the ground glass. Earlier was better for me. But these are nice once I turn my monitor upside down.   ;D


Hehehehehe :-)
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: jule on August 05, 2012, 05:01:13 pm
Remarkably nice pix from a cellphone; these handy devices are possibly going to become even greater threats to traditional cameras than we might currently believe. On top of which, they are so damned useful by dint of always (almost) being in the right place at the right time: where we happen to find ourselves.

I think there's a new revolution taking place under the blankets, one that'll affect far more than just point 'n' shoots.

Not quite ready to abandon my current cameras - Slobodan? - but who knows how the next generation of snappers may find themselves able to apply themselves to the art of snapping.

Rob C

I totally agree Rob. I don't have the most regent or fancy iPhone ... but to be honest, I have taken some wonderful pics with it, and it is usually always with me for exactly that purpose... to take a photo rather than making a call or a text which I do very infrequently.

I also have it with me in a little zip compartment on my running water belt... and I have some wonderful sunset skies!!! No way would I be carrying any other sort of camera when I am running!!!

Julie 

Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Iluvmycam on April 29, 2013, 06:22:12 pm
My work is ugly, it is for colletors or museums. Although I put some of it up to s'tew over' it for a time.

Pretty pix? Sure they can go up long tem. Or they can be rotated, no big deal.
Title: Re: Would you hang it in your home to look at every day?
Post by: Rob C on April 30, 2013, 05:46:19 pm
I totally agree Rob. I don't have the most regent or fancy iPhone ... but to be honest, I have taken some wonderful pics with it, and it is usually always with me for exactly that purpose... to take a photo rather than making a call or a text which I do very infrequently.

I also have it with me in a little zip compartment on my running water belt... and I have some wonderful sunset skies!!! No way would I be carrying any other sort of camera when I am running!!!

Julie  





I'm in the same boat. I bought mine because I had amassed a huge fortune number of 'credits' from the mobile 'phone company over the years and the actual purchase of the unit was about a third of the usual market price. I call almost nobody, and since the unit is nearly permanently off unless I want to snap something, few folks manage to make it through (who needs a secretary?) and annoy me. However, I feel it's an invaluable safety device when out in the car, and if I discover I have left home without it (the 'phone) I panic. These things come with the years; it's nice to feel I can call someone if I get a flat, or if I feel I'm about to pass out... Fortunately, the latter has only happend to me sitting in restaurants (cheap ones, so it's not that), but, whatever, it's good to feel I can inform someone if there's a crisis of sorts. Well, a mild one.

;-)

Rob C