Luminous Landscape Forum
Site & Board Matters => About This Site => Topic started by: Ray on June 30, 2014, 07:06:50 am
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C'mon Kevin. I'm Australian. You're image is pretty boring. There needs to be more detail and interest there to catch the attention. I know Australia is a big continent, and some places are rather desolate. Is this the impression you are trying to create? Boring Australia! ;)
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You know Ray, I'm not going down this path with you again. The image works for me. Too bad it doesn't for you.
Maybe you'd share with us some of your images?
Kevin Raber
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C'mon Kevin. I'm Australian. You're image is pretty boring. There needs to be more detail and interest there to catch the attention. I know Australia is a big continent, and some places are rather desolate. Is this the impression you are trying to create? Boring Australia! ;)
Ray,
If Kevin were to remove the tittle, you would have no issue with image?
Peter
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You know Ray, I'm not going down this path with you again. The image works for me. Too bad it doesn't for you.
Maybe you'd share with us some of your images?
Kevin Raber
Okay! I'll share with you a sunset image taken a few years ago, in Northern Australia, at a coastal town called Karumba. Without the pelicans, this image would be hardly better than yours. It's the pelicans that make it worthwhile.
I hope no offense is taken.
Regards, Ray
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C'mon Kevin. I'm Australian. You're image is pretty boring.
“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
― Anaïs Nin
Food for thought...
Phil
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“We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are.”
― Anaïs Nin
Food for thought...
Phil
Good point! That's the definition of an opinion. I'm expressing an opinion. Do you expect me to express an indisputable, ultimate truth? I haven't reach that stage yet. ;)
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Actually, I have no expectations of anyone. And I do hope that all opinions are welcome here, as long as they're respectful of others.
As someone who isn't highly accomplished in photography, I don't find it useful when those who post say an image is great or terrible without elaborating, as it doesn't tell me WHY they feel that way and therefore, their post is of no value to me as I can't learn anything. Still, I see nothing wrong with such posts as long as they don't include personal attacks. There's enough of that in the world, without doing it here too. And I'm not saying you're doing this Ray...just a comment in general.
Because everyone sees photographic images (and the world too, of course!) differently, rather than saying something like "that image is boring" I personally would say "to me, the image doesn't appear very interesting" or "from my perspective, I'd need a foreground subject to make it interesting." The words "to me, it appears" comes before nearly every stated opinion I have about anything as, after all, all any of us can say is how something appears through our personal "filter" and I think that's what Anais Nin was pointing to in her quote.
For what it's worth...
Phil
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Okay! I'll share with you a sunset image taken a few years ago, in Northern Australia, at a coastal town called Karumba. Without the pelicans, this image would be hardly better than yours. It's the pelicans that make it worthwhile.
Adding a nice looking female swimmer chasing the pelicans would make it even more worthwhile.
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It came as a big surprise to me but on this occasion I actually agree with Ray. So I sat down and thought about it again, and gave myself 24 hours to think about it again.
To me this is simply a warm up shot - just like athletes go through their preparations before a competition or a game. It may hold some emotional memories or significance for the photographer concerned, but does nothing for me.
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[quote author=peterottaway link=topic=91240.msg742664#msg742664 date=1404174703
To me this is simply a warm up shot - just like athletes go through their preparations before a competition or a game. It may hold some emotional memories or significance for the photographer concerned, but does nothing for me.
[/quote]
Because it does nothing for you it's a warm up shot.....lot's warm ups hanging in a lot of museums then!
Peter
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... You're image is pretty boring. There needs to be more detail and interest there to catch the attention....
Tell that to Gursky and his Rhein II ;)
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C'mon Kevin. I'm Australian. You're image is pretty boring.... Is this the impression you are trying to create? Boring Australia! ;)
If Australia isn't so boring, how come you are such heavy drinkers? ;)
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I'm an Aussie. We drink heavily because at anytime it could be your last, with some many things here that can kill you...
More seriously, I like the image - a lot. There's a sense of balance an symmetry between the wash-line and the pink-cloud-line against the darker clouds.
The single breaking wave near the middle attracts the eye and the texture of the clouds and the breaking foam compliment each other and I like the patches of red clouds in the midst of the darker ones.
Desolate is right. Broome is remote. Most of Australia is remote. But despite that remote, emptiness in abundance, there's so much detail if you look. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I've travelled more of Australian than 99% of people, and to me it captures a lot of the right feeling and brings a calm satisfaction with it. I've love to see it large.
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I wonder what Ray is going to think and state when Kevin finally posts a truly awful image? Will there be any negatives to spout? Is it the best image of Australia? No. Is it the worst? No. A visitor to a place can't hope to know the "best" locations, only a resident. Ray if Kevin had managed to capture an image that was better than any of yours then would you have thought about selling your equipment?
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IMO the image would reach another level if displayed or printed really big. I see this photo as a study in colour going through several layers: the sand at the bottom, with similar colour and tones to the sky, with a middle layer of sea blue.
In a way, it may seem boring to some, and I understand that; to me, it talks about tranquillity, I can see myself seating in that beach, having a sun downer and admiring the view.
And indeed the lonely breaking wave, with the small splash of white, adds a special point of interest to rest the eye.
I like it.
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I wonder what Ray is going to think and state when Kevin finally posts a truly awful image? Will there be any negatives to spout? Is it the best image of Australia? No. Is it the worst? No. A visitor to a place can't hope to know the "best" locations, only a resident. Ray if Kevin had managed to capture an image that was better than any of yours then would you have thought about selling your equipment?
Stamper,
I try not to identify with my images, beyond the concept of ownership. I would hope that anyone could criticize any of my images to his heart's content, pull them to pieces and verbally trash them, and I would succeed in not being distressed at all.
Of course, I'm smart enough to be able to distinguish between an opinion on the image and an ad hominem attack on the person who produced the image, or on the person criticizing the image.
I don't engage in ad hominem attacks. However I can understand, when people identify too strongly with their images, and consider them to be a part of their ego and personality, then a criticism of any of their images can be perceived as a criticism of themselves, like an ad hominem attack, and they sometimes respond in kind.
I hope that my images can stand for themselves. Whether they are perceived as good or bad, beautiful or ugly, interesting or boring, inspiring or dull, is all in the mind of the beholder.
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Tell that to Gursky and his Rhein II ;)
Interesting association, Slobodan. Is Kevin trying to replicate a Rhein II effect? Going back to that Rhein II image to compare it with Kevin's shot, I see a vague similarity. I'd say the sky in Kevin's shot is definitely more interesting. However, the break in the surf, the prominent rock lower centre, (both of which distract the eye and the attention) and the uneven horizontal line separating the beach from the sea, spoil the symmetry. Just my humble opinion. ;)
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I don’t believe this image can be evaluated effectively at all at the sub miniature size displayed on the home page. The color palette is great and there is a lot going on ... just too small to see. I think the image would have a completely different feel if I were to see an actual print 24” long or better, where I can appreciate the textures of the beach, the subtle wave in the middle, etc.
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I don't understand the point of this type of negative comment, other than perhaps to boost the writer's ego in his own mind ("since I can criticize you, I must be better than you"). I do find constructive criticism to be useful. For example, it can be very instructive for somebody to re-crop an image, tonally re-balance an image, etc., and in that way demonstrate how an image can be improved. That can be a real learning experience. But simply to say "I don't like this" or "it's boring" is itself boring. Who cares what you think? Yeah, I know, if I don't like a comment I can just ignore it. But by the same token, if you don't like an image, you can also not comment in the first place. (And the astute reader will notice that I have refrained from actually commenting on the image in question.)
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Hey Wayne, You are absolutely right. We are trying to to do something about the small images on the site. In the meantime CLICK HERE (http://kevinraber.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/fb-broome-sunset.jpg) to see a larger version. I have made this image 36 inches in width and flush mounted on aluminum with a high-gloss finish. It just pops. I put it up in the gallery and the next day it was sold. There are people here in the US that don't find this image boring.
Kevin Raber
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Hey Wayne, You are absolutely right. We are trying to to do something about the small images on the site. In the meantime CLICK HERE (http://kevinraber.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/fb-broome-sunset.jpg) to see a larger version. I have made this image 36 inches in width and flush mounted on aluminum with a high-gloss finish. It just pops. I put it up in the gallery and the next day it was sold. There are people here in the US that don't find this image boring.
Kevin Raber
Lovely! What seemed just a dark blob in the chicklet now is a much lighter, interesting limestone feature. Tiny images have been a gripe of mine also, and I've enjoyed the occasional links to larger ones. Any chance of a sizable one of "Heavy Metal" to see what it really looks like - and perhaps clear the air a bit?
Pete
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Lovely! What seemed just a dark blob in the chicklet now is a much lighter, interesting limestone feature. Tiny images have been a gripe of mine also, and I've enjoyed the occasional links to larger ones. Any chance of a sizable one of "Heavy Metal" to see what it really looks like - and perhaps clear the air a bit?
Pete
Whoa!! My wish fulfilled instantly as I ran across Kevin's answer to Dreed's "click-through" question, with a link to his blog: http://kevinraber.com/
Here I find a nice image of "Heavy Metal", that expands to a width of about 30" - and, what, 45" height! A very impressive image, reminiscent of the Deco era photographs and stylized paintings with their massive cylindrical forms, heroic men and women. I grew up with this aesthetic, as my mother was an artist and designer in NYC in the early to mid 30's - thanks to Roosevelt's WPA which put so many artists, photographers, writers, musicians, architects, engineers to work, along with the builders, to create so much that we can still enjoy today.
To my admittedly old eyes and a well-calibrated monitor for printing, Kevin,s image is not at all "overprocessed", but captures to power and texture of the simple forms, and their fasteners, as well as their slow degradation over time.
Pete
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OK, so from now on I will link to the images on my blog when I do a home page post. You can click through a few times to see bigger sizes as stated above. Like I have been saying to see these images in print is a whole other experience.
Kevin Raber