Pages: 1 [2] 3   Go Down

Author Topic: The Making of Pilbara Storm  (Read 17968 times)

Isaac

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 3123
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #20 on: July 13, 2012, 10:41:35 am »

I know my work polarizes people - but at least I am noticed!

(Humour) “Of course, you know the adage, if you can’t make it good, make it big. If you can’t make it big, make it red. So we do like big red photographs.”

New York Times - December 3, 2006
Logged

viewfinder

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 124
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #21 on: July 13, 2012, 11:36:17 am »

Some interesting replies and attitudes so far.......

Personally, I don't, and have never, thought that photography either can or should be bound by the same criteria as graphic art,....while a work of art can utilise 'artists licence', a different set of 'rules' exists for photography due to the unwritten parameters that society places upon it........

Unfortunately, once a photograph crosses the line into looking 'fake' it's integrity is lost for me.....and, it woul dhave been better for the photographer to have set aside his camera and reached for brushes and canvas.

As members of western societies we are bombarded from morning to night with highly skilled image making, and, without any concious thought we are all expert at interpreting images.  In recent times the verb 'to photoshop' has passed into common English usage just as a previous generation finally accepted the verb 'to airbrush'.   Sadly these phrases are not usually employed positively, especially by non-photographers.

Fortunately, it is not inscribed on any tablet of stone that photography has to be realistic,..but it IS an unwritten rule that it must at least tempt the viewer to believe,...and Pilbara Storm does not do so, for me anyway.....

I'm quite sure that the over dramatic treatment will enable large sales if the right gallery space can be aquired and prints might well sell for large sums,........and, in a few months or years, for much lesser sums in a street market near to you.   The people who will love this are not going to see the incongruity of the piece, or question the non-reality of sky with landscape, it's only the drama that speaks  momentarily....and that came from photoshop.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2012, 11:39:10 am by viewfinder »
Logged

MarkL

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 475
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #22 on: July 13, 2012, 11:46:11 am »

Some interesting replies and attitudes so far.......

Personally, I don't, and have never, thought that photography either can or should be bound by the same criteria as graphic art,....while a work of art can utilise 'artists licence', a different set of 'rules' exists for photography due to the unwritten parameters that society places upon it........

Unfortunately, once a photograph crosses the line into looking 'fake' it's integrity is lost for me.....and, it woul dhave been better for the photographer to have set aside his camera and reached for brushes and canvas.

As members of western societies we are bombarded from morning to night with highly skilled image making, and, without any concious thought we are all expert at interpreting images.  In recent times the verb 'to photoshop' has passed into common English usage just as a previous generation finally accepted the verb 'to airbrush'.   Sadly these phrases are not usually employed positively, especially by non-photographers.

Fortunately, it is not inscribed on any tablet of stone that photography has to be realistic,..but it IS an unwritten rule that it must at least tempt the viewer to believe,...and Pilbara Storm does not do so, for me anyway.....

I'm quite sure that the over dramatic treatment will enable large sales if the right gallery space can be aquired and prints might well sell for large sums,........and, in a few months or years, for much lesser sums in a street market near to you.   The people who will love this are not going to see the incongruity of the piece, or question the non-reality of sky with landscape, it's only the drama that speaks  momentarily....and that came from photoshop.

Agreed. This image isn't quite as bad as others showcased here thoughf or example the making of sugarloaf rock http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/the_making_of_sugarloaf_rock.shtml
Logged

Slobodan Blagojevic

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 18090
  • When everyone thinks the same, nobody thinks
    • My website
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #23 on: July 13, 2012, 03:09:26 pm »

... Maybe, in this iPhone instagram age, non-photographers think it's ordinary to make their snapshots moody?

Or, perhaps, in this everyone-is-photographer age, where everyone can produce a decent, "normal" photograph, people would prefer to see photographs that THEY can not make? That is, photographs beyond "normal" and real, hence the popularity of Instagrams, HDRs and obviously photoshopped images. Perhaps people want to escape from reality? Isn't that the the same reason beyond the popularity of Sci-Fi, fairy tales, historic fantasies, imaginary friends?

Slobodan Blagojevic

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 18090
  • When everyone thinks the same, nobody thinks
    • My website
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #24 on: July 13, 2012, 04:33:24 pm »

(... the technical skills required to post-process that photograph into something else entirely are also now vastly less...

I would compare it to English language: many speak it, few well.

Eric Myrvaagnes

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 22814
  • http://myrvaagnes.com
    • http://myrvaagnes.com
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #25 on: July 13, 2012, 06:13:40 pm »

I would compare it to English language: many speak it, few well.
+1.
Logged
-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

LesPalenik

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 5339
    • advantica blog
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #26 on: July 13, 2012, 07:04:00 pm »

Unfortunately, once a photograph crosses the line into looking 'fake' it's integrity is lost for me.....and, it woul dhave been better for the photographer to have set aside his camera and reached for brushes and canvas.

Unfortunately, not everybody is as skilled with brushes as with Photoshop sliders. And even worse, there are just too many "artistic" plugins to experiment with.
Logged

Farmer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2848
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #27 on: July 14, 2012, 03:59:51 am »

It's a classic response, I know, but I hope all these people who seem to object to Peter's shot also object to Ansel Adams and, well, pretty much any black and white (since that's NOT how it looked, obviously).
Logged
Phil Brown

viewfinder

  • Full Member
  • ***
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 124
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #28 on: July 14, 2012, 04:47:23 am »

......I don't know the work of Adams especially well since I'm English, however those of his images that I have seen reproduced are quite acceptable because, unlike Pilbara Storm, the artifice does not overshadow the content.

Viewers of B/W photographs (in western societies) understand that they are looking at a scene which has been rendered into monotone from any natural colouring,...as I mentioned before; western society is very skilled at interpretation of image, often without understanding why or how.   However, in photography believability is everything and Pilbara Storm does not have it.......
Logged

Farmer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2848
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #29 on: July 14, 2012, 04:59:19 am »

I'm curious - have you actually been to the Pilbara, or outback Australia, generally?

Anyway, we won't agree, as you're in favour of literalism for photography (which is fine).

BTW, Adam's work (and I'm not American either) could hardly be described as "photorealistic", yet he's quite rightly one of the most celebrated photographers.
Logged
Phil Brown

Tony Jay

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2965
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #30 on: July 14, 2012, 05:38:37 am »

I am with Phil here.

No-one is denying, least of all Peter Eastway, that the image has been processed according to a style that Peter Eastway favours.
The believability of the result is completely another issue.
Actually the reds found in the Pilbara, not to mention large parts of inland Australia (often referred to as the "Red Centre") are absolutely extraordinary.

Along with Phil I happen to be a local (Australian as opposed to West Australian where the Pilbara is actually located) and I have actually visited these places (with camera in hand) and can attest first hand to the amazing reds.

Perhaps I sound a bit like a travel agent here but you could do worse than bring you and your camera on a trip "Down Under" to photograph the amazing deserts and savannahs of Australia. I am due to spend five weeks in the Kimberleys (also in Western Australia) shortly with the sole purpose of shooting the country. Unfortunately I won't make to the Pilbara on this trip but I promise you it is high on the "bucket list".

Regards

Tony Jay
Logged

Farmer

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2848
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #31 on: July 14, 2012, 05:58:16 am »

I'm jealous of your 5 week trip, Tony :-)
Logged
Phil Brown

Tony Jay

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2965
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #32 on: July 14, 2012, 06:23:49 am »

I'm jealous of your 5 week trip, Tony :-)
Yes, hard to think about it without drooling!

Regards

Tony Jay
Logged

Eric Myrvaagnes

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 22814
  • http://myrvaagnes.com
    • http://myrvaagnes.com
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #33 on: July 14, 2012, 09:06:41 am »

......I don't know the work of Adams especially well since I'm English, however those of his images that I have seen reproduced are quite acceptable because, unlike Pilbara Storm, the artifice does not overshadow the content.

Viewers of B/W photographs (in western societies) understand that they are looking at a scene which has been rendered into monotone from any natural colouring,...as I mentioned before; western society is very skilled at interpretation of image, often without understanding why or how.   However, in photography believability is everything and Pilbara Storm does not have it.......
This got me to thinking about the many photographs I've seen of "Red Rock" country in the southwestern U.S.A. In New England where I live I have never seen any rock that isn't some shade of gray. So color photos of Red Rock scenes would look much more believable to me if the reds were changed to gray while other colors were left alone (skies blue, foliage green, etc.)

I've never been to Pilbara, but I find Eastway's rendering quite plausible.
Logged
-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

Patricia Sheley

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1112
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #34 on: July 14, 2012, 09:56:07 am »

This got me to thinking about the many photographs I've seen of "Red Rock" country in the southwestern U.S.A. In New England where I live I have never seen any rock that isn't some shade of gray. So color photos of Red Rock scenes would look much more believable to me if the reds were changed to gray while other colors were left alone (skies blue, foliage green, etc.)

I've never been to Pilbara, but I find Eastway's rendering quite plausible.

I find this self querying thought insightful ....and inspirational toward a vision past surface and obvious... there will always be the battle of why we photograph, what a photograph is or should be...but there is so much more ...the expression of exuberance of the moment as we experienced it at the time or during the time of wait and seeing more deeply. Yes, there are the old tunes of not the score , but the performance, but even that partial expression of how Ansel actually was fighting out these questions in his mind, alongside others in the short-lived group 64, during the battles leading up to the first MoMA exhibits etc, to say nothing of the arrival on scene of Edwin Land ( Land camera ) and how this helped to inform in the pre-visualization
« Last Edit: July 14, 2012, 10:18:12 am by Patricia Sheley »
Logged
A common woman~

Patricia Sheley

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1112
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #35 on: July 14, 2012, 10:01:56 am »

I find this self querying thought insightful ....and inspirational toward a vision past surface and obvious... there will always be the batttle of why we photograph, what a photograph is or should be...but there is so much more ...the expression of exuberance of the moment as we experienced it at the time or during the time of wait and seeing more deeply. Yes, there are the old tunes of not the score , but the performance, but even that partial expression of howAnsel actually was fighting out these questions in his mind, alongside others in the short-lived group 64, during the battles leading up to thefirst MoMA exhibits etc, to say nothing of the arrival on scene of Edwin Land ( Land camera ) and how this help to inform in the pre-visualation
...in the pre-visualization of intent or moment...mix the viewpoints and approach of Minor White and Jerry Uelsmann and this is a place of extreme possibility and richness if we are willing to step back long enough to really see, and then move to the expression of that which excites us...

As an aside, as I have been relocated to Boston the last months from CT to help in the care of my husband through challenging surgeries, I have been able to slip away from time to time to poke around through some
« Last Edit: July 14, 2012, 10:19:45 am by Patricia Sheley »
Logged
A common woman~

Patricia Sheley

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 1112
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #36 on: July 14, 2012, 10:15:18 am »

...wonderful exhibits at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem MA. A side of Ansel of which many have never been aware, including an expression of his exhuberance early in life (1920) that said it all for me...The family owns and does not exhibit that print but a negative print on loan from Arizona is on view. Sitting in hospitals I took the time to read the Letters : Ansel Adams 1916-1984. Unbelievably informing and illiminating... then also on view is the Jerry Uelsmann exhibit as part of the PEM Photographic summer.... We, and our "sticky" viewpoints and beliefs are easily opened and expanded moving back and forth through the somewhat unknown Adams work and the travels well after the foundation images are gathered in the magical travels of Uelsmann...just a thought if anyone is up this way for some very pleasant vision openers...

have missed you all, and even thinking in black and white I find my dreams requiring a wratten to get back there on awakening...

affectionate greeting to all, Pat
Logged
A common woman~

Eric Myrvaagnes

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 22814
  • http://myrvaagnes.com
    • http://myrvaagnes.com
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #37 on: July 14, 2012, 10:47:01 am »

It's good to have you back on Lula, Patricia!

I saw the Uelsmann exhibit at PEM before Ansel's show went up, and I expect to get to Ansel soon.

As for youthful exuberance, I hope you sat through Uelsmann's early film on eating spaghetti.

Ansel and Jerry and Minor all pushed at the boundaries of expression, each in his own powerful way.

I hope your husband has a speedy recovery.

Eric
Logged
-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

kers

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4388
    • Pieter Kers
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #38 on: July 14, 2012, 10:52:49 am »

Photorealistic....

Ansel Adams pictures are Black and White : Just how realistic is that?
We have just been brought up with BW images that is why we find it more realistic than say saturated colored ones.
I met a man in the desert. I showed him a picture; he did not see anything in it.

PK

Logged
Pieter Kers
www.beeld.nu/la

Wayne Fox

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 4237
    • waynefox.com
Re: The Making of Pilbara Storm
« Reply #39 on: July 14, 2012, 03:18:06 pm »

Photorealistic....

Ansel Adams pictures are Black and White : Just how realistic is that?

This is brought up so many times, but it seems to be an apples to oranges (or perhaps oranges to limes) type of comparison.
 
Perhaps this choice was mostly about the technical limitations of color processes when he was in his most productive shooting years?  And while no one can argue with his greatness and the way he changed landscape photography during his lifetime, does he "define" the art of photography today? I don't say this because I think Peter's image is over the top, just more about seeing this argument brought up countless times to justify doing anything one wants to an image ... the standard "justification" statement.

I think Peter's image is fabulous and I believe he captured the essence and emotion of what he was seeing and feeling at the time  far better than his two companions.  To me that's one of the most important aspects of allowing a viewer to see through ones eyes, and is the most difficult. I've seen red sand and red rocks, and know how they can take on an almost iridescent glow in the right light.  While perhaps he's pushed it a little not many don't, and I love the image.  I do get uncomfortable with extreme manipulation of a location (as in the discussion about Alain's article) and feel when I shoot there is an expectation to present an image which is somewhat true to the scene ... especially things that are permanent and not man made.  I don't really care if others do it, but I do think it might be nice if they called their work photo-ilustration. Certainly anyone can to what they want, but calling in Ansel's name to try to justify it seems the wrong approach ... if you have to "justify" something, perhaps you are the person needing convincing?

Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3   Go Up