Still Life from Real Life

[Harald L]

Why should a still life only be artificially arranged? Real life can be a nice still life, too.

Harald

 

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Quite lovely (and retro?). I would, however, tone down those strong highlights in the circular saw (?) in the left third of the image, and introduce some stronger vignetting. I would personally also tone it warm black, add some grain (perhaps), etc.

[Harald L]

Quite lovely (and retro?). I would, however, tone down those strong highlights in the circular saw (?) in the left third of the image, and introduce some stronger vignetting. I would personally also tone it warm black, add some grain (perhaps), etc.

Slobodan, thank you for your suggestions. I've warped it hearty.

Harald

[RSL]

By golly, look at that, add a bit of toning and a dash of grain and you've got instant pictorialism!

[David Eckels]

I like it, though can't tell you why, breaks the "business" rule, but then maybe that's the subject! Reminds me of my grandfather's shop, though his was much neater (as in well arranged)

[Harald L]

I like it, though can't tell you why, breaks the "business" rule, but then maybe that's the subject! Reminds me of my grandfather's shop, though his was much neater (as in well arranged)

Indeed, this workplace is definitely not managed by 5S-principles. But is it necessary to know why a picture does please?

Harald

[wolfnowl]

Well done.

Mike.

[Harald L]

By golly, look at that, add a bit of toning and a dash of grain and you've got instant pictorialism!

As long I thought that pictorialism is even about adding soft focus, vignette, grain and tone.

[David Eckels]

Indeed, this workplace is definitely not managed by 5S-principles. But is it necessary to know why a picture does please?

Just noticed the title...yes, real life is messy! As to why, the answer is yes, if I am trying to recognize "what works." I am envious of the formal training that some of the folks in LuLa land have received as I suspect I would understand their critiques somewhat better! Had to go to Wikipedia for a description of pictorialism

[brandtb]

Very nice image! I prefer the first one, but second perhaps with less grain...

[amolitor]

Pictorialism got a bad rap. I'm not sure where the muddy messes we associate with it came from, to be honest.

Ansel Adams started out as a pictorialist, but what people don't realize is that despite rejecting it relatively early, he remained a pictorialist his entire career. Robinson was all about sharp, detailed, and picturesque.

I'm not a fan of this particular picture, it strikes me as excessively random. There's some pleasure in the texture and arrangement of objects, and there are some appealing things about the frame, but it doesn't pull together for me. In Robinson's vernacular (which I assume he borrowed from contemporary painting or something) this picture has Variety, a modest degree of Balance, and not enough Unity. There's also some Breadth, but very little Repose.

[RSL]

Hi Andrew, To me, the most significant mark of pictorialism isn't its muddyness; it's its maudlin sentimentality, much like country music. And Henry Peach Robinson was the worst of the fake sentimentalists.

But yes, pictorialists tried to make their photographs look like classic paintings, an attempt that didn't come off too well. I guess it depends on your definition of pictorialism whether or not Adams remained a pictorialist. I think he got away from the worst of the sentimentality, but he still was trying to make paintings with a camera.

[amolitor]

Yeah, the sentimentality was pretty tedious! I quite dislike most of what Robinson made, but I quite like a lot of what he liked (Turner, basically).

Mainly I judge Adams later work as pictorialist because I recently read "Pictorial Effect in Photography" and virtually everything Adams ever showed the world is literally textbook, from that textbook. Of course, that's not all there is about pictorialism, the movement went on for a long time after that, and lots of people wrote things and defined things (including Robinson).

Anyways, um. Sorry for the derailment.

[nemo295]

Robinson was just awful in my opinion. Photos like "Fading Away" are the most syrupy, sentimental treacle imaginable. Adams, on the other hand, may have retained certain aspects of pictorialism in his later work, but gauzy sentimentality wasn't one of them. Images from his Zone System peak, such as "The Tetons--Snake River", "Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada from Lone Pine, California" and "Mount McKinley and Wonder Lake, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska" have a directness of vision and quiet grandeur that are breathtaking because their power comes from the artist's affinity with the natural world. They possess a creative integrity that Robinson's staged panderings to 19th century bourgeoise sensibilities lack.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Slobodan, thank you for your suggestions. I've warped it hearty.

Good shot, but processed now a little bit too much, in my view, Harald.

Jeremy

[Riaan van Wyk]

Good shot, but processed now a little bit too much, in my view, Harald.

Jeremy

I prefer the first one too.