Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => Street Showcase => Topic started by: stamper on May 15, 2019, 06:21:36 am

Title: Relaxing.
Post by: stamper on May 15, 2019, 06:21:36 am
?
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: petermfiore on May 15, 2019, 06:56:46 am
The jeans, the beer and the wall...love the color

Peter
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: RSL on May 15, 2019, 07:12:46 am
Good grab, Robert.
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on May 15, 2019, 03:47:25 pm
The jeans, the beer and the wall...love the color

Peter
And the title is perfect.
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: francois on May 16, 2019, 03:59:47 am
Interesting colors, indeed.
Well seen, as usual!
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Ivo_B on May 16, 2019, 04:19:52 am
Hi Stamper.

I don’t see the ‘good grab’ and ‘well seen as usual’, my shortcomings for sure.

Why did you make this picture? What made you push the button? Understanding this will help me to see what you saw.

Tx
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Rob C on May 16, 2019, 08:16:52 am
Hi Stamper.

I don’t see the ‘good grab’ and ‘well seen as usual’, my shortcomings for sure.

Why did you make this picture? What made you push the button? Understanding this will help me to see what you saw.

Tx


It's about the Scottish School of street; you have to have lived there to know it.

Ninety per cent of the attraction is in the sense of misfit: outdoor life, especially pavement life as in European towns and cities, is an alien concept to the north of Britain. It simply doesn't fly and especially, does it not translate.

For example, I am typing this with my right index finger with the iPad battery indicator screaming at me 41%! Is that a statement of the thing being forty-one percent alive, or of being fifty-nine percent dead? The relevance is in the photograph: does a guy who wears any colour of jeans other than blue, post the 60s/70s, deserve credibility? Like amolitor's contention with Impressionism, it has passed it's sell-by date, and stamper has managed to capture the essence of faux hip.

Is that more clear, now?

Rob
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: KLaban on May 16, 2019, 08:39:35 am

It's about the Scottish School of street; you have to have lived there to know it.

Ninety per cent of the attraction is in the sense of misfit: outdoor life, especially pavement life as in European towns and cities, is an alien concept to the north of Britain. It simply doesn't fly and especially, does it not translate.

For example, I am typing this with my right index finger with the iPad battery indicator screaming at me 41%! Is that a statement of the thing being forty-one percent alive, or of being fifty-nine percent dead? The relevance is in the photograph: does a guy who wears any colour of jeans other than blue, post the 60s/70s, deserve credibility? Like amolitor's contention with Impressionism, it has passed it's sell-by date, and stamper has managed to capture the essence of faux hip.

Is that more clear, now?

Rob

Ah, the Jeremy Clarkson look.

;-)
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Ivo_B on May 16, 2019, 09:17:30 am

It's about the Scottish School of street; you have to have lived there to know it.

Ninety per cent of the attraction is in the sense of misfit: outdoor life, especially pavement life as in European towns and cities, is an alien concept to the north of Britain. It simply doesn't fly and especially, does it not translate.

For example, I am typing this with my right index finger with the iPad battery indicator screaming at me 41%! Is that a statement of the thing being forty-one percent alive, or of being fifty-nine percent dead? The relevance is in the photograph: does a guy who wears any colour of jeans other than blue, post the 60s/70s, deserve credibility? Like amolitor's contention with Impressionism, it has passed it's sell-by date, and stamper has managed to capture the essence of faux hip.


Is that more clear, now?

Rob

Thanks for the explanation, Rob. Much appreciated.
Yes it is more clear.

The picture doesn't work for me, I don't have the projection that you describe and I have no feeling with the whole sense of misfit you are describing. What doesn't mean it is not there and is not worth photographing it.

It reminds me to a discussion on the muslim woman picture where the lack of universal recognition was an argument against sound street photography, does this count for this as well?

Just asking.
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: stamper on May 16, 2019, 09:45:11 am
I like the sense of mystery that is there because you can't see whether it is a man or women that is sitting there. Also the word The adds a sense of ambiguity. Ivo the other posters see something which worryingly makes you the odd one out? Are you a fan of Street?
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on May 16, 2019, 10:17:22 am
Hi Stamper.

I don’t see the ‘good grab’ and ‘well seen as usual’, my shortcomings for sure.

Why did you make this picture? What made you push the button? Understanding this will help me to see what you saw.

Tx
I am reminded of the famous quote by trumpeter Louis Armstrong:
"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Ivo_B on May 16, 2019, 10:32:22 am
I am reminded of the famous quote by trumpeter Louis Armstrong:
"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."

I think I previously showed by example I know very well about street photography. Please don’t go in this lane.
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Ivo_B on May 16, 2019, 10:41:04 am
I like the sense of mystery that is there because you can't see whether it is a man or women that is sitting there. Also the word The adds a sense of ambiguity. Ivo the other posters see something which worryingly makes you the odd one out? Are you a fan of Street?

I am a fan of good photography, Street or not.
I don’t think the few appreciations above make me the odd one out, let’s stay intellectual honest. 😉

I just asked why you made the picture, I got an answer, thanks. I don’t have a qualitative judgement on your picture as such.
Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on May 16, 2019, 01:58:10 pm
... It reminds me to a discussion on the muslim woman picture where the lack of universal recognition was an argument against sound street photography, does this count for this as well?...

No, it doesn't count as well. There was absolutely no lack of universal recognition in your Muslim woman picture. Just someone who pretended they didn't recognize it in order not to cede the point.

As for the OP image, in spite of Rob's explanation, one doesn't have to be a connoisseur of Scottish School of street photography, if such a thing exists, to appreciate the image. It might add some extra layer of significance to someone from Scotland, but it certainly works on a universal level just as well.

Who doesn't appreciate finding a quiet, secluded, warm spot in the sun, with a cold beer and a newspaper? The choice of drink and reading medium might depend on the continent and culture, but the essence is the same.

There are strong graphical elements in the image. From the well-positioned beer against the dark background, to intricate details on the columns, framing the image.

But there is a twist: the burst of unexpected color, adding to the ambiguity of who is the reader. Gay, or straight enough to have a full confidence in his sexuality? Or just a rebel. Young or old (I'd go for old, who else would read a newspaper?).

All these elements, cultural, graphic, color-wise, compositional, form a picture that, like comfort food, resonates with many.

What is surprising is that you, The King of Banal, do not see anything in the image. Then again, it is not banal, so there is that, I guess. Even more surprising is that a Belgian does not see anything in it. One of my little pleasures while in Brussels was exactly that: finding a sunny spot on the main plaza, ordering a beer, enjoying its backlit golden glow, reading a paper, surrounded by the classical architecture, similar to the one in the image.

Cheers!



Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Ivo_B on May 16, 2019, 03:02:33 pm
No, it doesn't count as well. There was absolutely no lack of universal recognition in your Muslim woman picture. Just someone who pretended they didn't recognize it in order not to cede the point.

As for the OP image, in spite of Rob's explanation, one doesn't have to be a connoisseur of Scottish School of street photography, if such a thing exists, to appreciate the image. It might add some extra layer of significance to someone from Scotland, but it certainly works on a universal level just as well.

Who doesn't appreciate finding a quiet, secluded, warm spot in the sun, with a cold beer and a newspaper? The choice of drink and reading medium might depend on the continent and culture, but the essence is the same.

There are strong graphical elements in the image. From the well-positioned beer against the dark background, to intricate details on the columns, framing the image.

But there is a twist: the burst of unexpected color, adding to the ambiguity of who is the reader. Gay, or straight enough to have a full confidence in his sexuality? Or just a rebel. Young or old (I'd go for old, who else would read a newspaper?).

All these elements, cultural, graphic, color-wise, compositional, form a picture that, like comfort food, resonates with many.

What is surprising is that you, The King of Banal, do not see anything in the image. Then again, it is not banal, so there is that, I guess. Even more surprising is that a Belgian does not see anything in it. One of my little pleasures while in Brussels was exactly that: finding a sunny spot on the main plaza, ordering a beer, enjoying its backlit golden glow, reading a paper, surrounded by the classical architecture, similar to the one in the image.

Cheers!

I admit I'm not typical Belgian in relation to beer and sitting on a terras. :-) To be frank, I don't care. Maybe that's the reason why it doesn't work for me.

Thanks for your explication, Slobodan. I learned something about what triggers the interest of the public here and what the rationale is behind the superlatives given. It's perfectly fine for me.
As said from the beginning, It is my shortcoming, after all the explanation and with a lot of good will, It doesn't work for me. And I repeat, That doesn't mean the picture was not worth making it and it is not a qualitative judgment. it is a positive feedback.



Title: Re: Relaxing.
Post by: Rob C on May 16, 2019, 03:12:39 pm
I have noticed lately that several photographs of a vaguely street orientation destroy themselves by being way over-crisp, if I may say so.

There is a point, easily reached and passed, where all that detail may well impress the gear freaks in the camera clubs, but absolutely confuses the aesthetic judgement call, either in northern Britain, the Balearics or the United States of America. (Just noticed what a helluva long name that is - no surprise, then, that my favourite land yacht followed suit, even back in '59.)

Much of the charm of HC-B as well as of St Saul lies in their softer, more humanistic take on people and crispness; it's why, if you study his street work, my otherwise very admired photographic idol Ernst H. doesn't come over as successfully in his NY street pix: all too friggin' in focus with competition for attention in every square centimetre. It doesn't take genius to suss this out, but it does take soul.

I should have mentioned our Slobodan there, too: his Cuban shots through rainy windscreens are magical because of the unstated, though I have to admit, for me they do not touch his fantastic Parisian shower through a window. Quite unforgettable, which very few photographs ever are unless they are one's own with all attendant baggage that alters the perspective somewhat.

Cropping is also a useful device, and especially with digital one can do that without any great penalty if for web use - which I suppose most of everything here is. If you can't achieve HC-B's geometry in camera, for one reason or another, you don't have to live with it forever, you can make the image you wanted the image you present.

Bugger! Time to apply the evening's dose of eye drops. At least with 'phones and magical, wireless, invisible connectivity I can pass the boring ten minutes with closed eyes, yet listen to and enjoy the sweet swamp rock out of Louisiana; who'd have imagined any of this a few short years ago?