Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: amolitor on May 08, 2012, 10:47:48 am
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Enjoy.
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Enjoy.
"I stand for strong composition and meaningful images."
I stand for ladies and also when I can't find a seat.
Rob C
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And the meaning of this one is...?
I see the guy's backside is covered by a leaf. I don't know, it is usually one's front that is covered, and it is usually a fig leaf. In this case, I am completely baffled as to the meaningfulness of this image.
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Also baffled that the title suggests that there was only one photograph from today and this was it.
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I think I'll stick to my fog snapshots ;)
John
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Your fog photo isn't a snapshot, John. Mine is.
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Slobadon, I don't pretend to define what meaning you find in a photograph. If you find some meaning in mine, that's fine. Perhaps you do not, it seems as if you do not, and that's also fine. Perhaps you don't even care about meaning, and that's fine too. Meaning is my motivation, and I do not intend to force it on anyone else.
I do care for meaning, and I strive to produce photographs in which the viewer might find some meaning, photographs which induce some reaction or emotion beyond the actuality of the subject. I do not pretend to succeed consistently, that's my goal, my destination, not my location.
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louoates, I assume you are being facetious, but perhaps english is not your first language. "Today's <Noun>" is an idiomatic usage, and does not carry a connotation of "only one today, in the universe". I might say "Today's lunch was a curry wrap" without intended that everyone on earth ate a curry wrap for lunch, only that I did myself.
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And, finally, if anyone would like to actually say anything about my photograph, that would be delightful.
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Your fog photo isn't a snapshot, John. Mine is.
Amolitor
I apologise for my comment. Looking back at my previous thread, I think that I misread the intention of your post in that one (Oaks in Fog).
As to your picture here - like the others, I'm somewhat baffled. The composition could work well, if the figure was slightly less advanced through the frame and if the leaves of the plants were not obscuring the subject so strongly (and very OOF to boot). It's the kind of thing which HCB would pull off brilliantly and manage to compose on the fly, as it were. This is a bit like naive painting - the lack of technique (in the sense of formal composition and framing) is initially offputting, but unlike the great naive artists there seems to be little in the way of substantive content to compensate.
Well, that's sort of what I think - sounds a bit pompous, doesn't it ;)
John
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... I do care for meaning...
And that is why I asked what do you see in it.
Too often people post photographs and ask "what do you think?" or similar. Well, before asking us to say something about it, how about you tell us something about your photograph? Some photographs speak for themselves, i.e., the intent and meaning is either obvious or easy to ballpark. Some are more cryptic and do require a thought or two from the author.
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No worries, John! Thanks for your thoughts, and thank you for taking the time to formulate them and write them down.
Slobadon, fair enough. I'm interested in what people see in a photograph with a bunch of explanation, and I even dislike titles since I want to see what I can feel first. However, since you ask politely, I will tell you what I was striving for.
First, what I was trying for isn't entirely capable of being put down in words - else why make the photograph? I visualized the photograph first with a corner, a man's foot and coat visible, having passed around the corner, in motion. Looking quickly around my back yard, I decided to try it down the aisle between the two buildings instead. The initial notion was a feeling of departure, of someone passing by or of leaving, someone almost gone but not quite. Looking at the results I shot, I decided to emphasize the light ahead of the figure, and darken the area behind, to enhance the sense of motion from one place to another.
So, the ideas are departure and secondary idea of movement from/to. Ideally, the photograph would evoke a remembered feeling of when someone in your life moved on in some sense, or perhaps a scene from a book or a movie where something similar occurred.
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Sorry to say but I don't get the idea behind this either, as others have mentioned.
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So, the ideas are departure and secondary idea of movement from/to. Ideally, the photograph would evoke a remembered feeling of when someone in your life moved on in some sense, or perhaps a scene from a book or a movie where something similar occurred.
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For that to work ( for me) the figure needs to be more prominent in the frame, it's just not commanding enough attention to suggest the idea behind the photo.
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The concept, as described, is fine. The execution requires simplification and refinement... which means, in all likelihood, another take. A partial figure, a blurred figure (or part of), with other elements subordinated to the main idea, instead of overpowering it and competing for attention.
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Sorry, I just see a dark photo of the back of some stranger's head walking away from me down an alley. How are you going to get me to care about what's happening?
Maybe if you stood up...
;-)
Rob C
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I think it could be interesting, but...
* It is a bit dark.
* The leaves in front of the person break the visual train of thought.
A very slight bit lighter and without those leaves on the left, I think it could work, but unfortunately, that isn't what you got right now. If you have access to the location, I'd give it another shot because it is an interesting idea in an interesting place.
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Thank you all who gave me some of your time and brainpower.
I'm going to try to synthesize an alternative image from the conversation, and take a crack at it tomorrow at roughly the same time and place. I'm excited!
(If Rob C is happy being comic relief, I am happy to have him as comic relief)
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Why do some confuse kindnesss with comedy?
Rob C
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Riaan, what was it you claimed?
Seems like talking about a photo is way way too difficult for Rob C.
Oh Isaac, you're too kind!
On the other hand, sometimes a photo offers little about which to talk, but why should that stop some of us from trying to trawl for that je ne sais quoi that might just be the little lost pearl glistening upon the mudflat? Unfortunately, as you've often discovered for yourself, it isn't.
;-(
Rob C
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Somewhat intriguing, but too obscure (both literally and figuratively) to maintain the attention.
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... but why should that stop some of us...
A scintilla of consideration.
Now you understand why I believe that all 'critique' is nonsense?
Now I understand your comments in "User Critiques" to be drumming home that point. Whatever.
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A scintilla of consideration.Now I understand your comments in "User Critiques" to be drumming home that point. Whatever.
Finish the context: you'll see that consideration has nothing to do with it. I'm actually suggesting that there's nothing amiss with looking for something in pictures, but don't feel upset if it isn't there. The consideration, in the sense you chose to use the word, perhaps lies in not offering any criticism about the picture itself?
Whatever? Quite.
Rob C
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When we have nothing to say about the picture, consideration for others would suggest we have nothing to say in "User Critiques".
Isaac, I think I'll simply say goodnight. Out of consideration for you, of course.
Goodnight and goodbye, Isaac.
Rob C