No Standing

[James Clark]

Going back through some old files - in this case my sister-in-law's college graduation a few years back - and I thought this particular forum might enjoy this shot. 

[wolfnowl]

Nicely done.  I'm a little put off by the traffic light in the upper right, but it could stay.

Mike.

[amolitor]

I like the various signage and the figures walking toward KARMA. There's some things to like in here. It's a pleasingly balanced frame, not too busy, with some witty things in it.

Overall feel, I suspect the photographer of cleaving to the Full Tonal Range school of thought, which is manifesting these days as violently contrasty images. I dislike the tonal palette, and I don't think it's appropriate to the scene. It's raining. Let the greys come out to play a little! Maybe there's some technical reason why this cannot be, though, and I am unjustly accusing the photographer!

[stamper]

I like the processing and in general contrasty images. The top right is nicely filled and adds a sense of depth to the frame imo. An image that makes you think instead of passing quickly on.

[James Clark]

I like the various signage and the figures walking toward KARMA. There's some things to like in here. It's a pleasingly balanced frame, not too busy, with some witty things in it.

Overall feel, I suspect the photographer of cleaving to the Full Tonal Range school of thought, which is manifesting these days as violently contrasty images. I dislike the tonal palette, and I don't think it's appropriate to the scene. It's raining. Let the greys come out to play a little! Maybe there's some technical reason why this cannot be, though, and I am unjustly accusing the photographer!

You're not - Guilty as charged .  Though in my defense, I will say that it was one of those "rainy" days when the sky is more of a blown out light, light grey than dark clouds, and the doorway entrance and the coats and gown my sister-in-law was wearing were very dark, so on the whole not a lot of actual mid tones in the scene anyway as I recall...

[RSL]

What I see is the backs of some people on a wet street. I hate to even ask this, but what is the point of the picture?

[James Clark]

What I see is the backs of some people on a wet street. I hate to even ask this, but what is the point of the picture?

Its three people walking by a"no standing anytime" sign.  The wet street is incidental, and the rest of it just a place in time.  I like it compositionally. 

[nemo295]

What I see is the backs of some people on a wet street. I hate to even ask this, but what is the point of the picture?

Geez, Russ, you have something against raincoats and wet streets? 

[amolitor]

For me, the No Standing sign is a bit of trivial humor, and it's the mostly obscured KARMA sign under the TAFT APARTMENTS sign that pulls it together for me.

Past the No Standing sign, walking toward KARMA, on a rainy day. It kinda works.

[RSL]

Well, as I said, I hated to ask the question. I guess I still don't get it. If they were standing in front of the no standing sign that would make it a visual pun, but they're not standing. They're walking.

[James Clark]

Well, as I said, I hated to ask the question. I guess I still don't get it. If they were standing in front of the no standing sign that would make it a visual pun, but they're not standing. They're walking.

I get what you're saying.  You're not wrong, but it creates an interesting question for me about what constitutes a meaningful piece of work. *I* care because the people on the shot are my family and the place is where my sis-in-law lived in college.  This was graduation weekend and I liked seeing her, my wife and their mother as a set in a place and at a time that has importance.  On an artistic level, I like the composition and the tonality, but its absolutely possible that my attachment tothe place and time has resulted in a photo that is meaningless to anyone but me. So what does that say about the relative merit of the image? Not sure

[RSL]

Thanks, James. What you're telling me is that it's a family snapshot. Nothing wrong with that. I have a ton of those and I love 'em all.

[RedwoodGuy]

Going back through some old files - in this case my sister-in-law's college graduation a few years back - and I thought this particular forum might enjoy this shot. 

RSL went about 400% over his newly self-designed guideline of 6 words. So, I can at least go 300% over mine, right?

I wish I hadn't read the thread because now I know too much about the people in the photograph. But, I can work around that.

I have a number of similar photographs, so I can relate my interest in taking them to this photo. They look interesting - period. The idea behind photographs is to have the object to look at. There's a phenomenon called people watching, right? This is that. We are endlessly fascinated with others of our species and as photographers we enjoy finding compositions or groups of them that form on the one hand an abstract collection of darks and lights, and on the other hand some memory or mental stimulation about the specifics. Putting aside these are family members, they are an interesting group. Every mountain is not the Matterhorn.

There's a few technical issues like washout on the building and such, but nothing awful. I think the subject here is the legs and footfalls and shoes (one is even wearing sandals in the rain). I would think the photo might be more effective with the bottom pulled up a little bit ( I have no ill-feeling about cropping).

[RSL]

RSL went about 400% over his newly self-designed guideline of 6 words.

Sorry RG, that's not a guideline for me. It's a guideline for you. It's a training objective. To learn how to meet the objective you might want to dig out some background on Cal Coolidge. If I remember the story correctly, a woman at a party with the Coolidges bet that she could get Cal to say more than two words. Cal responded: "You lose." Now there's a target for you. See if you can learn to tell us what you think in two words or less.

[dmerger]

The old, "Do as I say, not as I do"?

[RSL]

Well, at least you've learned how to be reasonably concise, Dean.

[Isaac]

The old, "Do as I say, not as I do"?

Just, "I'm right, you're wrong."

[James Clark]

Thanks, James. What you're telling me is that it's a family snapshot. Nothing wrong with that. I have a ton of those and I love 'em all.

Well.. no, that's not *quite* what I'm telling you.  What I'm saying is that I see interesting elements in the contrasts and balances of the image, and I see the potential for some amusement in the various words present in the image. 

That said,  I am also conceding that my personal emotional attachment to the place/time of the image could color my judgment about the effectiveness of the image (but I think one could say that about many works created by many individuals).  Is the "purpose" of art to project one's vision and experience to the world, reaction (or indifference) be damned, or is the purpose to bring the world's vision into a place where the creative person can access it?  Put another way, is the relevance of this picture found in my simply putting something important to me out there, or is the relevance that it brings the viewer into MY sphere? I Dunno...

[RSL]

I dunno either. I especially dunno when it comes to the "purpose" of art. I tend not to worry about purpose, or projections of visions or experience to the world. What I worry about most is subject matter and presentation, which includes composition -- geometry. Presentation in this picture is excellent but the subject matter just sort of whistles on by me. But it probably hits home with anybody who's been brought into your sphere. As we both said: "I dunno. . ."

[James Clark]

I dunno either. I especially dunno when it comes to the "purpose" of art. I tend not to worry about purpose, or projections of visions or experience to the world. What I worry about most is subject matter and presentation, which includes composition -- geometry. Presentation in this picture is excellent but the subject matter just sort of whistles on by me. But it probably hits home with anybody who's been brought into your sphere. As we both said: "I dunno. . ."

Well then.. Cheers!