RustyBug Offline Upload & Sell: On
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beavens wrote:
Kent - thank you for your comment. To me, the left fills the scene without stealing too much of the attention. Instead of pushing the symmetry vibe I wanted more of a fat left side drawing into the converging pattern of the bridge - if that makes sense.
Makes sense ... and I see the convergence you are referring to. But, here's (in my not so expert WA opinion) my .02 @ that. You are talking about a sublime aspect of the image that in all my attempts to present mono ... and even more so mono + sublime / nuance ... I can't recall it ever really being realized with any magnitude of recognition regarding the sublime aspect of things.
One thing that I find, is that as the shooter, we often times see things with a different mindset than our audience will. Typically for the general masses, we have to present things a bit more directly than we might otherwise think we would need to. Plain language ... most folks don't like to "think" ... at least not THAT MUCH when you start going into sublime and nuance territory.
Personally, I'm good with it ... but as advice for a WA (as a competition) or other appeal to the masses, I'd probably (at least look at) look at a slight move to the right (if you have the space). Not too much, but just "enough" ...
BUT ... that being said, let me say this.
The WA is part of Fred's design to help us grow. It is a SELF-CHALLENGE assignment from which we embrace challenge and opportunity to grow ourselves. To that aspect, combined with my incessant belief @ "your pic" / "your message" ... I think that your image stands fine as is, given that it is by intent that you desired to include that convergence as part of your message. The amount of weighting you gave to that part of your message is 100% to your discretion.
When we consider the WA ... three things (maybe four) typically come to mind.
1) Did I get votes @ how much love
2) Did I challenge myself to grow in the process of the challenge / assignment
3) Did I send the message I desired to send
4) Was my message received
Early on with the WA, I was focused on #1. Then I came to realize that the real purpose was #2, and I began to judge myself by #3.
Depending on who you are constructing and delivering your message to / for ... will depend on how #4 bears out. The audience of the WA is but one audience. The audience here in PC is but another audience. Sometimes we shoot for an audience of one (i.e. ourselves), other times we shoot for a "mass appeal" audience.
The one thing that getting "no love" from the WA does (for me) is to raise a few questions.
1) Is the image weak
2) Is the image too sublime
3) Is the message too subtle
4) Would the message be received differently by a different audience
5) Do I need to revisit the strength of my message delivery
I find that the more I go into the sublime ... the less "love" I get from fhe general population ... even friends, family and mothers start to fall off the fan club.
In the end, there is a degree of relativity involved regarding the relationship between audience and message. As the sender of the message, it is our responsibility to send a message that can be heard by our intended receiver of that message.
Whether we are using verbal communication or non-verbal communication ... sometimes we deliver messages that everyone can hear @ "FIRE !!!". Other times we send messages that are only for a selective audience to hear @ "Can you keep a secret?"
Where any give message (or image @ visual / non-verbal message) resides in that spectrum will always vary. But, if I whisper "fire" and no-one responds, then I may want to adjust my delivery to "FIRE !!!". But, if I am talking about "the boss is gonna fire someone", the less prominent delivery can be very appropriate.
From images to speeches to songs to ... how we craft our messages is a component that becomes increasingly more refined as we progress. There is a myriad of songs that I never understood the sublime message until much later in life. Just because I didn't hear the message when I first heard the song ... well, that wasn't because the song was poorly written. It was just a disconnect between the delivered message and my ability to fully receive it. In that regard, I grew to be able to better receive the message.
So, coming back to your image (i.e. your message) ... the challenge the WA presented before you has resulted in your image. In review of #1 - #3 ... and #4 in the first set, how does that correlate to #5 in the second set.
My .02 is that after going through both sets of questions ... you'll stand pat on your image (i.e. message) as is. I'm good with that. In fact, I'm VERY GOOD with that, as I think it tells markedly about your growth and progression toward a paradigm shift of understanding the fullness of our beloved craft beyond making "pretty pics" into the realm of delivering non-verbal communication messages ... the power of which is not always realized by all shooters, nor by all audiences ... not unlike the kindred written verbal messages.
Short answer ... if you're good with it ... so am I. My comment was targeted more toward how I'd construct a more "obvious" message for the WA ... I've never received much love for my sublime / nuance images either, yet they are some of my very favorites that I will retain "as is" despite "no love".
It's your pic ... it's your message.
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