p.8 #1 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
And what has National Geo got to do with any of this They are considered to be like most media news and documentary type things which have guidelines as to no manipulation for a very good reason. That has nothing to do with the type of work we are talking about. By their guidelines photographers like HPR, Uelsmann, JP Caponigro, Cindy Sherman, all of retouched portraits by all the photographers that do that kind of portraiture. Apples and oranges for sure but you knew that, right? LoL....
p.8 #2 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
charlesk wrote:
When an image is presented as being special and it is not, the people who perceive it as being something it is not have been deceived. Some may not care, just as some don't care about being deceived in other ways. But many do.
This is a very slippery slope. As a landscape photographer, have you ever used stitching of images? Focus stacking? How about bracketing? It wasn't created in a single image, with magical DR or magical DOF, it was in some sense a composite.
I think what we create is art. Lisa is creating her art differently than you choose to. It doesn't make her choice less valid, less meaningful, or less impactful (to many). Others will agree strongly with you, and dismiss her work as fantasy. That's their choice.
I for one appreciate the behind the scenes component, as I've yet to be able to create a SOOC image that looks anything like what Lisa presents. She is an amazing artist, one part photographic, one part digital.
FWIW, I don't recall Lisa ever stating that the image was a single magical moment...the viewers choose to assume that, or choose to suspend belief and assume composite.
p.8 #3 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
PhilPDX wrote:
Yes, but since we can't really measure quality in photography/art, we are left with critique as the only (albeit subjective) tool. Why do people ask for CC so often when they should actually...
-Phil
Yes but in art and photography we do have history to helps us. A good reason to get literate in that area. And we are all on a journey and we are all at different points on the road of that journey. That's why it is SO important to weed out the ones that might be suggesting something that is totally wrong. Understanding how to communicate visually is not about learning any rules. In fact the more literate you get the less you need rules to help you decide. Because what works in A fails miserably in B.
A great photographer once told me that either everything in the frame is helping your photograph and if those things are not helping it then they are hurting it.
The visual journey is a long one. It is infinitely difficult. The technique is the easy part of the journey and easier now than it has ever been.
p.8 #4 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
canerino wrote:
My friend Evan wrote this about photography and I think it's very fitting here. Some good thoughts:
"Perspective
Photography is simply the mechanical articulation of our perspective, and whatever art exists does so because we are interesting people who see things in interesting ways. Progression in photography is refinement of one’s worldview. Skill in photography only serves to elucidate the perspective, never to substitute for it. This is why we are so crushed when our work is rejected or ignored: it invalidates our viewpoint and says that the way we see the world is wrong." (source: http://evanbainesphoto.tumblr.com/post/98927797566/perspective)
Chuck, that's an interesting quote from Evan, whose work along with yours I respect and admire. It got me thinking and at the risk of navel gazing, I'll give my perspective.
Photography has been in integral part of my life since I was five, when Santa brought me a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. It's what I've been educated in and how I supported my family as a sole income earner for many years. Photography is major part of what defines me. I guess you could say my involvement in photography and what I choose to photograph are an expression of my world view.
This sentence in Evan's quote stood out to me: "This is why we are so crushed when our work is rejected or ignored: it invalidates our viewpoint and says that the way we see the world is wrong." I disagree with both points presented here.
I was asked to submit five photos to a local art show that is being held this month. One of the organizers is a friend and an avid photography enthusiast. She had the opportunity to see the work I submitted and was effusive in her praise. It's always nice to receive a compliments on your work, but it doesn't change one iota my view of my work or my perception of its value. If she had served up a stinging rebuke it would have had the same lack of effect.
I am comfortable in my photography and do not need constant affirmation from colleagues, friends or family, much less total strangers on the internet. I am not crushed when my work is rejected or ignored. I do not see either as saying my viewpoint of the world is wrong.
To quote Popeye: "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam."
p.8 #5 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
dmacmillan wrote:
Chuck, that's an interesting quote from Evan, whose work along with yours I respect and admire. It got me thinking and at the risk of navel gazing, I'll give my perspective.
Photography has been in integral part of my life since I was five, when Santa brought me a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. It's what I've been educated in and how I supported my family as a sole income earner for many years. Photography is major part of what defines me. I guess you could say my involvement in photography and what I choose to photograph are an expression of my world view.
This sentence in Evan's quote stood out to me: "This is why we are so crushed when our work is rejected or ignored: it invalidates our viewpoint and says that the way we see the world is wrong." I disagree with both points presented here.
I was asked to submit five photos to a local art show that is being held this month. One of the organizers is a friend and an avid photography enthusiast. She had the opportunity to see the work I submitted and was effusive in her praise. It's always nice to receive a compliments on your work, but it doesn't change one iota my view of my work or my perception of its value. If she had served up a stinging rebuke it would have had the same lack of effect.
I am comfortable in my photography and do not need constant affirmation from colleagues, friends or family, much less total strangers on the internet. I am not crushed when my work is rejected or ignored. I do not see either as saying my viewpoint of the world is wrong.
To quote Popeye: "I yam what I yam and that's all that I yam." ...Show more →
I think it is also important is who is liking or understanding your work but first it has to be the creator being satisfied. The type fo work I do gets very little attention on most forums. I agree I yam what I yam and thats just fine with me. I am paraphrasing and I can't remember who said this and I skimmed through some books to try and find it. I think it might have been Ernst Haas, someone from his generation though and again I am going by memory and this is not an exact quote:
I would rather make crappy photos that look like mine than make good photographs that look like everyone else's.
Though I do think the majority, like Evan said, want their work to be understood. Sometimes that might mean getting it in front of the right audience. Others that are on a similar point in the road.
p.8 #6 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
airfrogusmc wrote:
...either everything in the frame is helping your photograph and if those things are not helping it then they are hurting it.
See, that's actually my point. If those things are "hurting it", why can't I tell the photographer? Even the most talented people on here have a reason why they post their images. That might be promoting their business, asking for opinions, pride in their creations, fishing for compliments - or a combination of them all. But if they do so, they'll also have to live with negative critique; and with it comes a certain responsibility to take it serious even if they don't like it. In my opinion, you can't simply brush opposing views off with an "I don't care what you say", "I'm an artist" or "You haven't posted any of your work here so you're not in the position to criticize me".
Long story short: I for one believe that different viewpoints - positive or negative - help me to improve and that I should therefore care about them. The way how critique is brought across matters a lot, of course.
p.8 #7 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
You can tell him whatever you want to tell them. That still doesn't make it valid. If you tell him/her to crop out something that you didn't see (not the photographers fault) as being import to what the photographer is trying to say visually. I have seen it countless times.
And yes you can dismiss what others have to say.
"You see, I'm not interested in mediocrity in photography. I'm not interested in selling cat shit to dogs. I just want to do my own thing. If people like my work, all the better. If they don't, too bad." - Ralph Gibson
Archive 2014 · Apparently, I need to dust off my camera and go shooting again...
