Now this one works so much better for me.
I really wanted to like this one Sharpness is overrated. It had everything that it should have, sultry, lighting, BW tones done right. But man the blur just kept my eyes moving away.
This shot has all those same elements, but enough focus and blur to provoke thought and to pull me in.
But I'm a dreamer when it comes to pictures so don't mind me.
Thank you for the submission.
I believe that the difference that makes this one work for me at the "feel it in my gut" level and Sharpness is Overrated, somewhat less so, is gesture.
Ian - This is a beautiful image. When I see it, it's not about whether it's tack sharp or not, it's about the vulnerability I see in your subject. That comes through probably even better when the image is not ultra tack sharp. It's about the emotion, not the pores in the skin or the hairs in the nose. Keep up the great work. The sharp ones just tell a different story.
I often do exactly as you do - shoot a range of emotions and different levels of blur or sharp with the camera - and both types of images have their own separate validities. Attached is a small portrait of a musician shot on film hand held at about 1/4 second on purpose.
sharpness is overrated...nice moody shot.
it kinda looks like it was shot on seamless and the corner is clipped bottom left, is my only issue with this.
This image works for me. I think the blur contributes to the feeling of the pic and lends her a sense of being almost a sculpture with the rounded edges contributing to her already rounded features. Interesting to me is the placement of the out of focus head in the near right corner and the black shape in the lower left corner giving this image sort of a documentary feel. A moment briefly held and now gone. I could see this presented in a gallery with other images in a similar style--keeping sharpness at bay for a while.
Here's what I was referring to when I mentioned "gesture" as a reason for my reaction to Ian's photos.
Peter's photo of Lyle Lovett too.
This is the link to a vimeo clip of Jay Maisel explaining "gesture". It won't play from here due to the security settings. It's worth a trip to Vimeo to see it. About 2 minutes.
