friscoron Offline Upload & Sell: On
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David,
I always like hearing people's feedback on my images, positive or negative. This is a safe place for me, none of my clients are here to see anyone critique me. And photography is so subjective, so often a critique can be off-base even if well-intentioned if it's not done with the spirit of the OP's style in mind. But I like it, because I like to try to see my images through an entirely different perspective than my own. Sometimes, it helps, and sometimes not so much.
So here's what happened. I'm photographing a classical musician, someone who sits in a chair and plays with the music book in front of him. I asked him to play the sax like he was Candy Dulfer or Clarence Clemons, sax players who moved around, danced, and swung their saxes up and down. He totally "got" what I was asking of him, was very agreeable to it, but as he was doing it, I was thinking.... this dude never dances around with his sax. And that's what you were picking up on.
On the third one, basically the same thing. I asked him to hold the sax and look down on it. I liked what he did, but I agree, it's like he's holding a baby. But.... the sax is his baby. :-)
Y'know, some musicians are performers on the stage. And when you pull a guy out of the orchestra and ask him to perform on the stage, it doesn't always work. Obviously, I had some shots of him leaning back, and I actually like those just as much or maybe even more.
So I appreciate your comments. I wonder what Peter Figen does when he deals with taking a musician out of his comfort zone?
neighbourboy wrote:
Ron, your work is always wonderful and well beyond what I'm capable of. I rarely find anything that I feel could be improved, but on this particular shoot, there were two things that bothered me a bit. You've always been open to critique, even from lesser photographers, so I'll throw my thoughts out there. On the first photo, his slightly bent over posture bugs me a bit. I know players will lean forward sometimes if they're really in the groove. But in that case, I feel like they should *really* be leaned forward. Either really lean into it, or more upright. Here, I feel he just looks like an 80 year old man in a teenager's body. On the 3rd one, the way he's hold his sax with his hands at the bottom and under the bell is very strange. Almost like he's coddling a newborn baby or something. Hopefully my thoughts are at least helpful in some way.
--David...Show more →
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