Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/08/28
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Phong wrote: > > Jim, > > This is why I think editing is so hard; at first, I picked > http://www.leica-gallery.net/bdcolen/image-32117.html > over the shot you mentioned > http://www.leica-gallery.net/bdcolen/image-32119.html > After going back there several times, I think the latter shot > is the winning one, which the face looking up toward you. > Perhaps because of the difference in style, I need to > constantly go back to B.D.'s photos. My first impression > often changes. Hi Phong: I think that's true for many/all of us and I find it more difficult with digital images because I have to look at the "contact sheet" on the monitor. I can't circle them there and hand the sheet and negs to the man at the lab. For me it's easiest with slides as I can spread them out on the light box and pick and choose fairly quickly, those that I think are worth a closer look and which may be worth scanning/printing. I have my lab make contact sheets of my 35mm and 6x6 color print negatives rather than small proof prints because it's easier/quicker to find the matching negative for any particular shot. Which ones I choose is subjective because I eschew composition rules for the most part, although I have a feeling that what I choose is based somewhat on ideas absorbed 35-40 years ago in art school. To me, art is the expression of an emotion through a technique. It can be the photographer's emotion for example, in pictorialist photography or the emotions of the subjects themselves. It can be the emotion(s) of a dancer as he/she moves about the stage, or the emotions which we feel when we hear music, and on and on. If, in spite of trying to demonstrate an emotion a dancer moves clumsily, then their technique needs improving. If the music has rough spots then the composition needs improving, (technique) or perhaps the musicians need to improve their technique. I do like BD's bwnana2-32119.jpg http://www.leica-gallery.net/bdcolen/image-32119.html more than bwnana1-32117.jpg http://www.leica-gallery.net/bdcolen/image-32117.html, in part becasue the child's eyes are not centered as in the former and the smile seems to show, (to me at least) some emotion, i.e., trust and contentment in this case. I like your "The Dance" http://www.pbase.com/image/4226874 because I think it has a pleasing composition, shows some action and emotion, and I've always found that three "things" in a picture like this is/are more interesting to me than two. In your "Boys of Summer" http://www.pbase.com/image/4226959, I find that even though the emotion shwon by Erika is interesting, that I also see a split composition held together only by her gaze, and not the best lighting. But... I think that if you keep shooting, your compositions and techniques will improve with time and experience. Why do most of us like Kyles photographs? Do they show emotion? Certainly! Technique? Every one that I've seen! Hi Luggers: As for Mark's comments, (and Mark has very graciously helped me with some scanning/PS problems with my 11x14 stuff)... while I have liked and very much enjoyed the pictures which Mark has shown us over the last couple of years made with Leica, but also his Hassy and some 4x5 shots of Halloween at an art museum, I have to disagree with him on the idea that all that we should show each other is Leica-made shots. I think that it'd be a good idea for us to endeavor to show as many of our Leica shots as possible, but I've seen many photos on the LUG which were non-Leica made but which were nevertheless valid photographs worth showing to each other. There is a very important thing that I experienced at Mass Art and Mills College while learning to "make art," and observed while teaching it at ETSU. That was a cameraraderi between the students in which we/they shared ideas, techniques, some fun, and each other's works. It very much helped the learning process and made us feel part of a family, club, group, etc., especially since we were viewed as a bit strange and "different" by the rest of the world..... it helped us grow. If goth existed in 1959-1967 then I have a feeling that most of us would have been goth, instead we were what the rest of the western world viewed as hippies. I personally view the LUG in a similar, though less intense way... especially for those, (truck/lorry drivers, doctors, lawyers) and others who haven't had any formal training in photography but who nevertheless feel some sort of calling to the medium. Some of these people can't yet afford to buy that scanner or M? or R8 and are making do with other equipment. Most of them have indicated that they want to get to Leica someday. Should we ignore them when they ask for comments on how to improve their work simply becasue they didn't use a Leica? Phong has at least one Leica-R lens which he will use on his Canon digital when he gets a chance to buy the necessary adapter... will that make his photographs more acceptable? If so, why? Jim - http://www.hemenway.com - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html