Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/07/11

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Subject: [Leica] Re:More comments: how do you use your images
From: stasys1 at cox.net (Stasys Petravicius)
Date: Mon Jul 11 20:42:52 2005
References: <200507111132.j6BBQi1F042754@server1.waverley.reid.org> <42D27993.4090803@telefonica.net> <42D297C6.9000504@adrenaline.com> <00FC4CB8-F26A-11D9-95A7-000393199A4A@cox.net> <42D327EB.9080206@adrenaline.com>

Scott- You provide great reasons for your photography. I have similar 
feelings about portrature-usually  casual, informal shots of friends 
when we get together. If it's a nice b/w one- I print it in the wet 
darkroom and let them have it. They appreciate the effort I put in and 
the result which they receive. Stasys
On Jul 11, 2005, at 7:16 PM, Scott McLoughlin wrote:

> Oh, I plan to live a long time too (I hope). I'm only 39 right now, 
> quite
> sick, but hopeful for the future.
>
> Here's another reason I take photographs of people, maybe less 
> depressing.
>
> People view themselves a certain way. Maybe they feel too old, or too
> young, or they don't like their job or their weight, or worry about 
> paying
> for college for their kids.  You know, everyday stuff. Their friends 
> and
> relatives view them a certain way too - big man on campus, ne'er do 
> well,
> dandy, slouch, bore, joker - you get the idea.
>
> A photographic portrait, or even a candid actually, can make a person 
> appear
> in a different light, bring out a different aspect of his or her 
> personality, not
> hidden but perhaps eclipsed by the persona. Both to the subject and to 
> his
> or her family and friends - a new vision of a possible (or actual) 
> self.
>
> This possibility is really exciting to me. To allow people to see 
> themselves
> in ways they might not have seen themselves before. In some very minor
> way, it might lend a helping hand to hope and/or compassion in a very
> focused (subject and viewers) way.
>
> We do this with children, hyperbolizing some aspect of their charcter.
> Little slugger, brave child at the doctor, oh so beautiful with mommy's
> makeup and shoes on. We thusly encourage the children around us to
> see and realize new possibilities in themselves.
>
> Photographs of people can be a rather subtle means to do the same
> things for adults.  I always find it interesting to hear reactions on a
> photograph both from the subject and from his/her acquaintances.
> The level of engagement often suprises me.
>
> BTW, some of my thoughts on this aspect of people photography
> comes from an essay by Michel Foucault called "What is Enlightenment"
> which had a profound effect on me as a college student, and since then.
> He talks about characterizing not what we are or must be, but what we 
> not
> necessarily or no longer need to be. A certain kind of liberation, 
> what he calls
> "the undefined work of freedom."
>
> Scott
>
> Stasys Petravicius wrote:
>
>> Scott- I am not anticipating my death- I hope to be around long 
>> enough at least to use the DMR I have on order!  And- it is a 
>> depressing (sic?) subject.
>>
>> ps- going to another memorial Thurs pm. Stasys
>> On Jul 11, 2005, at 9:01 AM, Scott McLoughlin wrote:
>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> I am hoping to stimulate a bit more discussion on this topic: why 
>>>>> do you take the images, what do you do with them, how big do you 
>>>>> print, how do you print, why do you print etc
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> I hope to produce a body of work that my family and kin and friends 
>>> can look
>>> at once I'm dead, or at least, once many of the subjects of my 
>>> pictures are dead.
>>>
>>> Lately, I'm printing more and shooting less.  I figure that once I'm 
>>> dead, some boxes
>>> of prints will be more accessible than some hard drives.
>>>
>>> It's funny to look at pictures of dead people that mean something to 
>>> you. Sometimes
>>> a beautiful picture grabs you. Other times something prosaic can 
>>> bring you to tears -
>>> a prom picture, or a shot from summer camp, or the pictures on your 
>>> mother's
>>> bedroom walls when she was a teenager.
>>>
>>> Sometimes what's more remarkable is to think of who took *that* 
>>> picture.
>>> My grandfather (still living) had a real eye and knack with a 
>>> brownie camera
>>> in his day, and I've often been startled by his compositions.
>>>
>>> When someone dies, alot of things get lost or thrown away. Closets 
>>> of clothes,
>>> boxes of old jewelry, dog eared paper backs, keep sakes that will 
>>> mean little
>>> to anyone but the deceased.
>>>
>>> But pictures get thumbed through and passed around and circulated. 
>>> I've
>>> seen tin types (sp?) of my great grandmother, along with her diary 
>>> which
>>> is mostly records of her meagre finances as she kept house for some
>>> better off relatives as a young girl.
>>>
>>> Photography is my hobby. I enjoy the process and the gear. Futzing 
>>> with
>>> an image is a joy in its own right.  But I have to say that for me, 
>>> the result,
>>> the product or print, has alot to do with our mortality, the 
>>> anticipation of
>>> death, and sparking the memory of those still living.
>>>
>>> Scott
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Leica Users Group.
>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>


In reply to: Message from FELIXMATURANA at telefonica.net (Félix López de Maturana) ([Leica] Re:More comments: how do you use your images)
Message from scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin) ([Leica] Re:More comments: how do you use your images)
Message from stasys1 at cox.net (Stasys Petravicius) ([Leica] Re:More comments: how do you use your images)
Message from scott at adrenaline.com (Scott McLoughlin) ([Leica] Re:More comments: how do you use your images)