Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/23
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Philippe - You said: "I went to art school..." This makes me wonder what the effect of my 6 years of high school and college drafting, freehand and isometric drawing, and descriptive geometry classes has been on my own way of seeing. (I started my engineering training in the first year of high school.) I suspect it's for the worse, since these courses emphasized rigid construction rules and very clean (neat, precisely drawn, precisely balanced) presentation and one does tend to revert to learned practice when working intuitively. That you feel your photos are "cool and distant" surprises me. They are interesting to me and my eye wants to linger and explore them. The geometric effects tend to focus the eye on the people in your pictures to good effect. I couldn't agree more: >IMO the most difficult of all, and what discerns truly great >imagists from others, is their ability to create balanced images in >an organic way without apparent geometry. There's a lot to learn >from old masters such as Rubens and Rembrandt, who truly excelled at >this. Many thanks. >Thanks, Richard > >About your composition and geography question: >I went to art school (they call it bachelor of arts or something >now) so I think this has helped in strenghtening the sensitivity for >patterns, color and shapes I already had because my parents loved >art and took us to lots of museums when we were small. >So today it has become an almost intuitive reaction when confronted >with photographeable scenes: I always look for elements that help >the viewer's eye, or crop the photos afterwards in such a way that a >certain geometry becomes apparent. > >Now having said this, I don't think one needs an artistic formation >to have/develop an eye for these things. IMO it comes pretty >naturally: if you ask people to divide squares or rectangulars in >non-symmetric but balanced parts, they'll allmost invariably do this >by making parallel diagonals and golden sections. So it's just about >being conscient about it and looking for it in the beginning. Later >on it will become a part of yourself, if you would want that. > >Secondly, I'm not that sure if this is the only way of making >'interesting' photographs. Maybe I'm sensitive to certain patterns, >but this also handicaps me. Very often I find my own work a bit >'cool and distant' due to the geometry. IMO the most difficult of >all, and what discerns truly great imagists from others, is their >ability to create balanced images in an organic way without apparent >geometry. There's a lot to learn from old masters such as Rubens and >Rembrandt, who truly excelled at this. > >I hope this clarifies this matter a bit, >Philippe > > > >Op 23-nov-05, om 11:40 heeft Richard S. Taylor het volgende geschreven: > >>Philippe - The expression on the young gal's face as she probes the >>mystery of the big view camera works for me. >> >>http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/PAW2005/slides/Wk40_1.html >> >>As does this one in the gallery: >> >>http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/PAW2005/slides/Wk40_2.html >> >>Including the edges of the near wall picture frames is not an >>obvious choice (I might have been tempted to crop them out, I >>think) but it was a good idea to leave them in. It grounds the >>near wall in the gallery. >> >>I don't know if this shot was her idea or yours. When my son was >>her age and photography with Dad was fun rather than something to >>be tolerated, he used to offer up fun images like this one from >>time to time. >> >>http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/PAW2005/slides/Wk40_3.html >> >>All the circles balanced by her horizontal arm just add to the fun. >> >>I have been rereading a set of notes I have on composition and so >>have been seeing geometric shapes in posted pictures a lot lately. >>;-) >> >>Your pictures seem to have a lot of them (All three of these do, >>for sure.) Do you search them out or is it just intuitive in your >>shooting at this point? >> >>Regards, >> >>Dick >>Boston MA >> (snip) -- Regards, Dick