Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]On Jul 31, 2007, at 1:43 PM, Philippe Orlent wrote: > Well Ted, it will be an honour. > > First, I want to thank you, and all those that responded. > I somewhat predicted the outcome, but it was an interesting > experiment proving that the audience doesn't always agree, even if > you like a shot. And, in the end, and unless one would like to > spend his life in complete excile, the audience is the most important. > I will not go into describing of what makes an audience, quid > quantifying and qualifying 'target groups', because, just like > statistics, it can prove about any axiom. Which is a contradiction > anyway. > But let's not wander off. > > About the first posted, then withdrawn, then reposted image (and > only for comparison reasons). > Yes, it has smooth tonalities, yes it captures the boy's aiming, > yes it captures a typical boyish action, yes the composition is OK. > But i find it terribly dull. And not at all capturing the essence > of kids. Being: never a moment of rest when awake. > > Which brings us to the second -and my preferred but very rightly > put into question- image. > Before I try to explain why I called it 'composition', which IMO it > is more than anything else, something about how it originated. > > It was shot on a photographically very productive weekend when we > went visiting one of my 2 brothers. Both of them have only boys, > and it is always interesting for me to observe them, having 2 > daughters myself (and coming form a nest with 3 boys). > My youngest brother lives close to the Belgian coast. All Belgians > do BTW: max distance from any place in Belgium to its -only- coast > is about 120 miles. But he lives in Bruges, and that's just a 15 > min drive. So when we're there, and the weather's fine, off we go. > > Boys and sand are a magical combination: they immediately start > digging, building, making camps etc. It takes them hours, and never > they pause.: always acitve, never a moment of rest. It must be a > Jungian thing... > Being used to my daughters, who BTW were gently playing on a beach > towel, or just sunbathing, this was like my own youth coming back > to me. > One difference though: being used to our girls, I found it quite > 'exhausting' to constantly follow the 2 boys in their action :-) > This lead to a mental state of looking, but not very attentively. > In such case, the eye tends to focus on the background (infinity > focus, so to speak): every foreground motion will be noticed, but > OOF. Until the OOF motion gives alert signals: then the eye will > refocus. > In other words: looking to this scene through my VF, my mind > wandered off, and I shot it almost inconsciently. > When revising it later on, the shot grasped my attention: it > captured exactly what I was seeing (and feeling) at that moment. > > I judged it interesting, because even in that case (completely OOF > in classical terms of speaking), it not only captured what I saw, > but it also exactly showed what the boy (Jules is his name) was > doing, with a minimum of information. > Which, for me, in about any form of visual reproduction, is > paramount: give as much information as possible, with a minimum of > elements. It's so much more exciting to leave the (exact) > reconstruction of a scene to the viewer instead of giving him so > much that his personal interpretation becomes irrelevant. > > Secondly, when revising, and knowing that it was shot > inconsciently, I found it remarkably well balanced. Which is also a > big thing for me, because I have too much a tendency to > (painstakingly) compose, thus literally construct an image (one of > the reasons why I love an M, BTW: it just forces you to shoot > pensatively). And I'd love to get to a point where composition > comes naturally. Because it will make my images more natural. I think. > > That's why I called it 'composition'. > > I tried to show what makes it into (IMO) a composed and balanced > image here: > <http://www.fullflavor.be/_POR0869_comp.jpg> > > What it all boils down to: it is full of repetitions (tone and > form), parallels, and balanced proportions. > Which is pretty remarkable for a completely intuitive shot. Philippe, a wonderful and forceful analysis....which I completely understand.... but, I am a believer that the image must say it... and better than words, in fact the more words needed to explain it, the weaker the image... when I look at the image, the things that it means to you... don't come to me clearly from the image... maybe I wasn't prepared prior to seeing, I just don't have the emotional ....yes, right, wow... reaction to the photo, whether I can put it into words or not... I am just not emotionally/intellectually prepared for it as you are... I guess that's why different images mean different things to different people... Steve > > So yes, I'm pretty proud of it, and I hope later on it will prove > to be a benchmark in my photography. Ahem. > BTW: some liked it too. Strangely enough offlist ;-) > > Hell, maybe I should become a Lomo adept again? ;-P > > Philippe > > > Op 30-jul-07, om 23:50 heeft Ted Grant het volgende geschreven: > >> Philippe Orlent showed & asked: >> Subject: [Leica] IMG: composition >> >> >> >>>>> That's what I consider it to be. >> >> I won't pull this one back like I did with the former posting, rest >> >> assured. >> >> But I'm suspecting that I might be one of the few that like it. >> >> <http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/phorlent/_POR0869.jpg.html> >> >> >> >> Philippe mon ami, >> >> >> >> Before I offer a critique, a question? As I'm sure others may wish >> to know >> also. Would you please explain why you cropped or shot or why you >> like the >> composition in this manner as it is? >> >> >> >> In that fashion we the viewers will understand how you see and >> feel about >> the picture. Certainly more so than one word "composition." Thank >> you. >> >> >> >> ted >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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