Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/09/24
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>I found that as I got older there were more and more self constructed walls >that prevented me from seeing the same world that was there when I was 16. Yes, but it is also a type of "the grass is always green on the other side of the fence" situation. Fortunately I have all the negatives from the time when I was a young man in the late fifties / early sixties and also some prints from that time. None of the negatives are as good (contents wise and technically) as I thought they were before I started to look at them in detail some time ago. Time not only heals wounds, it also makes you think you were a better photographer in your youth than you actually was. And my prints from that time are plainly not not half as good as the ones I make now, yet my current ones have a loot of weak points. >There is no one answer as the restrictions are self-imposed. Are you timid >about approaching strangers as Graham was? Do you not want to crawl around >on your belly to get the right angle? Would it be too inappropriate to just >take a picture of a total stranger? Do you have a responsible position by >day and couldn't possibly be seen with "Goth" girls by night? > >It could be a vision thing, your artistic tastes are set. Then the only >solution is to go to shows and galleries that you would never normally >attend and pay attention to the art. Try to understand what the artist was >feeling, saying, showing, proselytizing. Well, you could look at magazines and newspapers too. I find quite a lot of inspiration that way. Actually I have selected the daily paper that I take partly because it has such high class photos. But often they carry pictures that causes me to shake my head. Well this happens to me at shows and galleries too Which brings me to some of the photos LUGgers show on the net: I recently met a photographer who impressed me a lot and I asked him if he would look at some of my pictures and comment upon then. He agreed and I asked him how many I should bring along; five, fifteen or fifty. He replied: Bring any number you want, but bring only pictures that you are real proud of and where you can explain why you are proud of them. Recently some LUGgers have displayed dozens of photos taken on a single day. I sometimes wonder why. Were they really proud of each of these photos? I have yet to meet a photographer who has made a dozen of photos in a single day that meet the "real proud of" criteria. Or what criteria should there be to post photos for the LUG? Submissions for the next issue of the book "Worst picture postcards ever published"? > >It could also be that you are far to hard on yourself, their are only so >many Karsh's, Wolfe's, HCB's, whoever your idols are. Perhaps you should >shoot a lot of film, print everything, tack it on the wall for a week and >then ask yourself first, why did I take this? Second, did I capture what I >intended in any way and if not what is missing or there and not supposed to >be? Last, on the shots that are better than most, try to retake them with >the added insight or technical knowledge, or whatever missed. With the >added input find someplace, maybe even here, to get some criticism. I'll follow that advice >Last, assign yourself some weird for you assignment that forces you to >learn, do something, go someplace that you would like to do/go but for some >reason haven't done. > >I hope this helps break through the barrier. > >Don >dorysrus@mindspring.com > >-- >To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- Christer Almqvist D 20255 Hamburg and / or F 50590 Regnéville sur Mer please look at my b+w pictures at: http://www.almqvist.net/chris/new - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html