Re: [Leica] Going Places

[mail at steveunsworth.co.uk (mail@steveunsworth.co.uk)]

Afterswift@aol.com wrote on 13.01.2005, 05:48:14:
> 
> In a message dated 1/12/05 8:02:05 PM, fotabug@comcast.net writes:
> 
I feel such a philistine. I normally look through the viewfinder, think
'that's ok' and press the shutter.

Steve

> > Just a few thoughts on getting to know the aesthetics of creative
> > photography.? It isn't a bad influence, it becomes part of good habits.
> > Result?? The work of everyone of us is different and very personal.
> > ----------------------------------
> Since a scene suggests an idea; and the idea suggests the technique which 
> makes that idea manifest, I always try to find the idea in the print as a 
> viewer. 
> Idea and technique come together in composition to my mind. The 
> composition, 
> therefore, is where the quality of a true photograph can be found. Not in 
> the 
> framing.
> 
> Sometimes s subject overawes a photographer to the point where the only 
> idea 
> he has is the reaction to put that dramatic image on film or pixel. Sorry, 
> but 
> were I judging prints those alluring shots would get my appreciation but 
> not 
> my vote. 
> 
> I would seek those images which speak to me with the mind of the 
> photographer. If an image resurrects the insight of the original 
> impression of the 
> photographer, that print is successful. But that insight must be powerful 
> and have an 
> esthetic dimension if art is present. I'm not referring here to 
> photojournalism or studio work; although portraiture -- particularly the 
> environmental sort 
> -- may be another matter. 
> 
> What I look for: Relationships the bind the elements in the scene in such 
> a 
> way that they reveal the message the photographer recognized. Techniques 
> most 
> commonly used are scale, perspective, contrast, directionality, color or 
> contrast, motion. In short, a photographer must know his stuff and be able 
> to parse 
> complexity fast and think on his or her feet.
> 
> Now you know why I don't shoot very many frames. The only danger of the 
> idea-oriented approach to photography is that the photographer could lust 
> after 
> illusions: try to embrace an idea whose elements aren't there. A painter 
> has no 
> such problem. Which is why field art photography isn't for the impatient, 
> lazy 
> or the faint-hearted. 
> 
> Bob