[Leica] Looking at pictures

[afirkin at afirkin.com (Alastair Firkin)]

Well you have to start somewhere, and what are you trying to say is not a 
bad start. It is really hard to answer sometimes, but in answering, you do 
begin to think about what you are trying to achieve. I know its not easy to 
put into words visual thoughts, but you do need to at least analyse your 
work in some manner, and most of us use spoken language. Is the subject 
strong: yes could be politically does not really matter, it ties in with 
what you are hoping to say. 

I know there is a tendency to shelve analysis as arty farty, and I don't 
pretend to have the skills to do it myself, BUT, I keep reminding myself 
that all good work comes from hard work. Picasso was a master draftsman 
before he "dissected" images, and one of my hero's Ken Rosewall, when 
accused of being lucky by an opponent agreed, only to add, "and the more I 
practice, the luckier I get!"

Cheers

--- imagist3@mac.com wrote:

From: Lottermoser George <imagist3@mac.com>
To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
Subject: Re: [Leica] Looking at pictures
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:05:09 -0500

An interesting and tough comment.

great questions:
"what are you trying to say?"
I wonder if attempting to verbalize what a photographer or an image  
"is trying to say" diminishes the visual message.
"is the subject strong?"
visually?
conceptually?
historically?
politically?
socially?
stylistically?
?

Great photographs fall into so many different genres, use so many  
different styles, methods, levels of craft and art ? yet, all great  
ones present a confluence of design elements, content, subject,  
light, sense of moment and personal point of view ? so as to produce  
some kind of magical visual message ? in a manner quite different  
from paintings, drawings or other visual mediums. Photographs seem to  
hang between representational paintings (drawings) and poetry. YMMV

I agree that the white wall element on the left pulls the eye away.
And that good photographs [do reach] for more than [mere]  
representation.

Fond regards,
George

george@imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com
http://www.imagist.com/blog
http://www.linkedin.com/in/imagist



On Sep 16, 2008, at 3:06 AM, Alastair Firkin wrote:

> For me this ticks the boxes: what are you trying to say/show, is  
> the subject strong, is the composition good, are there distractions  
> (here the white wall back left is pulling my eye from the action  
> and would be cropped). Good images should be more than  
> representations although the latter also has a role in history.
>
> Cheers
>
> Alatair
>
> --- luisripoll@telefonica.net wrote:
>
> From: Lluis Ripoll <luisripoll@telefonica.net>
> To: Leica Users Group <lug@leica-users.org>
> Subject: [Leica] Looking at pictures
> Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:23:43 +0200
>
> With IIIF, Elmar 4/90, TX
>
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/luisrq/Barcelona/08070407.jpg.html
>
> Thanks for looking, your c&c are always appreciated,
>
> Saludos cordiales
> Lluis
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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