I though I would post a few images from my trip to Brighton last June. I went for a walk down the seafront and shot images that I thought were appealing. It was just me, my eye and the camera....Damian
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A forum for discussions and views on photography, the creative photographic process, digital image making techniques, software and equipment.
7 comments:
Hi D
Quick look and I must say that these do little for me - sorry, but they seem snap-shot in nature (which is fine) but of little additional photographic merit, I feel. Just me though. Not into this kind of stuff generally - feels jumbled and not well conceived. I like street photography and good detail shots, but you've done better than this in the past.
Perhaps the one through the shelter window is quite nice, may work as a mono (almost is).
Thanks for sharing.
Ivan
I think the strongest of this set are the two translucent shots - I find them quite intriguing. The first, with the yellow tarp, is graphically strong and is a dynamic composition. I agree with Ivan in saying that the second could almost do with a mono treatment, although on second thoughts being in colour makes it feel even more dirty.
I guess these types of shots are not suited for this blog site. They are from a very personal experience so it is not surprising that others cannot relate to them. The style or form of the photography does not lend itself to the blog site's form of critique; here, because of the personal experience involved, its not about one photograph being better than another.
No hard feelings here though. I am dealing with a different style of photography.
Dams
D
Perhaps then it's an opportunity for you to explain and educate us in that personal style. I'd love to know why you took the images that you did, what's personal to you about them. True, they don't lend themselves to standard critique, but surely they merit discussion at some level, otherwise why take them (if there is no reason - and I think there always must be - then they are just snapshots).
We may not agree, but we'd have a great debate! No right or wrong, but expression of views. THAT is entirely what the blog is for...
Ivan
...and another thing...all the images are clearly framed up, composed. So they don't come across as random snapshots, and neither can they be pure emotional response to something, since various rules and photographic tenents have been employed (like the people on the beach balancing each other; the framing of the windbreaker and the shelter to reveal shadowy figures through; the balance of the red-shirted lady and the sprial toy...)
Come on, let's discuss (unless you are wearing Emperor's New Clothes!!!)
Ivan
The process of shooting is this: I walk down the street until I see something that really appeals to me. A lot of images appeal to me and at one time I may have taken them but now I wait for something more special. And you know that feeling; it literally stops you. So I stop and look at the image for a while until I really know what it is that appeals to me. So, I am framing the image in my mind while my camera dangles at my side. I am not stood there, thinking about composition and how the image could be made better. I am stood there, removing everything in the image that did not stop me. There is then a brief moment of thinking how should I expose correctly and then I shoot the image. If the process worked, and sometimes it does not, the result is the image that stopped me. This can all happen very quickly and sometimes I forget about the exposure thing.
So, here are the reasons why I think (it all happens in an instant so sometimes things are lost and things are added as I really look at the image; sometimes the more you look the more you see) the images posted appealed to me:
Image 1: uniformity of beach, gentle slopes, subtle concrete vs vastness of peebles, black vs white, lying vs sitting, looking at me vs looking away.
Image 2: A conversation with people obscured by a plastic window but open at the top (totally open in that there is no plastic window at the top but open to the sky and the scene in which they are in (at table with blue umbrella) is also open or revealed to the viewer); yellow and blue; symmetry of the umbrella
Image 3: vastness of the sea with what seems an almost fragile or tenuous jetty; tenuous in that the sea is almost rolling over the jetty (I watched this for a while); people that are in this tenuous situation; the colour red; the colour green
Image 4: Looking in from the outside - a chap is sitting on the bench looking out at the two people walking by; I am behind, hidden from his view, but looking into his view; the dirty window and pane create a feeling for the environment they are in
Image 5: I stood and watched this scene for a while; you have a woman dressed up in bright colours, bright glasses, etc and is thus a kind of living exhibit; you have the brightly coloured non-living exhibit in the doorway; its a contrast of bright live vs bright inanimate; she is looking toward the inanimate objects (not directly though) so creating a link
OK. So they are some of the reasons why I shot those photos and some of their appeal to me.
When I shoot I don't try to shoot a good photo; I don't think about rules. In fact, to be honest, I have never used rules in composing photographs. The rules are barriers to your own expressions. If you say, OK, I need this to be in the upper right third of the image and this in the centre, then you are not shooting an image for yourself, you are shooting an image so it appeals to other people. I always shoot for myself. I shoot what appeals to me. Some images might appear to have rules applied for composition, but they haven't; it is just how the image appears to me.
The way I shoot images has changed in the past year or two; it is a natural evolution and I am not fighting it since I am intrigued by it. Who knows where I will end up? I am not working towards anything; to be famous or to be the best photographer in Halifax or whatever. I am just enjoying what photography brings me, or rather what my eye shows me.
On more thought, I might continue to post some of these images but I will include the reasons for why I took them.
OK, I am gasping for a cuppa...
Damian
Dams
Hope that cuppa hit the mark!
It's much clearer now, thanks for the great explanation and detail. Clearly your style and expression are much more developed now, since your detail sounds much more credible to me now than it did when you first started Miksanging.
I'll have a think - when I have more time - and post a response, perhaps as a separate article, so you don't lose the input.
Have a look at my entries for the Print Competition, and tell me which two you like best (no looking at G's analysis first!)
Cheers
Ivan
Post a Comment