Two From B. D.

bdcolen

Shot with Blackberry MKII :rofl

richtersl

#2 is simple and fabulous. The grain and fuzziness do a great job of enhancing the feeling of despair.

Love the crop on #1. As a dog owner, this is a familiar scene to me. Definitely no caption needed. (BTW, I see you! )

bdcolen

richtersl wrote:

#2 is simple and fabulous. The grain and fuzziness do a great job of enhancing the feeling of despair.

Love the crop on #1. As a dog owner, this is a familiar scene to me. Definitely no caption needed. (BTW, I see you! )

Thanks, Linda - Yah, Out Damn Shadow!! (I have to be more careful with the phone camera. But that thing is wonderfully challenging.)

BTW - Think about THIS in terms of my wanting to see images without captions:

While I agree with you completely that the first image conveys a feeling of complete despair - has she just been told a loved one has died? Has her spouse of 30 years just pulled away from the curb in a moving van? Actually, she's my happy-go-lucky neighbor who was trying to keep me from photographing her! No despair. Nada.

Isn't it more interesting to read the photo and take from it what you see? How interesting would it be if I had labeled it - "Connie Didn't Want Her Photo Taken?"

richtersl

...you know, I was waiting for a punch line like that -- that the lady's either laughing herself silly or didn't want her picture taken. Yes, looks can be deceiving. This is why I'm getting a kick out of the challenge.

My gut reaction was "despair".

But regardless, I love that shot!!!!

bdcolen

richtersl wrote:

...you know, I was waiting for a punch line like that -- that the lady's either laughing herself silly or didn't want her picture taken. Yes, looks can be deceiving. This is why I'm getting a kick out of the challenge.

My gut reaction was "despair".

But regardless, I love that shot!!!!

Thanks - I do too. And I see it as a photo of despair, even though I know what it really is. It does make you wonder about countless iconic images that we see in isolation, and assume we understand. Yes, a photograph captures a fraction of a second of reality, an instant of truth - but only the photographer, and perhaps the subject - know what that truth is.

divamum

bdcolen wrote:

Thanks - I do too. And I see it as a photo of despair, even though I know what it really is. It does make you wonder about countless iconic images that we see in isolation, and assume we understand. Yes, a photograph captures a fraction of a second of reality, an instant of truth - but only the photographer, and perhaps the subject - know what that truth is.

Every time the discussion of perception vs "truth" of a photograph comes up, I can't help but think of a British TV show from the '90s called "Drop the Dead Donkey", made by the Hat Trick production team (same folks who created "Whose line it is anyway" and "Father Ted")

Simple premise: newsroom of a TV news station. But this was no Mary Tyler Moore. For starters, they always filmed it on a short lead time to ensure topical inclusions, and it was often bitingly satirical (no surprise from that production team).

In particular, I always think of a reporter called "Damien", who was never above a bit of ::cough:: "adjustment" to get his story across (the actor later went on to star in "Ballykissangel" for those of you who are British TV fans). As hilarious as it is, it's also all-too-unscrupulously true to life(as anybody in the news business has seen countless times, I suspect...,). Wonderfully sharp satire and points being made.

Here are a couple of prime examples...

Damien in the field
The Firing squad

Wil Davis

divamum wrote:

snip…

Damien in the field
The Firing squad

Great stuff! Thanks for the links

- Wil

adbsgicom

Guess I'm not enough of a dog person for the first one. I did like the stance of the little boy just watching this play out, though.

Definately felt the second one was grief, glad that it's not... she's a good 'actor'.

Flyinggina

It took me quite a while to "see" what was going on in the second one.

Partly, I think, because I wasn't seeing the entire photo on my screen at once. (Need to do something about that.)

But also the grain and fuzziness had to be penetrated.

Not sure I would have spent much time trying to figure it out if I hadn't know the source of the photo. That said, it was worth the effort!!

The doggy one is a fun capture of everyday life in a city neighborhood.

Virginia

gvf

I like the perspective in the first - has a "You Are There" feel.
And the second also: the physical proximity is like a shield, the woman shielding her emotion from our eyes, or an unseen witness doing it for her as she collapses towards him

the discussion of perception vs "truth" of a photograph

I go thru this all the time with students in my other "real" art form: Acting.
Perception IS the truth in skilled artistic hands, though what exactly that is in an intuition that's worked, not necessarily a conscious thought and manipulation.

What's just real: it isn't interesting, except in the private world of the participants.


(sorry, I go back to school soon)

And now I'll violate my own thesis on art by taking a guess at what the woman is actually doing: bet she's trying to hide from BDs camera or just sneezed.

marikris

gvf wrote:

(sorry, I go back to school soon)

Don't be sorry - I was the same when I had art history courses lol. I think your actor point of view is very interesting, although I will have to read it a couple of times (not the quickest, this girl -_-).

What I liked about the second picture is the hand with which she covers her face. The way it enters the picture plane, it seems almost an extension of the viewer. As if, in some way, we are participating in her spectacle.

thoth

I must agree with gvf on the perspective of the first shot. I don't know that I find the photo particularly interesting but the closeness really makes me feel like I'm participating. So perhaps the experience of viewing the shot is interesting? Does it matter as long as something holds my interest?

Number two is nice as well. Nicer yet is the discussion that has followed. As an armchair physicist reality is of particular interest to me. The conversation that followed this photo made me think of Schrodinger's Cat; perhaps all of our photos are simultaneously alive and dead?

The most interesting part of these photos, though, is the equipment. I keep working and working on my B&W conversions but I never seem to get that classic contrasty film look. These do that and much more so I have renewed faith that I'll eventually get it. Well done, B.D.