Parking Lot
Miguel Delinquento
Registered Users Posts: 904 Major grins
Taken recently during a jaunt around the older part of Seattle:
Comments always welcome
M
Comments always welcome
M
0
Comments
This one isn't working for me though. The man, who is in focus, is too small in relation to the background which is OOF.
I don't mind that the man is looking at the camera, but there is nothing else about him to hold my attention or intrigue me.
Virginia
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
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M
This picture also doesn't work on an abstract level. The composition is disorganized and isn't working for you. The man is a vertical element crossed by a horizontal element, the car in back. That might work OK except for the second car in back. Also the brick rectangle adds complexity to the composition without contributing. I tried a square crop, left, and it's a big improvement. I tried B&W in order to further simplify the image by removing the distraction of that big red rectangle.
All in all, you can make it a lot easier to look at, but you can't really add interest that isn't there in the first place.
M
Me, I'm intrigued by it on some level. However...why do I suspect that you've done some weird post processing? If I'm correct, would you post this in "living color?" so we can see what's really here?
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
As a fan of your photography, I would really like to see this picture through your eyes. I often find that a picture that leaves many others cold really speaks to me, whether my own or someone elses.
As for my own, it is not in the sense of holding on to something just because I shot it and wanted it to work, but because it really moves me in some way that holds up over time when the feeling associated with taking the picture has faded.
Maybe after the discussion on this one has wound down, you will share your thoughts. I personally learn from how others see. It opens my eyes, so to speak.
Virginia
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
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No, no, no! Don't give in to Mr. Reality here. The processing is what gives it the feeling it has. I'm not a big fan of desaturated color images, but I think this one really works well. Of course, since you're in Seattle, maybe you didn't have to desaturate it at all...just another dreary day
Certainly I have added some secret sauce during the process, but what you see is what I intended. I don't burn too many brain cells within this context on determining what's "really here" or not here.
For the record, if I was in a photo-journalistic or reporting mode with a requirement to present facts, my approach would be different.
M
I tend to take a three-plane approach to evaluating my own work: sometimes I like the shot the instant I capture it; other times some serendipity happens during the development and printing (my darkroom days go back 40 years so these are embedded feelings and behaviors) and I'll work it to a point of self-satisfaction; then there is, as you said, the process of something holding up over a period of time. That latter criterion is a pretty strong filter.
Ultimately, the shot is. I don't mind if other folks don't "grok" it like I do. I've seen enough work that I don't like that's been produced by friends and peers become highly regarded and profitable. It's a wonderful planet.
But I do derive lots of value from people's constructive feedback like in this thread. The benefits I think apply to future efforts (mine and others) more than anything. People seem to learn rather well via analogues. And that's why we're here. And you've said that well.
M
I often agree with you about desaturated images--they tend to call attention to themselves rather than be part of a broader image. But it's healthy to break one's own rules now and then photographically at least...
You are pretty close to the truth about Seattle/western Washington from here on out to mid-March or so. :cry That's probably why we have the largest public library usage and movie attendance in the US.
M
I enjoyed your work on your site.
... I'm still peeling potatoes.
patti hinton photography
But perhaps sometimes that approach can tend to close off new ways of seeing. And I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from posting here. You have a style which might be kind of an acquired taste for me. I'll try to keep that in mind for future postings of yours. Lots of wonderful stuff on your site, particularly landscapes and cityscapes.
So I looked again, a little more carefully. Ignore the smug tone of my previous post and reconsider the square crop.
Thanks Patti for your kind words.
M
While I'm glad this triggered some introspection, really I was fine with your critique.
My original reply was to correct what appeared to me to be a slip of the keyboard--your writing 'you' instead of 'me" I took to be just like verbal slips. Sometimes when talking to someone (arguing would probably be closer) I'll carelessly use "you" when I really intend "me" or "I."
Since we're not hanging out over a beer, I have no sense of meta-communication. So my intention was to correct one of the few factual statements in this thread about whether the shot was working and for whom. And as I said above, the value of critique for me is for the next picture.
<whew>
I don't mind straight criticism either; you've read enough of my ramblings on the Refinery to realize that I hope. I head up a working photographer group in my community and we pull off some portfolio reviews now and then. I'm lucky to count as friends and peers some highly talented and internationally recognized photographers. As with BD, I value their critique immensely.
And thanks for your kind words.
M
Fair enough - but then you've taken what you found, and quite consciously turned it into something other than what it was, which strikes me that that you've taken a shot that clearly belongs here, and now perhaps doesn't. In fact, one might argue that you've taken a photograph and turned it into...a photo illustration. A valid art form, a valid thing to do, but not documentary photography, not photo journalism, and not street photography as its normally defined.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
If, however, in this thread you want to win an argument with me, then, hey, I surrender. All I desire is to show a shot and get feedback.
If this shot and the thread doesn’t belong here, please pull the strings so the mod(s) can move it elsewhere. Perhaps little of value has been communicated along the way, and I don’t want to pollute or bankrupt the ideals of this forum.
M
Carry on, M.
It does neither, and I clearly overstepped my bounds. Please accept my appology, write it off to Swine Flu, and the fact that I some times take all of this MUCH too seriously.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Virginia
PS - Michael, thank you very, very much for letting us hijack your thread. Minds have been enlightened, ideas exchanged, perceptions altered.
I agree, however, that perhaps a new thread is where the discussion should go from here.
"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus
Email
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Having it, unfortunately.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed