Honest to God....

bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
edited May 31, 2010 in Street and Documentary
...When I shot these I was not thinking about either of the photographers who shot them first and better, or of their photographs; it just happened. But then I suppose that's how influence works, though I don't think of either of these photographers as being influences - and I don't have a single book of photos by either of them...(Oh, and neither was set up or manipulated in anyway....That said.....




882667482_U6A4j-X2.jpg



882667516_rHPY4-X2.jpg
bd@bdcolenphoto.com
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed

Comments

  • mikepennmikepenn Registered Users Posts: 214 Major grins
    edited May 29, 2010
    I like them both.
  • promoguypromoguy Registered Users Posts: 58 Big grins
    edited May 29, 2010
    As I scroll down or up, the shadow in the top image seems to rotate.
  • sara505sara505 Registered Users Posts: 1,684 Major grins
    edited May 29, 2010
    promoguy wrote: »
    As I scroll down or up, the shadow in the top image seems to rotate.

    It's an optical illusion, same idea as when you see a car in a movie and the wheels appear to be spinning the opposite direction the car is traveling, I think.

    Perhaps a resident physicist could explain this phenomenon.

    PS - I've got that same trike shot - somewhere - it's a classic. Good one.
  • snowman1snowman1 Registered Users Posts: 272 Major grins
    edited May 29, 2010
    I realy like the photo of the trike. the red realy stands out.





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  • lizzard_nyclizzard_nyc Registered Users Posts: 4,056 Major grins
    edited May 29, 2010
    Wow on #2. Love it.
    Liz A.
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  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited May 29, 2010
    The Eggleston I get.

    The other one I fail to recognize. I need a clue. Interesting shadow and color replay.
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  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2010
    Thanks to all. As to #1, which at least didn't turn out to be a straight copy of Eggleston or Sara - it's just the cigarette butts, not the rest of it. So perhaps Irving Penn was seeing the future and ripping me off. :-)
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,961 moderator
    edited May 30, 2010
    bdcolen wrote: »
    ...it's just the cigarette butts, not the rest of it.

    (Takes a deep breath)

    OK, so the position of the butts echoes the pattern on the manhole cover. Is that really enough to keep them? Seems to me that on balance they detract more than they contribute. For me, the star of the show is the parallel between the chalk drawing and the shadow of the trash container. You have a lovely composition with subtle colors and textures here, but IMO the butts are just litter--brightness that breaks the mood. This is an art shot, not PJ, so I would gladly clone them out. Reality is overrated.

    (exhales)

    I should add one thing: while there is something familiar about this shot, I don't recognize it exactly. So if this is an homage to some cigarette butt shot, then forget what I said and forgive my ignorance. I was just reacting to the shot in and of itself.

    mwink.gif
  • craig_dcraig_d Registered Users Posts: 911 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2010
    Richard wrote: »
    (Takes a deep breath)

    OK, so the position of the butts echoes the pattern on the manhole cover. Is that really enough to keep them? Seems to me that on balance they detract more than they contribute. For me, the star of the show is the parallel between the chalk drawing and the shadow of the trash container. You have a lovely composition with subtle colors and textures here, but IMO the butts are just litter--brightness that breaks the mood. This is an art shot, not PJ, so I would gladly clone them out. Reality is overrated.

    (exhales)

    mwink.gif

    I disagree. The cigarette butts are essential here; they both break and continue the pattern, and they provide a bit of spice to a shot that otherwise would be a bit dull.

    Yes, it's an art shot, but art, even at its most fantastic, is ultimately about reality or it has no meaning. Sidewalks and cigarette butts go together like syrup on pancakes.

    The crayon tracing of an earlier state of the wastebasket shadow is an amazing find, though. I'm sure I would have photographed it had I come across it, but I doubt I would have thought to frame it with the manhole and the sidewalk pattern like that. It's a wonderful shot.
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  • Mr. QuietMr. Quiet Registered Users Posts: 1,047 Major grins
    edited May 30, 2010
    ug... the circles semantics take us sometimes... I don't get the first one, but I do like the second. IT is a beautiful shot BD!
    If you work at something hard enough, you WILL achieve your goal. "Me"

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  • The_Fat_ZebraThe_Fat_Zebra Registered Users Posts: 120 Major grins
    edited May 31, 2010
    I'd print and frame the first one. Such great composition.
    Street & Portrait because of the people. Landscape because it's pretty.
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  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited May 31, 2010
    I knew B.D. Was thinking of Penn, but his butts were used very differently. They are the subject of those shots, the found objects. Might be that the whole point of those shots is to say that anything can be seen in a beautiful composition.

    I do really like this shot and love seeing B.D. walking through the color door so often. I suppose there is some of the same idea here as Penn had. Manhole cover, cigarette butts, yet it is a beautiful composition. Who was it who "found" the urinals?
    If not now, when?
  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,961 moderator
    edited May 31, 2010
    rutt wrote: »
    Who was it who "found" the urinals?
    Marcel Duchamp. Edward Weston did a famous photograph of a toilet a decade later.
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited May 31, 2010
    Thanks I knew you'd know that.
    If not now, when?
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