Discarded Things

pathfinder · August 24, 2005

Two recent shots that I have enjoyed - nothing in common but my eclecticism.

I have posted several shots of butterflies here over the last year or two, so it goes without saying that I enjoy seeing and shooting butterflies. There have been comments about how difficult they can be to shoot. I found one Sunday that was quite obliging.
I also enjoy motorcycles of all kinds and enjoy shooting them also. Here is a shot combining both passions

The light was lovely....The butterfly had suffered a difficult life as they frequently do.

As I was riding my bicycle to work Tuesday morning I rode by a building in the midst of reconstruction downtown, and saw a sad looking Cabbage Patch doll in the door sill that some one had carefully placed there ... Made me wonder what the story behind it was..... B&W seemed more appropriate.

I am expressly interested to hear if these images are the least interesting to viewers. And comments or criticisms are gratefully entertained. Raving rants I may ignore....... :thumb

Andy · August 24, 2005

i dig the classic compositions.

the doll shot is really very good, pathfinder

interesting? i'd say captivating - it makes me ponder, wondering why she's there, who abandoned her, or was she lost? evocative. great work.

Khaos · August 24, 2005

The flying bug mortuary.

I like the doll shot a lot.

However my warped mind thinks, uh-oh, a victim of Chucky.

Netgarden · August 25, 2005

funny, flying bug mortuary,

That second one is awesome...what was thet Chucky doll horror movies the kids used to go see? Spooky! My daughter was scared to death of her Cabbage patch dolls after that movie!

Then my son painted some blood on her dolls to scare her even more.....geeeesh!

Those were the good ol' days!

Khaos wrote:

The flying bug mortuary.

I like the doll shot a lot.

However my warped mind thinks, uh-oh, a victim of Chucky.

mereimage · August 25, 2005

That ride back by the store seems to have paid off, kind of surprising that it was still there-interesting street shot which raises lots of questions-worth the ride back by there(though the ride is always rewarding in itself)

. What did you shoot it with, I always avoid carrying my camera when cycling-too big and heavy. The 1st shot seems like an attempt to protray extremes -Beauty vs ugly/ life vs death ect . in that vein, but seems like it needs a lttle more moodiness or something. Are you moving away from being a 'gear head' into a 'perceptual/artsy-feely' type.

By the way be sure to ask to see his 'Wedding' shots in 2 weeks. Ya he got his arm twisted big time

////Mereimage

auraflora · August 25, 2005

HI there,

The doll shot is a very strong photo. As you said, there is probably a strong story behind it. The black and white adds even more drama to this photo. I like the reflection and the overall composition.

With the butterfly shot, I like the contrast of the yellow on the black as well as the compostion and the positioning of the butterfly within the frame. I think the butterfly lacks a bit of sharpness though.

Thanks for sharing.

Michal

elfving73 · August 25, 2005

Great captures! Love the doll pic!
Interesting! She is abandoned and naked - but still happy!

Matty

pathfinder wrote:

Two recent shots that I have enjoyed - nothing in common but my eclecticism.

I have posted several shots of butterflies here over the last year or two, so it goes without saying that I enjoy seeing and shooting butterflies. There have been comments about how difficult they can be to shoot. I found one Sunday that was quite obliging.
I also enjoy motorcycles of all kinds and enjoy shooting them also. Here is a shot combining both passions The light was lovely....The butterfly had suffered a difficult life as they frequently do.

As I was riding my bicycle to work Tuesday morning I rode by a building in the midst of reconstruction downtown, and saw a sad looking Cabbage Patch doll in the door sill that some one had carefully placed there ... Made me wonder what the story behind it was..... B&W seemed more appropriate.

I am expressly interested to hear if these images are the least interesting to viewers. And comments or criticisms are gratefully entertained. Raving rants I may ignore.......

4labs · August 25, 2005

andy wrote:

i dig the classic compositions.

the doll shot is really very good, pathfinder
interesting? i'd say captivating - it makes me ponder, wondering why she's there, who abandoned her, or was she lost? evocative. great work.

Well said Andy I couldn't agree more. Thnxs for sharing pathfinder.

pathfinder · August 25, 2005

andy wrote:

i dig the classic compositions.

the doll shot is really very good, pathfinder
interesting? i'd say captivating - it makes me ponder, wondering why she's there, who abandoned her, or was she lost? evocative. great work.

Thanks Andy. I appreciate your comments. I have another image from 40 years ago, shot in Tri-X - THE REAL STUFF ( not digital:D) and it intrigues me in kind of the same way this shot does, but many viewers are kind of blech about it. You might enjoy it though.

It is a great demonstration of what real B&W in real Tri-X looked like. This is almost the whole negative, ( souped in D-76 by yours truly) and scanned with a Nikon CoolScan IV. The grain is real and resembles that seen in prints of the shot. It was shot through a very dirty window of an adjacent building, but the gritty quality is part of the images appeal to me.

pathfinder · August 25, 2005

Thanks for commenting Khaos, Netgarden, 4labs, mereimage and auraflora.

Regarding the sharpness of the butterfly, auraflora - I agree that is looks slightly OOF - but I went back to the RAW file and it was shot at f10, which would seem to be sufficient DOF if the radiator were the actual focal plane. I opened the file in the RAW converter and the butterfly seems sharp there. Also an 8x10 print on glossy paper seems sharp to view, so I wonder if it has to do with the sharpening in smuggy or the fact that butterflies edges are frequently hard to image due to the very fine furry edges of their wings. Not sure why it seems slightly OOF here at 600x800, but not in an actual print.

Mereimage - Not "artsy-feely" so much as intrigued and bemused.

:

Ann McRae · August 25, 2005

This is a very interesting photo, and when I first saw the 'doll on stoop' photo, my reaction was 'what would it look like with some grain'? It is very moody and surely has a story behind it, but the grain might just add more of a sense of mystery to it.
ann

pathfinder · August 26, 2005

Ann McRae wrote:

This is a very interesting photo, and when I first saw the 'doll on stoop' photo, my reaction was 'what would it look like with some grain'? It is very moody and surely has a story behind it, but the grain might just add more of a sense of mystery to it.
ann

Here is the doll on the stoop with more grain. I am not sure I like it as well as without, though. Loading grainy B&W images to smuggy is interesting - grain REALLY adds to file size rapidly - this was originally a 5 Mgbit file in a grainy B&W, while the color version was about 1.2 Mgbts, so I compresssed it in PS at level 7 instead of my usual 9 or 10.

versus

G K · August 26, 2005

hi Pathfinder
the first shot is a good catch and i like the composition but the second shot knocks my socks off - it has a forlorn, introspective feel about it and makes you ponder it for atleast a second. I really like your third picture as well - that juztaposition of a skeleton and mannequin is interesting and the grain adds to it. the added grain in the doll shot doesnt work as well, at least for me.

~gaurav

pathfinder · August 26, 2005

Thanks GK for your kind comments.:): I almost did not post the butterfly because I was not certain that it had more than a limited appeal. I kinda like the contrast of color and sharp vs soft look. And the butterfly is positioned so nicely in death.

I added the noise to the doll shot as an experiment because of a suggestion by Ann McRae. But I agree with you that I don't think the grain is really an assett for the doll shot. The grain lets lost or confused in the darkness of the brick and obscures the detail in the doll's reflection.
In contrast, real TRI-X had a lot more grain - That was how Tri-X was. I've got lots of B&W prints from that era from my own darkroom.

The skeleton and the female mannequin just seemed so wierd. I still wonder how they came to be stored together, in the same window, looking out at the world.
I think folks are slowly forgetting what real 35mm Tri-X B&W looked like 30 years ago

I have prints from then hanging around to remind me how much better my B&W looks now. Now I'll get flamed by Tri-X shooters

wxwax · August 26, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

many viewers are kind of blech about it. Y

Well, they're nuts. I love this photo. Haunting.

DavidTO · August 26, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Well, they're nuts. I love this photo. Haunting.

Agreed.

pathfinder · September 1, 2005

wxwax wrote:

Well, they're nuts. I love this photo. Haunting.

Thanks waxy - It took a long time to find some folks who can see what I saw years ago I guess. Feels good though.

I've always thought it was kind of surreal and wondered how that juxtaposition occurred. It is even more interesting if you know that this was a window in a metropolitan hospital. That is the reason for the angle - I shot it from another wing and this window was not visible from the ground.

Discarded Things

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