At Harvard Commencement
bdcolen
Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
Waiting for Commencement to commence
Hero of Selma
Watching
Long ago and far away
Hero of Selma
Watching
Long ago and far away
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
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
0
Comments
Lensmole
http://www.lensmolephotography.com/
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
of particular interest. #3 is kinda good, though.
#1 reflects the times we are in...where whatever is going on around us
it is not as important keeping up with what we can do anytime. Sad.
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
First, I say what I say fully aware that we are our own worst editors.
Yes, compositionally, and perhaps in terms of lighting, number one is probably the strongest, but not for the reasons Tony suggests. If you look carefully at the image - don't even bother to read the title ;-) - you see that no one is 'paying attention' because thee is nothing to pay attention to. People are sitting and waiting, together or alone. We can wonder who the young woman is texting at this moment, where she is mentally, what the older couple behind her is talking about - is it her hat? Her iPhone? The weather? Or the grandchild's graduation from Harvard - or none of the above?
Image 2 - " Somethingis happening here, but you don't know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?" Look at the expressions on the faces of the young grads on the left and right; who are looking at the older black man in the center. What is triggering those expressions? What are they seeing? Who is that old guy? Is he a professor they know? Is he someone they dislike? Admire? Or is this a Holy Shit! moment for them? Actually, it's the latter, because the older gentleman is a genuine American hero - Congressman John Lewis, a leader of the Freedom Rides, the head of SNCC in its early, effective days, speaker at the March on Washington, savagely beaten at Selma - and the two young men seem to realize who he is, and understand the import of the moment. He is part of the procession, will receive an honorary degree, and a sustained standing ovation, which is not something Harvard honorands normally receive. Do I wish I had a strong portrait of Lewis, yes. But I believe the moment is captured.
Number 3. First, note the composition; the tight group on the left, the woman above them, the people off to the top right. Now, why are they looking so somber on what is taken to be a joyous ocassion? What are they thinking? Are they alums? Parents? Are they back on graduation day, 1969 or 70? Are they thinking about paths not taken - or taken? Or did they just have a hard night on the red eye from LA? And look at the contrast between them and the smiling young woman. This shot is about mood, about expression, about people.
Number 4. Portrait. Class of 1950 - graduated 62(!) years ago. Who does he see on that stage who we do not see? what is he reliving? Look at that face. Look at those eyes. Contrast him with the young woman beside him, but we assume not with him. And look at the way the image is put together.
Finally, as so many of you are seriously into titles, note that these are moments captured at a college commencement. They are...moments. Life is made up of them. Every moment does not have to be momentous.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
B. D.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
and I will delete if it does. But I feel a couple points are worth making."
I'll lob a bun back, but gently and without rancor.
It's often been said here that photographs should tell a story. Unless the photographer
makes that story abundantly clear, it is the viewer who decides what the story is.
You've said that there was nothing for the lady in #1 to pay attention to so my comment
is irrelevant. The thing is, BD, you may know that nothing was going on, but I don't
know nothing is going on. All I can really pick out of that photo are three subjects,
and two of the three subjects could be doing what they are doing even if the Provost
of Harvard was dancing naked on the stage.
I've been to commencement ceremonies both as a university graduate and as the parent
of graduates. The crowd pays attention to what is going on when their own representative
is on stage, and seldom pays attention at other times.
Image #2 is a family snapshot to me. The people aren't interesting, they are not
doing anything interesting, and two subjects have blown-out faces. It doesn't suggest
Harvard to me any more than it suggests Slippery Rock State College unless those
paired doohickies on the gowns mean something. It is only the title that makes that
connection.
Congressman John Lewis? The face means nothing to me, and the name registers
only when you provide the details here. The photograph doesn't tell that story.
This is "Street"...uhhh..."Documentary", not "Photographs with accompanying articles
and explanatory captions". The story has to be in the photograph. The story, and the
person, is interesting but photographs in the forum have to stand on their own.
Image #3 is an OK shot, but it doesn't exactly whip up the interest you ascribe to it
in your post. It's a glance-and-go shot in a series like this.
Image #4 is interesting, but you have written a story in your post that is not in the
image. The hat evidently tells you that he is from the Class of 1950, but it doesn't
tell me that. I'm a product of Indiana University and Northwestern University, not
Harvard. H54/50R doesn't mean squat to me. Good face, but not really given
sufficient emphasis to be a great photograph.
I'm not knocking the photographs, BD. They're OK, but will never make it in your
coffee table book of "BD Colon - A Retrospective". The story they tell requires an
accompanying article, and that's not what we're looking for in this forum.
Like it or not, the well-received image in this forum stands out for what is seen in
the image at first glance and tells any story involved within the frame of the image
alone.
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
Image two - Doesn't need a book. Don't need to know he's John Lewis. All you need to do is look at the image, and I suggest that the expressions on the faces of the two young men suggest there is something significant happening - you decide what if anything.
Image three - Show me your "family snapshot" that presents that, in terms of composition, expression, etc.
Image four - Come on, Tony. Given that the overall title is Harvard Commencement, I know you are smart enough to figure out that if the hat has an H, and then 50 and 54, well...;-)
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Yes, John, lot's of happy grads in Crimson robes hugging each other and having a great time. Yawn.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Going that route, I would guess that the man is the Class of 1954,
not the Class of 1950. Entered Harvard in 1950 and graduated in
1954. Either that, or he attended a multi-year Harvard Reunion
(H and R) of the Classes of 1950 through 1954.
See what happens when we try to think too much about an image?
Images should be taken in holistically and stand out for their whole
without the need to examine the parts.
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
... I'm still peeling potatoes.
patti hinton photography
Without taking sides on this particular series I want to comment that I think this sentence is utter nonsense. What you're suggesting is that art should be obvious and easy. How much of the world's great literature, painting, drama, and (yes, even) photography would be cast aside if we followed this rule? Examining the parts of art is part of the fun, beauty, and challenge of appreciating it.
If the image - or book or artwork - isn't interesting in the whole, one
seldom bothers to examine the parts. My point was that our first
impression and level of interest is based on the whole image. If that's
of interest, we may proceed to look at the details.
http://tonycooper.smugmug.com/
Lensmole
http://www.lensmolephotography.com/
Two degrees, Tony - 50, 54.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
I had to know you'd out me, Patti
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
I am going to tread lightly here - or try to...Different people like and appreciate different kinds of images, and demand different levels of, what? literalism from them? Tony and many others not only want an image to be of "something," in a very 'in your face' sense, they want that something to be 'interesting,' which is fine. I believe the second of my signature quotes below makes it clear that that's not what I am ultimately going for with my photography - if I am shooting purely for myself. I am looking for a moment, a composition, a bit of humanity; for an image I can come back to repeatedly and think about, and each time I do see something at least slightly different. I do not claim to often achieve that, but then that's why, as my photographer friend Kyle Cassidy so wonderfully put it, "keep pushing that shutter button, it'll come unstuck."
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
Ya know BD, I think you got to the essence of these kinds of disagreements: each of us has a particular eye for subject and composition, and we come to any given photograph with our own histories and experiences. I connect to many of your images because of the simplicity and subtlety, though I must admit that the set being considered on this thread is something of an exception (to my eye). In my brief two years with a camera, I've come to appreciate that my favorite shots are often largely not appreciated by others; so long as I am not being paid for a particular work product, this is fine. I find it most helpful and constructive just to listen to the responses of others, consider these responses and reactions, and sometimes use it to refine my capabilities if it makes sense. I see no useful purpose in arguing, though, as in the end there is little to be gained by doing so. As someone who has alternately made his living in both the arts and the sciences, I find only in science does contention really lead to constructive outcomes. In the arts, it more often degenerates into some mixture of ad hominem and appeals to authority.
Regarding this set, I remember the Harvard commencement as far more than just a bunch of smiling happy grads--much much more! I remember one girl who had failed to graduate, sitting devastated in the crowd; another kid who had come from Appalachia and parents with a 3rd grade education, sitting on the stands and gazing out over the Yard looking more shocked than happy; parents whose faces displayed superpositions of more emotions than I could possibly count; and the lonely, isolated kids who perhaps never felt like they belonged at Harvard, and now don't feel like they should be given their degrees. And of course, there were the smug faces of privileged progeny that expressed a sickening entitlement to all that swirled around them. Some of these images are seared into my mind with unyielding exactitude, all these years later. Perhaps because of this, I am not really the person to be commenting on this particular set.
But thanks for all your great work! I really do connect with much of it.
But that aside. After all the back and forth, I've come to the conclusion that number...Three is the keeper.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
You can't say I didn't warn you.
... I'm still peeling potatoes.
patti hinton photography