No, no, no - Can't Touch That!

Angelo · February 11, 2009

A recent news article about the pending lawsuits surrounding Proposition 8 in California in which same-sex couples were denied the right to marry, then allowed to marry, then have that right snatched away again got me thinking...

(This thread is about my photograph, not about politics. Any unwarranted comments will be deleted)

no editing please

Candid Arts · February 11, 2009

So understanding this, are you trying to say something about that situation? Or just marriage in general? I think that if you are trying to say something about that situation, then adding some sort of woman to woman or man to man connection and government to either one of those on the other side of the mouse trap would portray that very well. Does this make sense?

If you're not trying make a statement on that topic, I still very much like the photo. I think it says a lot about how, at least I think, many people view marriage these days.

Cuong · February 11, 2009

Another interpretation I see is that marriage is a trap so proceed with caution.

Cuong

Azzaro · February 11, 2009

If I was shown the picture without your explanation, I would not have gotten to prop. 8. I would have looked back on my 69 years and two marriages and thought, stick your finger in there and your trapped.....

COOL PIC.......

azzaro

Angelo · February 11, 2009

Wow, how interesting you each thought essentially the same thing!

I may add text to it to create "poster art" out of the image but I never thought of it as a stand alone without explanation prior to now.

Rather than "marriage being a trap" I envisioned this as teasing one to reach for marriage only to have it "snap at" or "snapped away" from you.

Thanks for your comments

.

Tee Why · February 12, 2009

I think it would be more poignant if there were two bands for males or two rings with diamonds for females.

As for the technical side, I personally think more negative space would lend to a more isolated feeling with the back ground. I'd like to see more of the trap and the ring in focus with a touch less exposure as the reflection in the ring seems overexposed. Since the ring is the thing for this shot, I'd say expose for the ring and let the exposure for the background fall where it may.

NorthernFocus · February 12, 2009

Without the explanation I also landed in a much more fundamental statement about the institution of marriage

As to the technical aspects, I agree with the prior statement about more dead space. Also since the trap is a core component of the message your trying for, I'd increase the DOF to bring the whole trap in focus.

It's a cool idea for an image if you can live with all of the alternative interpretations people will see in it

Scott_Quier · February 12, 2009

with most of the comments above - without the description of your thought process, I would have been left with the impression along the lines of, "Get married and you're caught/trapped." The back and forth events related to Prop 8 .... nope, I don't see the connection at all.

As to the photo itself - I think it's well executed. What needs to be sharp is, what is OOF is still discernable. Light is spot on. And there's plenty of room for copy if one should choose to do that.

Angelo · February 12, 2009

Tee Why wrote:

I think it would be more poignant if there were two bands for males or two rings with diamonds for females.

As for the technical side, I personally think more negative space would lend to a more isolated feeling with the back ground. I'd like to see more of the trap and the ring in focus with a touch less exposure as the reflection in the ring seems overexposed. Since the ring is the thing for this shot, I'd say expose for the ring and let the exposure for the background fall where it may.

Thanks Tom

I like the idea of the two diamond rings

I see that blowout on the ring above, I try to fix that in post.

Angelo · February 12, 2009

articblooms wrote:

As to the technical aspects, I agree with the prior statement about more dead space.

since there's a lot of negative space I assume you guys are suggesting more in the foreground. I'll give that a try.

Thanks for commenting.

.

Angelo · February 12, 2009

Scott_Quier wrote:

with most of the comments above - without the description of your thought process, I would have been left with the impression along the lines of, "Get married and you're caught/trapped." The back and forth events related to Prop 8 .... nope, I don't see the connection at all.

As to the photo itself - I think it's well executed. What needs to be sharp is, what is OOF is still discernable. Light is spot on. And there's plenty of room for copy if one should choose to do that.

Thank you Scott. I appreciate the supportive comments.

.

Cygnus Studios · February 13, 2009

Angelo wrote:

Rather than "marriage being a trap" I envisioned this as teasing one to reach for marriage only to have it "snap at" or "snapped away" from you.

My first thought was marriage being a trap. It works for me. I personally think any text would take away from a thought provoking image. Even though it missed the mark that you intended, you got all of us to see more than just the picture.

DaddyO · February 14, 2009

Love it. Nicely done.

thumb

It occurs to me that the ring should have a journey.
Trap to some bliss for others et...
It'd be a heck of a creative task to carry out.
For prop 8 I'd think you would have to add other symbolism
as well in this photo or any other. Simply adding a brass/other
8 in the open space as though coming to the alter could be enough.
Tee Why has a nice idea with the duel rings.

Just a few thoughts. Good luck with it.

Michael

psignosis · February 15, 2009

Thoughts
Im not sure what symbolism represents same sex marriage but maybe what you could do is wrap some pink ribbon around the ring or something.

It definitely looks like a marriage ring in a mouse trap, representing, marriage is a trap. I wish I could help but I dont know what types of symbology would represent same sex marriage without research.

I thought it was a really funny take on marriage when I first saw it. Made me laugh actually. Funny.

No, no, no - Can't Touch That!

Comments