Thanks to those that took the time to do reviews this week, as well as those who have done reviews in weeks past.
Being on the road it is frequently difficult, and often impossible, for me to get online and see what is happening on the Photoforum. It's difficult enough finding a power plug, let alone a phone line when camping out. When I do find a power plug I end up recharging batteries and the laptop and downloading images. And, when I do get online I spend much of the time catching up with tons of spam and the few real messages I would like to read. As a consequence of traveling I am now terribly behind on updating the website.
I'm currently in Winslow, Arizona, but not standing on a corner, and would like to respond to this week's reviewers of the PF Gallery:
I note first that one review was tucked away in another messsage that I almost didn't take the time to look through.
Dave Small wrote thusly:
"Strong graphics. Was this literally taken from the road? I like the design
elements,It's hard to make out what it represents,but who cares. At first I
thought itwas the entrance to one of Aspen night spots.Good composition and color.
Rich? your doing what I have dreamed of for years. Cross country trip ala
Robert Frank.
Keep us posted on your adventures."
To the first question: yes, just off the sidewalk.
You are right, it is the entrance to a night spot.
I'll try to keep posting pictures to the Forum as I go along, I'm having a blast.
The new Marilyn Dalrymple reviewed as follows:
"Aspen, Colorado:? In my past mode of reviewing PhotoForum Gallery images,? I would say this is a fascinating photograph.? Nice patterns and colors.?? In my "I want" mode, I find the hand pointing irritating.? What is it pointing to??? "I want" ?my question answered in this photograph (selfish as I am)."
I like a little ambiguity in my work. Many of my best images, IMHO, leave the viewer with some questions and fill-in-the-blanks. It keeps the work fresh if everything is not answered, don't you think? Keep coming back for more, etc.
I originally came upon the pointing hand in the daytime and made a few pictures with people coming and going, but nothing worked out the way I might have liked. I returned at night to see it then and found the lighting to be mysterious and interesting. I hoped for a person or people to stop at a convenient point so I might include their sillhouettes in the picture, but, alas, nobody stopped. Another problem with being on the road--if I lived near this spot I could return countless times to get the perfect situation.
Bob Talbot reviewed this way (hidden in another posting about the previous week's Gallery):
"I'm really not sure on last week's response I can be bothered to
review this week's gallery.
That's a shame, because Rich Mason's shot would be one of those rare
images I like EXACTLY as it is shown ... I fantastic picture :
movement, mood, interest, abstract shapes? (shadows, railings and
light trails) ... it would certainly be my pick of the week by a long
chalk.
Oops ... did I say perfect?? Nah, can't ever let that by.? OK, a tad
too much black at the base of the picture.? I'd crop off some of
that...? ;o)"
Waaddya mean it's not perfect? Thanks for taking the time to not do a review. ;-)
Thomas Dall spake in this manner:
"Rushing through the night, senseless, meaningless signs and lights in a
dark and strange world. Very good image. Nice and simple, powerful
composition and use of only three colors. (a technical aside: did you
use a tungsten film for this?)"
Thank you. I used digital film on this one--a Canon Powershot G3. In this situation I let it pick the white balance on its own due to the mixed lighting of tungsten and halogen (I believe).
OK, that's it. I'm off to stand on a corner here in Winslow, Arizona, to see if a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford will slow down to take a look at me (not likely).
Cheers,
Rich Mason
http://richmason.com
Rich on the Road is active!
