Steve - another one of.... I have always liked Weston's peppers and I also like the twisting form you have captured here. But unless it's the web image at fault it looks as though the highlights are badly over-cooked, so the detail in the highlights has been destroyed. Have you tried printing darker and to a fuller range of tones? I'm assuming you are using "analogue" equipment! Howard
I like your comment, Howard, and let me add something for all to think about. Bear in mind, my generation is the Medium is the Message generation. Unlike many of our contributors, I am not looking at the gallery as a form of publication. More than that, I don't see photographer as any different than, say -- sculpture. So, as for the technical perfections, or imperfections in MY pictures . . .I see them up on the gallery screen as objects that, in fact -- stand out from the rest. In so much as they are replicas of hand crafted pieces, the flaws seem to show them as objects and not simply images. This is not meant to be a glib statement, but promotes a long discussion. As for the specific mention of the burned out highlights, it needs elaboration in the fact that as a collection of over a hundred pictures of thesame thing, the theme of this and Weston's peppers is meant as a study on light and form. My thesis continues as within this study, there is value in the lack of clarity to represent form differently than what can be shown as with the naked eye. Photography that can call our attention to specific objects, and points of view, angles and prospectives; this medium can be highlighted for a different perspective upon the form as well. For, when seeing all these pictures together, it will be possible without much effort to see the same pepper in different light . . . some light that actually burns out some of the shape. Thanks for noticing. The similarities with digital or electronic photographic manipulation is not too far from film and chemical picture making. And, it was Brett Weston who insisted no every photograph is all that different than a painting. More on THAT later, too. Thanks Steve Shapiro More to come
