No matter where you go, there is almost always some place, often a bar room, where the center of interest is two guys with their opinions, shouting back and forth at each other about some subject, bringing in new items to back their arguments, yelling at bystanders who happen to make some point related to the arguments, making generalizations that especially disparage people who do things differently compared to the way they did things some time ago. In the process, no observation goes unpunished, and no punishment goes unobserved. Past accomplishments are trundled out as proof of the validity of the arguments whether there is any logic or not as to the relationship to the arguments.
When an unmoderated forum devolves into such rants, it proves the point that a free society is logically not possible because it permits its destroyers to function freely.
What does all this mean for photography, you ask? Just this. I think that Tina Manley's photograph of the children has tones that are simply beautiful. Period. If we talk about the balance between the pig on the left and the girl at far right or anything else, it would be just formal mumbling. If you want to inject political/social implication, that would be personal opinion, which you could either go to a bar to argue or make a statement and let it be. Someone else might make a different statement, but as far as an unmoderated forum is concerned, the accepted rule is: one statement per person with no winners or losers.
As for my own photograph, I should have said again as I did last week that I am still experimenting with tones while working only with a digital capture. I'm still working to make it a better image but that's besides the point at this time.
On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 8:20 PM, Andrew Sharpe <asharpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
You guys are just a font of wisdom.
Andrew
On 1/4/14, 4:44 PM, Jan Faul wrote:
> I’m glad Tomoko and I have such good taste. Comic Sans is forbidden here
> too. It is after all from MS.
>
> On Jan 4, 2014, at 7:32 PM, Randy Little wrote:
>
>> It wasn't taken with an iPhone and Tomoko forbids the use of Comic
>> Sans, so no.
>>
>> Randy S. Little
>> http://www.rslittle.com/
>> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325729/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 7:29 PM, Jan Faul <jan@xxxxxxxxxxx
>> <mailto:jan@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> Perhaps you could resurrect it and use in 2017? Just change the
>> names a bit and put it in Comic Sans.
>>
>>
>> On Jan 4, 2014, at 7:21 PM, Randy Little wrote:
>>
>>> Because its fun and I said I would post a picture of Drake
>>> brothers to someone on the list. I though it was a pretty neat
>>> business card for circa 1917.
>>>
>>>
>>> Randy S. Little
>>> http://www.rslittle.com/
>>> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325729/
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 4, 2014 at 6:21 PM, Jan Faul <jan@xxxxxxxxxxx
>>> <mailto:jan@xxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 4, 2014, at 4:06 PM, Trevor Cunningham wrote:
>>>
>>>> Gregory david Stempel - Street Lamps
>>>> I love it. It's a perfect blend of contradiction. My pic
>>>> of the gallery.
>>>
>>> A Good minimalist grab shot.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Bob McCulloch - Boats
>>>> Well seen, well arranged
>>>
>>> This would be nice if Bob could stop putting everything in
>>> the middle and learn how to use negative space and how to
>>> direct the viewers’ eyes.
>>>
>>>> , well exposed. I like the errant ripple effect in the water.
>>>>
>>>> Dan Mitchell - Android
>>>> Not enough people in the shot to make it the horror it is.
>>>
>>> There aren’t enough people in the shot? Not enough brains in
>>> the reviewer to notice that is on purpose? It should have
>>> been shot on a tripod with a real camera so the shutter speed
>>> could be slowed down to 1 sec or more to make the people bur
>>> out.
>>>
>>>> Tina Manley - Children with Pig, 2002
>>>> Reminds me of a trip to the island of Sumba. Too bad the
>>>> pig is cut off...or, that just might mean dinner :)
>>>
>>> Reminds me of a horror movie.
>>>>
>>>> John Palcewski - Hand
>>>> I love it. But I've been so infected by these diatribes
>>>> of digital capture ruining photography that I might not be
>>>> allowed to respect it.
>>>
>>> It's a strange title meant to provoke comment and it works.
>>>
>>>> Yoram Gelman - Veranda in Decay
>>>> Nice range of tones, but I end at that. The trees are all
>>>> the decay I can see...maybe that's the point?
>>>
>>> I believe the shot might have looked better as a horizontal
>>> and from a slightly higher camera position.
>>>
>>>> Christopher Strevens - The way.
>>>> Flip the title with the details and you have a haunting
>>>> photo essay.
>>>
>>> Hmmmm, another minimalist composition.
>>>
>>>> Art Faul -
>>>> Perfect capture, and I would expect nothing less. But, I
>>>> do beg the question, what's the context? Again, spectacular
>>>> control of light, sensational color balance...there's even
>>>> lines to show how close to perfect the capture is...but it's
>>>> completely empty unless I frequent that station. Your film
>>>> effort is commendable in this age, but lost with a
>>>> bargain-basement gradient background that fails to follow
>>>> the light angle of a wastefully careful drop shadow. And why
>>>> not just use Comic Sans?
>>>
>>> I really hate the use of the word ‘capture’ as it makes me
>>> think of soldiers in a war. I know this never occurred to
>>> you, but the shot is supposed to feel empty. As to the
>>> background, obviously you don’t get it. Others do, but you
>>> don’t so I am not going to try to educate you. Do you have a
>>> background in design or have you worked with font designers
>>> like Herb Lubalin or Seymour Chwast? NO? Too bad.
>>>>
>>>> Randy Little -
>>>> Very cool! This could even pass as modern. But, I'm
>>>> confused...did your uncle produce this, or was he the
>>>> daredevil? What happened to Mervin?
>>> I’m confused, not to dampen Randy’s spirits about his
>>> ancestors, but I don’t know what it is doing here.
>>>
>>> What seems to have happened to photography is that now we see
>>> and/or work with the smallest of details, reviewers pick
>>> apart the most minute unimportant points of an image rather
>>> than looking at the overall effect, general tone, or ‘feel’.
>>> Plus most of us are filled with a sense of impending fame
>>> which comes from everybody believing they are on the cusp of
>>> becoming widely known for their efforts in photography while
>>> nothing could be further from the truth.
>>> MY favorite time in photography was 20-30 years ago when I
>>> only had 50,000 competitors, and that was OK. Now any idiot
>>> with an iPhone believes that we compete, while in actuality,
>>> we do not. IT used to be any idiot with a Rebel, but image
>>> quality is no longer desired, hence the growth of Instagram.
>>> Few of us look at presentation as we are too caught up in
>>> minutiae and the control we believe we have with software
>>> like PS or LR. It is as though we are award-winning
>>> photographers although deep down inside, we know we are not.
>>> PS is still crap in, crap out while we believe our ownership
>>> of superior image-making machines can elevate us to
>>> unforeseen heights. I wonder if the bubble is ever going to pop?
>>> OK, we almost all want to be (rich) and famous and believe we
>>> can get there with our images despite the simple fact that
>>> the competition is more fierce than ever before.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Art Faul
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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