Cody White
Member
Just wondering how this works?
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Cannon shot
- Thread starter Cody White
- Start date
Mark Hampton
New member
I like the explosion on the left !
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Cody Love: Cannon Shot
Cody,
Works for me best centered. The picture s already asymmetrcal. Having white space all around t creates a freedom for the mind to go beyond the borders of the mage.
Is it cropped?
Asher
Ken Tanaka
pro member
Too much information can make for a dull image.
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Alain Briot
pro member
I see an explosion, not a photograph.
Alain Briot
pro member
In art, often less is more. However, sometimes, far less is far more .... In this case Ken is on the right path but I'd go further and suggest that most of the explosion is cropped out so that we have a constructed image instead of an accidental snapshot:
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Warning against advice to you!
Cody,
I prefer this small selection of everything that was there. Ken and Alain have taken us on a valuable path that we all can and let me say, should explore each time we make a picture. "We only need this!" is what I think.
However, you, the photographer must buy into this and then choose the form that best carries all the emotions and ideas of the cannon explosions at that time and also at the time of making this presentation. For sure, it was a snap, a grab at transient beauty and fun. Now, if it's to be more than that you should revisit your photograph to feel, think and speak again!
So I'd love to know how you now consider what is best.
Asher
Cody,
I prefer this small selection of everything that was there. Ken and Alain have taken us on a valuable path that we all can and let me say, should explore each time we make a picture. "We only need this!" is what I think.
However, you, the photographer must buy into this and then choose the form that best carries all the emotions and ideas of the cannon explosions at that time and also at the time of making this presentation. For sure, it was a snap, a grab at transient beauty and fun. Now, if it's to be more than that you should revisit your photograph to feel, think and speak again!
So I'd love to know how you now consider what is best.
Asher
Ken Tanaka
pro member
I think the biggest difference between Alain's crop and mine is the type, and amount, of mystery appetite we each had at the moment. We both eliminated scale cues by taking away grass and that nozzle. My initial inclination was similar to Alain's, specifically I tried to find a square frame in the traces. But I just couldn't find one that was satisfying. So I left the flare and traces in a long frame, leaving it to the viewer to decide what was causing the commotion below the frame.
Alain, ever the artist, leaned more toward mining geometric beauty from that original image, and he came up with some very nice gold. Leaving a bit of flare in that L.L. corner also preserved some mystery.
But neither of us was able to get rid of that tell-tale chain link fence in the background...ugh!
As Asher notes, there are sometimes stronger possibilities within a frame by reducing it or, sometimes, even tilting it. I do not recommend using a 14mm fishing net in hopes of landing a "decisive moment" through simple probability. But searching for a good image within an image can be a very productive educational exercise that might help some people see possibilities more clearly.
Alain, ever the artist, leaned more toward mining geometric beauty from that original image, and he came up with some very nice gold. Leaving a bit of flare in that L.L. corner also preserved some mystery.
But neither of us was able to get rid of that tell-tale chain link fence in the background...ugh!
As Asher notes, there are sometimes stronger possibilities within a frame by reducing it or, sometimes, even tilting it. I do not recommend using a 14mm fishing net in hopes of landing a "decisive moment" through simple probability. But searching for a good image within an image can be a very productive educational exercise that might help some people see possibilities more clearly.
Mark Hampton
New member
Mentalist and drain pipes direct water....
this is a document of an expolsion - cropping is strange - follow some links ....
http://www.awe.co.uk/aboutus/Our_History_f77a4.html
**** beauty because its in the image on the left.. and the whole...
Control is a poor man’s whip - it makes you slaves to the image ...
cheers
Ken Tanaka
pro member
For centuries to come, years will pass.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Mark,
You might find interest then here where the dangers of opinions are examined in the context of openness v. keeping the photographer's intent in play.
Asher
Alain Briot
pro member
Mark,
The problem is that the story you want us to read is not in the snapshot . . . If you want us to see the story in a photograph, you have to make it part of the photograph, not provide it in a link separate from the image. There lies all the difficulty of creating photographs instead of taking snapshots.
Anyone can take a snapshot. It takes a training to create a photograph. Providing this training, through our comments and croppings, is what we are doing here.
The problem is that the story you want us to read is not in the snapshot . . . If you want us to see the story in a photograph, you have to make it part of the photograph, not provide it in a link separate from the image. There lies all the difficulty of creating photographs instead of taking snapshots.
Anyone can take a snapshot. It takes a training to create a photograph. Providing this training, through our comments and croppings, is what we are doing here.
Sandrine Bascouert
Member
Reminds me...
When I was in a school of arts, the professors payed more attention on the 300 pages books that some students provided more than the work itself. It was some kind of fashion at a time. No need to mention that because of my legendary shyness, talking about my drawings were far more difficult than the drawing itself. No need to mention as well that I didn't last too long (I was not the only one, and some far more talented than me). I think it makes things more difficult to understand for the "average" people. And nobody wants his work to be known only by the "philosophers of art", I suppose. Just my 2 cents.
When I was in a school of arts, the professors payed more attention on the 300 pages books that some students provided more than the work itself. It was some kind of fashion at a time. No need to mention that because of my legendary shyness, talking about my drawings were far more difficult than the drawing itself. No need to mention as well that I didn't last too long (I was not the only one, and some far more talented than me). I think it makes things more difficult to understand for the "average" people. And nobody wants his work to be known only by the "philosophers of art", I suppose. Just my 2 cents.
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Sandrine Bascouert
Member
The problem there, is :
Is it strictly documentary, so maybe we need more explanation "INSIDE THE PHOTO"
or is it "art" (I'd be careful with Ken with this attempt
) and maybe we need less explanations (in fact we don't need explanation at all). Again just my words.
Is it strictly documentary, so maybe we need more explanation "INSIDE THE PHOTO"
or is it "art" (I'd be careful with Ken with this attempt
) and maybe we need less explanations (in fact we don't need explanation at all). Again just my words.
Alain Briot
pro member
Sandrine,
Good points. The problem is that if the image is documentary, then it has no place here. It should, instead, be on an "explosion-related" website, or some place where people enjoy looking at images of explosions. Here, we take it for granted that we are commenting on an expressive image and not just a documentative image. The motto for this site "Journeys to the masterpiece" makes understanding this point unmistakable.
Just one question: what was in the student's "300 pages books" ???
Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.
Andre Dubus
Good points. The problem is that if the image is documentary, then it has no place here. It should, instead, be on an "explosion-related" website, or some place where people enjoy looking at images of explosions. Here, we take it for granted that we are commenting on an expressive image and not just a documentative image. The motto for this site "Journeys to the masterpiece" makes understanding this point unmistakable.
Just one question: what was in the student's "300 pages books" ???
Shyness has a strange element of narcissism, a belief that how we look, how we perform, is truly important to other people.
Andre Dubus
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Sandrine,
This is important. Could you write this in French too as I want Alain to read it as thought out naturally in your mother-tongue. He's French too.
Asher
Alain Briot
pro member
Yes, Sandrine made an important point.
I'm all for answering in French!
I'm all for answering in French!
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
The problem there, is :
Is it strictly documentary, so maybe we need more explanation "INSIDE THE PHOTO"
or is it "art" (I'd be careful with Ken with this attempt
Alone, this is an enjoyable snap, a memento and fun!
Composed thoughtfully in a portion to contain the essence of everything that was, is and can be there can be a candidate for art. The exclusion process, focus, choice and balance of elements and significance are just used after the picture is taken and that's fine too.
To do more this would have to be paired with other pictures, a poem, a short statement or serious article. Then it would have a context beyond fun.
Asher
Ken Tanaka
pro member
I recall one day when I was a youngster in elementary school a teacher wagging her finger in my face in response to my skepticism of the value of diagramming sentence structure.
"Mr. Tanaka", she snarled, "if you can't say what you mean you certainly won't mean what you say!".
This old chestnut applies as aptly in art and photography as it does in language. People who are not interested in seeing variations and understanding the cognitive possibilities of their images are camera owners, just as someone only interested in playing "Chopsticks" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" on their piano is merely a piano owner.
"Mr. Tanaka", she snarled, "if you can't say what you mean you certainly won't mean what you say!".
This old chestnut applies as aptly in art and photography as it does in language. People who are not interested in seeing variations and understanding the cognitive possibilities of their images are camera owners, just as someone only interested in playing "Chopsticks" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" on their piano is merely a piano owner.
Alain Briot
pro member
Love it. No more "that's just a snapshot." Now we'll be saying "that's just a camera owner shot". Much more to the point.
Sandrine Bascouert
Member
I'm dedicated now to speak English as far as I can but I can make an exception - for you. I'll think of it, and I'll make an answer later... Now I going to eat, if you don't mind...
Now I going to eat, if you don't mind...Sandrine Bascouert
Member
To make a short story long
C'etait a l'école des Beaux arts de Toulouse, années 1988/89, je dessinais maigrement - J'etais venue faire de la 3D sur des Amiga 2000. le cours a été supprimé 2 semaines avant la rentrée faute de prof. On a ralé, le professeur de dessin nous a tous fait sortir de la classe pour nous amené devant le fronton de l'école ou était écrit "école des Beaux Arts et des Arts Appliqués" en disant "voyez ce qui est gravé ici, c'est une école des beaux arts. La 3D n'a rien a foutre ici". Ambiance posée des le début. Apres ca a été le concours de celle/celui qui serait le plus "sexuellement dérangé" avec prime aux évocations les plus crasseuses possibles . J'étais mal partie. 1er travail, je fais trois essais, j'ai du expliquer tout pourquoi ci, pourquoi ca, mais pas la couleur ou le trait, mais plutot quelles etaient mes obsessions, mes angoisses, il a fallu rendre un rapport. Personne n'a parlé de la technique, d' améliorations. Interdiction d'etre heureux, équilibré. Une fille a rendu un texte de 150 pages (c'etait une exageration, les 300 pages). Elle a expliqué la fascination qu'elle avait a s'observer quand elle avait ses regles (désolée pour les détails). La il y a eu fracture....elle est passée premiere au concours. Nous on a passé le reste de l'année a boire, a écumer les concerts de rock et accessoirement j'ai attaqué la photo- ah oui j'oubliais, l'atelier photo aussi avait été supprimé. Les choses ont surement changé maintenant mais a l'époque j'avais la sensation que si tout cela avait pu etre compris par le "vulgus pecum" ca serait passé a la trappe. La beauté pour elle meme était taboue.
I completed the story for the French speaking people, it's far longer than the English version....
It explains partly why it's so hard to me to be called an artist, and I feel no pride at all to be an artist, if I am one. And that in a sense, I feel more pride in Craftsmanship.
C'etait a l'école des Beaux arts de Toulouse, années 1988/89, je dessinais maigrement - J'etais venue faire de la 3D sur des Amiga 2000. le cours a été supprimé 2 semaines avant la rentrée faute de prof. On a ralé, le professeur de dessin nous a tous fait sortir de la classe pour nous amené devant le fronton de l'école ou était écrit "école des Beaux Arts et des Arts Appliqués" en disant "voyez ce qui est gravé ici, c'est une école des beaux arts. La 3D n'a rien a foutre ici". Ambiance posée des le début. Apres ca a été le concours de celle/celui qui serait le plus "sexuellement dérangé" avec prime aux évocations les plus crasseuses possibles . J'étais mal partie. 1er travail, je fais trois essais, j'ai du expliquer tout pourquoi ci, pourquoi ca, mais pas la couleur ou le trait, mais plutot quelles etaient mes obsessions, mes angoisses, il a fallu rendre un rapport. Personne n'a parlé de la technique, d' améliorations. Interdiction d'etre heureux, équilibré. Une fille a rendu un texte de 150 pages (c'etait une exageration, les 300 pages). Elle a expliqué la fascination qu'elle avait a s'observer quand elle avait ses regles (désolée pour les détails). La il y a eu fracture....elle est passée premiere au concours. Nous on a passé le reste de l'année a boire, a écumer les concerts de rock et accessoirement j'ai attaqué la photo- ah oui j'oubliais, l'atelier photo aussi avait été supprimé. Les choses ont surement changé maintenant mais a l'époque j'avais la sensation que si tout cela avait pu etre compris par le "vulgus pecum" ca serait passé a la trappe. La beauté pour elle meme était taboue.
I completed the story for the French speaking people, it's far longer than the English version....
It explains partly why it's so hard to me to be called an artist, and I feel no pride at all to be an artist, if I am one. And that in a sense, I feel more pride in Craftsmanship.