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My best shot

Tom dinning

Tom dinning

Registrant*
Mark Hampton said:
ok - this news paper below publishes each week a photograph and the description of the making and thoughts behind - their best shot.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/series/mybestshot


have a look and a think - then put what you consider to be your best shot up with 100 or so words.

remember it's what you consider to be your best work. the words are your words and style.
Click to expand...

How can any of us compete with the erectile display of an arachnid, Mark? Even my own pales into insignificance. But you have given me an idea. I'll give up the Viagra and try the lactic acid trick. Can I post the results here?
 
M

Mark Hampton

New member
Tom dinning said:
How can any of us compete with the erectile display of an arachnid, Mark? Even my own pales into insignificance. But you have given me an idea. I'll give up the Viagra and try the lactic acid trick. Can I post the results here?
Click to expand...

Tom,

its going to be hard isnt it - competing with that image that is.

I think you should give it a go - remember to have an emotional response to it and make sure you have an abstract structural coherence.

we may have to NSFW the thread.

cheers
 
Tom dinning

Tom dinning

Registrant*
As usual, I'm going to go against the grain and admit I don't have a 'best work'. Whatever I did was the best I could do at the time with the limited skills and knowledge I had to work with. When I know more I can get better.
Still, I do have my FAVOURITE' shots.
This is one of them.


There are many things that make this a favourite. Firstly, it is a photo of the most important people in my life. It represents a moment when we shared the joy of being together, which is a rare occurence. The photo also reminds me of how important photography has been in my life, because without it I would not have the visual history to remind me of how good my life has been. This photo also represents the contribution photography has made to all our lives. It enables our decendants to see what their ancestors where like. Only in the last 200 years have the general population had the opportunity to do this. My 'best work' is when I can carry on this tradition.

Cheers
Tom
 
M

Mark Hampton

New member
Tom dinning said:
As usual, I'm going to go against the grain and admit I don't have a 'best work'. Whatever I did was the best I could do at the time with the limited skills and knowledge I had to work with. When I know more I can get better.
Still, I do have my FAVOURITE' shots.
This is one of them.


There are many things that make this a favourite. Firstly, it is a photo of the most important people in my life. It represents a moment when we shared the joy of being together, which is a rare occurence. The photo also reminds me of how important photography has been in my life, because without it I would not have the visual history to remind me of how good my life has been. This photo also represents the contribution photography has made to all our lives. It enables our decendants to see what their ancestors where like. Only in the last 200 years have the general population had the opportunity to do this. My 'best work' is when I can carry on this tradition.

Cheers
Tom
Click to expand...

Tom,

thanks for posting this - i think it fits in well with what the thread was about and you make very valid points. There are a number of makers in the archives who have adopted this approach - there was also a sections on shots that were missed.

Any other takers?

cheers
 
Jarmo Juntunen

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
This is very interesting! I've always found similar contests, votes etc a bit boring. "What's the best film ever made" or "What is best Led Zeppeling song ever written"? Who cares, really. Any piece of high art or cheap entertainment can be important. Some moments call for La Dolce Vita, some for American Pie. Anyway, I'd love to play this game, too. Just like Tom, I take pictures mostly to record my life. Mostly my pictures are unplanned snaps, but then again so is life. So this unplanned snap means a lot to me right now:

Rowing with granddad

_medium.jpg
 
J

John Wolf

New member
I don't really have any images that I consider "best." I really don't think that way. But I like the spirit of the thread concept. So here's my contribution.

If I titled my photographs, I'd call this one "Hearts and Stones." I enjoy metaphor in photographs. I have this framed on my office wall because it reminds me of two ways of living -- compassion and loving kindness versus selfishness and justice. Hearts or stones.

I also like the photo's minimalist composition and forms, especially the way the leaves and stones share the same shape.

I know this sounds like a lot to get from a picture, but that's what it triggers for me every time I view it. It's a good visual reminder of the choices we have in how we live our lives.

John

L101049.jpg
 
M

Mark Hampton

New member
thanks to John and Jarmo for thier addtions - I like the work and the thoughts that support them - I agree best is naff - but its purpose it to put the intent of the work on show - even when it is a snap or an aid to memory or just to prove our excistance the photography as a momento or metophore is a powerful thing (for me)




eyetraker-1.jpg



This was made after research about how we may perceive what is around us - the original image was made by Yarbus and is the eyetracker of a girls face - I reshot this an angle with a shallow dof across the eyeline - for shorting the image and changing the shape. It has changed the way i look at every image since - i got it tattooed on my arm - printed on tee shirts - it appears in things I make.
 
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