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Street Color What makes for the "Timeless Photograph"

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I would ask everyone to look, at their own work, or those of others in OPF such as for example here and to select a picture that might be "Timeless" and represent some behavior or attitude of the human that we identify with and transcends time!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I am repeating my comment today, in Robert Watcher's thread:

0AB5417C-E22E-4D48-ACD4-C3C880487344.jpg



Robert,

Brilliant! Simply unbeatable craft! You didn't just ace the shot...

....... you have slain us too!

What are they discussing?

Does it matter?

They are not in a hurry and the relationship itself is the subject. If this was on a theater stage we'd think, "What a creative director! He really set up both characters in one brilliant staging decision as to position, postures and where they look!"

This kind of shot is easily of the standard that Bresson liked to reach himself, when he was at his best. I think you are his equal but do it in color! I am not sure what is more difficult, seeing those poses are capturing it in color which add such difficult layers of complexity with the colors that each shout and scream emotionally, trying to distract us. But you do this with aplomb!
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I challenge others to seek a favorite from your own work, others here in OPF or elsewhere, showing such iconic behavior, for all of us celebrate, connect with and bond to!


Take a risk!

?
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Asher.

Timeless pictures for you might not be the ones for me.
I would posit that most of the population, the most timeless pictures are of their loved ones.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher.

Timeless pictures for you might not be the ones for me.
I would posit that most of the population, the most timeless pictures are of their loved ones.

Fahim,

Of course you are correct. But having accepted that, what images have youi seen here that you would want to save for posterity beyond those of your own family. Are there image which trascend personal value and are worth more because they invoke feelings that would last beyond fashion and nature of our particular society, Eastern, Western, African, Himanyayan village and so forth?

Can you find candididates that have lasting power akin to the one I selected, perhaps more apt to your own sensibilities and forgiving that I may have missed the mark in my first choice?

Asher
 
I have a few images that I really want to keep forever as the years have gone by, that my heart still feels the same way about them.

This one in particular of a young girl just running. I was taking pictures during a bike race event and this girl was just running up and down the sidewalks without a care in the world. I have others of her with all her limbs in the image, but this one, where she appears to jump into the image is the one I love, as it expresses the joy of being a child and just being as a child would be. It may not affect anyone else this way, but it does me and I think that is what you were asking for.

jumpin.jpg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
I have a few images that I really want to keep forever as the years have gone by, that my heart still feels the same way about them.

This one in particular of a young girl just running. I was taking pictures during a bike race event and this girl was just running up and down the sidewalks without a care in the world. I have others of her with all her limbs in the image, but this one, where she appears to jump into the image is the one I love, as it expresses the joy of being a child and just being as a child would be. It may not affect anyone else this way, but it does me and I think that is what you were asking for.

jumpin.jpg

Exactly!

Now @Fahim: do you relate to this image as "Timeless" or is it merely a matter of unreliable individual opinion?

Are there any pictures you know such as these that seem to you to be timeless?

Asher
 
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Exactly!

Now @Fahim: do you relate to this image as "Timeless" or is it merely a matter of unreliable individual opinion?

Are there any pictures you know such as these that seem to you to be timeless?

Asher

Ha, well no response by him but that's okay. You asked what we would choose of our own, and this is one that I chose of mine. Thanks for looking at it. :) Maggie
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Asher, I want to apologize to Maggie for not having viewed the image till now.

YES and YES. That is an image Maggie can rightfully cherish. And so can we.

I would request folks to also view Nicolas’s series in Bangladesh....it contains some wonderful soul searching images. Beautifully crafted, and presented. If an image moves me, it is timeless..coz I remember it.

Unfortunately most images here, including mine, are mundane..run of the mill.

Very few Capture my emotion...those are the tiimeless ones. Beautiful models? How can they possibly be timeless, Asher?

But not to worry...as HCB said: the first 10,000 images are useless. I am just completing my 2000th!
So there is hope for me yet.



Exactly!

Now @Fahim: do you relate to this image as "Timeless" or is it merely a matter of unreliable individual opinion?

Are there any pictures you know such as these that seem to you to be timeless?

Asher
 

nicolas claris

OPF Co-founder/Administrator
I would request folks to also view Nicolas’s series in Bangladesh....it contains some wonderful soul searching images. Beautifully crafted, and presented. If an image moves me, it is timeless..coz I remember it.

Thank you Fahim!

For those willing to see my images shot in Bangladesh, they can be viewed here or there (scroll down)
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Fahim,


While We do not know the circumstances of this picture, as of yet, it is as timeless as one could conjure up!

Either it’s brilliant nudes art, one of the best “Reclining Nudes” I have ever studied, or else it’s a window on destitution, mental illness and societal disgrace, or all of these!







This will haunt me, just like The naked running, terrified napalmed child in Vietnam, Robert Capa’s soldier shot in the Spanish Civil War, the girl in Kent State kneeling in anguish at the Massacre or the woman in the American dust bowl of depression by Lange!

But Nicolas Claris has suggested this may be made of stone! Then we have to rewind the movie and the narrative becomes so different! The patina is of the natural weather and nuisance dust and dirt that carries no disgrace or stain to humanity.

I thought it could be “Street Art” as a stretch, but his great suggestion of a stone sculpture is so apt and has given me a welcome measure of relief from the anguish that enveloped and trapped me when I first saw Fahim Mohamned’s unexplained image paradox.

I still find the photograph “Timeless” as it allows us to consider values of man’s values of man!



Asher
 
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fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Asher, Nicolas...

Thanks for stopping by, and the comments.

Asher, our friend Nicolas, is correct. This is nothing but a stone sculpture at the inner gate entrance of a hotel.
I cropped the top part of the sculpture, coz the gate was interfering with it ( I think. I will find the org. image from the archives ).

I am a simple man Asher. Never studied art or design. Have no clue about such matters. I just plod along. But nice to hear it made you pause, for a second!

p.s. man designed or man made objects cannot be timeless. One can appreciate the craftsmanship involved. That is all the value they hold for me. The craftsmanship of the artist.

What is timeless in the following image?

p2775579562-6.jpg

The man made objects? The place?, The worshippers?
Or is it something that transcends all these things? A belief. I can agree with that.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Asher, Nicolas...

Thanks for stopping by, and the comments.

Asher, our friend Nicolas, is correct. This is nothing but a stone sculpture at the inner gate entrance of a hotel.
I cropped the top part of the sculpture, coz the gate was interfering with it ( I think. I will find the org. image from the archives ).

I am a simple man Asher. Never studied art or design. Have no clue about such matters. I just plod along. But nice to hear it made you pause, for a second!

p.s. man designed or man made objects cannot be timeless. One can appreciate the craftsmanship involved. That is all the value they hold for me. The craftsmanship of the artist.

What is timeless in the following image?

p2775579562-6.jpg

The man made objects? The place?, The worshippers?
Or is it something that transcends all these things? A belief. I can agree with that.



Fahim,

To me this is impressive, the result of Power and wealth, like the pyramids of Egypt or the Eiffel Tower. It is designed to be awesome and indeed it is! But is it art? No but it IS full of skilled craftsmanship!

It is a complex framing for a man-made symbol, the type of venerated sculpture, or graven image that Abraham, wisely, or rashly, smashed, you decide!

Yet it is venerated in the name of timelessness just as Buddha might be. But these are works of man and filled with assumptions, based on powerful memes of deity that spread long ago. Now, that which remains to the followers is just a concept of a “truth”. But the latter is indeed truth only in the sense that’s a truth “that they think that way”.

Timelessness of art, however, does not pretend to be “everlasting” beyond and before man. Art is really “timeless” only when humanity is potentially there to observe it and confer value. Without man, art ceases to have worth.

However the Cathedral claims endurance of concepts and truths, far beyond time and that is a very different and most arguable proposition. Adherents would think it was obvious, of course!!

Still, as it strives towards piety and as part of the patchwork quilt of the culture of mankind, there is much I can find admirable in social good, charity and values that warrant respect.

But it’s far too complex, powerful, regimented, organized, institutional and corporate to be timeless art! Armies can be impressive but they are not timeless art!

Asher
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
Well articulated Asher.
However, you know I disagree with you on the subject of religion.

But back to ' timeless ' photos...it is my opinion, that a ' timeless ' photograph is one which captures the very emotion/s that is commonly shared by the majority of the human race ( and the animal world too, for that matter ).

What these are is instinctively known. Capture that and one has a ' timeless ' image. I have beaten the drum on this, but it bears repeating...capturing and portraying humanely the human emotions is the hallmark of a ' timeless ' image. of course, imho.
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
An image I have posted previously at OPF.

A mother and child. Each one of us ( male and female ) knows the bond. Exists even in the animal kingdom.

I tried to capture a moment of a child crying and his mother, trying to gently and lovingly trying to calm him down. I specially liked the closed eyes of the mother, the all embracing and protecting arms providing a comfort and shelter from the world outside for her child.

p2780116542-6.jpg

Whether I succeeded or not is for others to judge. For myself, I can only paraphrase Diane Arbus"

' I have never made an image I intended. They have always been better or worse. '
 

James Lemon

Well-known member
An image I have posted previously at OPF.

A mother and child. Each one of us ( male and female ) knows the bond. Exists even in the animal kingdom.

I tried to capture a moment of a child crying and his mother, trying to gently and lovingly trying to calm him down. I specially liked the closed eyes of the mother, the all embracing and protecting arms providing a comfort and shelter from the world outside for her child.

p2780116542-6.jpg

Whether I succeeded or not is for others to judge. For myself, I can only paraphrase Diane Arbus"

' I have never made an image I intended. They have always been better or worse. '

A wonderful capture Fahim! You do well at photographing moments in the stream of life.
 
Asher, I want to apologize to Maggie for not having viewed the image till now.

YES and YES. That is an image Maggie can rightfully cherish. And so can we.

I would request folks to also view Nicolas’s series in Bangladesh....it contains some wonderful soul searching images. Beautifully crafted, and presented. If an image moves me, it is timeless..coz I remember it.

Unfortunately most images here, including mine, are mundane..run of the mill.

Very few Capture my emotion...those are the tiimeless ones. Beautiful models? How can they possibly be timeless, Asher?

But not to worry...as HCB said: the first 10,000 images are useless. I am just completing my 2000th!
So there is hope for me yet.

Oh, Fahim. Thank you. I have been busy and have not seen this but I'm happy that you agree that I should cherish this. :) Maggie
 
An image I have posted previously at OPF.

A mother and child. Each one of us ( male and female ) knows the bond. Exists even in the animal kingdom.

I tried to capture a moment of a child crying and his mother, trying to gently and lovingly trying to calm him down. I specially liked the closed eyes of the mother, the all embracing and protecting arms providing a comfort and shelter from the world outside for her child.

p2780116542-6.jpg

Whether I succeeded or not is for others to judge. For myself, I can only paraphrase Diane Arbus"

' I have never made an image I intended. They have always been better or worse. '

Oh, this is lovely. Definitely timeless! :) Maggie
 
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