PIFFLE or not?

Michael_Stones · Oct 23, 2012

Intrigued by a discussion of PIFFLE in an earlier thread "Can Art have no Artist's Statement, Vision or Idea?" and Mark Hampton's untitled images in the preceding thread, those above further explore a minimalist approach.

Mindful of the apposite comment by Maris Rusis on the earlier thread - "One thing that I fiercely insist on is that the artist will have put the work through their own mind mind. If they can't be bothered doing that I can't be bothered putting it through mine." - be assured that the work occupied my mind (piffling though it may be) at all stages of production. I dedicate the images to Mark Hampton among others who push against conventional boundaries of photography on OPF.

Cheers
Mike

Mark Hampton · Oct 23, 2012

Michael_Stones said:
Intrigued by a discussion of PIFFLE in an earlier thread "Can Art have no Artist's Statement, Vision or Idea?" and Mark Hampton's untitled images in the preceding thread, those above further explore a minimalist approach.

Mindful of the apposite comment by Maris Rusis on the earlier thread - "One thing that I fiercely insist on is that the artist will have put the work through their own mind mind. If they can't be bothered doing that I can't be bothered putting it through mine." - be assured that the work occupied my mind (piffling though it may be) at all stages of production. I dedicate the images to Mark Hampton among others who push against conventional boundaries of photography on OPF.

Cheers
Mike

Mike,

the funny thing about the work I make is i don't see it as minimalist - that was a phrase used by someone else about the work. but there in is the beauty of making work. once others see it it is formed by them and their minds / loves / hates etc. their view is just that, theirs and that for me is where art resides - in the mind of the viewer.

thanks for the dedication - its humbling to get praise and appreciated.

In relation to images you have posted - for me there are very beautiful. i love the chaos of water - the surface tension and the play of light. when i bath my son i show him this. so when i 1st looked at the work i didn't push into them because I was remembering something else.

for me these are complex models that can keep building and will be looked at again. are there more?

cheers

p.s.
a strange thing for you to do mike - post work on OPF - i thought we only talked about religion here ! (that's a joke AK)

Jerome Marot · Oct 23, 2012

Mark Hampton said:
a strange thing for you to do mike - post work on OPF - i thought we only talked about religion here ! (that's a joke AK)

Sometimes we do post photographs here.

Mark Hampton · Oct 23, 2012

Jerome Marot said:
Sometimes we do post photographs here.

simple, beautiful.

Michael_Stones · Oct 23, 2012

An image that intrigues, Jerome. And after listening to my beloved footy team's last minute equalizer on digital radio, I'll celebrate by posting another photo. If a title is needed, Snowflakes will do.

Cheers
Mike

Jerome Marot · Oct 23, 2012

A title is never needed.

Maris Rusis · Oct 24, 2012

Michael_Stones said:
Intrigued by a discussion of PIFFLE in an earlier thread "Can Art have no Artist's Statement, Vision or Idea?" and Mark Hampton's untitled images in the preceding thread, those above further explore a minimalist approach.

Mindful of the apposite comment by Maris Rusis on the earlier thread - "One thing that I fiercely insist on is that the artist will have put the work through their own mind mind. If they can't be bothered doing that I can't be bothered putting it through mine." - be assured that the work occupied my mind (piffling though it may be) at all stages of production. I dedicate the images to Mark Hampton among others who push against conventional boundaries of photography on OPF.

Cheers
Mike

Mike, I am of the same mind as you and it is a privilege to share a parallel vision. In homage and solidarity I offer:

Ripples, Noosa River

Gelatin-silver photograph on Fomabrom Variant111 FB VC, image area 16.3cm X 21.4cm, from a Tmax 100 negative exposed in a Mamiya RB67 camera fitted with a 360mm f6.3 lens.

It is a trenchant demand to insist on the passage of an art-work through the mind of the putative artist but it is one that photography answers with great facility. Until photography was invented it was impossible to stop images of the world (in general) or ripples (in particular) to see what they really looked like. All the old painters had was an idea of ripples and they never did them as correctly and plainly and elegantly as you have done.

Cheers
Maris Rusis

George Holroyd · Oct 24, 2012

Snapped this on Monday in Provence, a humble contribution.

La Ciotat, France

Jarmo Juntunen · Oct 24, 2012

Mike, thank you for this thread! I also love/fear water. And what a challenging subject to shoot!

Green waves

And these are not in water but close...

Wind1

Wind2

Thank you for watching!

Tom dinning · Oct 24, 2012

Now I get it.

I'm heading for the local creek, shaky camera in hand, photograph some ripples and print it on news print, frame it with an empty beer carton and add some technical information as a final touch.
Then tell people it's simple and beautiful because its me pushing the conventional boundaries of photography.

Jim Galli, I'm taking up religion. Even the stuff you go on with is starting to make sense after this lot.

Mark Hampton · Oct 24, 2012

Tom dinning said:
Now I get it.

I'm heading for the local creek, shaky camera in hand, photograph some ripples and print it on news print, frame it with an empty beer carton and add some technical information as a final touch.
Then tell people it's simple and beautiful because its me pushing the conventional boundaries of photography.

Jim Galli, I'm taking up religion. Even the stuff you go on with is starting to make sense after this lot.

lol ... i think we all need a pocket tom....

go to the religion thread and stir that one up.

Jarmo Juntunen · Oct 25, 2012

Tom dinning said:
Now I get it.

I'm heading for the local creek, shaky camera in hand, photograph some ripples and print it on news print, frame it with an empty beer carton and add some technical information as a final touch.
Then tell people it's simple and beautiful because its me pushing the conventional boundaries of photography.

Jim Galli, I'm taking up religion. Even the stuff you go on with is starting to make sense after this lot.

But Tom, I thought you of all people on this forum would be all for the new Piffle movement: http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16394

Tom dinning · Oct 25, 2012

Jarmo Juntunen said:
But Tom, I thought you of all people on this forum would be all for the new Piffle movement: http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16394

Bugger! I've been caught out again. Here I was thinking I could introduce piffle without being noticed. Next time I'll tell my 2 year old great grand daughter to stop playing with my iPod when she is in the car.

Sign me up

Michael_Stones · Oct 25, 2012

And this Reverent Tom, me dear owd duck. You got religion already! Complete with technical detail. No need to go to another forum. Just come out of the closet and piffle along with the rest of us.

Tom dinning said:
This isn't art but its a sort of arty farty mistake. I got back from my class the other night and found this in the CF card. At first I thought it was a gremlin, then a religious experience or vision or I was drunk. Then I realised what I had done (silly me) and cropped it a bit, smoothed out the colours and hey presto! I should make mistakes more often.
Its not something I would purposely go for myself. All a bit 'over the mantle piece' surrounded with icons and candles or displayed in a card shop with some inane to accompany it like 'May all your Christmas's come at once'
But, ****, there are plenty of people out there with bad taste.

_DSC0791 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

Loved the piffle below, by the way.

Tom dinning said:
You've been peeking, Asher.
Here's another. It might help.

Titled #2 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

Cheers
Mike

Asher Kelman · Oct 25, 2012

Mike,

These are superb at pulling us away to a special otherworldly but believable milieu with water teeming with life. It's remarkable for the myriads of interwoven shapes created. In the first perhaps, cattle, and the second fish and maybe crocs too! Some fractal effect on the brain, I guess! Hope you have a bunch more!

I like that these have a pristine appearance as you have not left any digital debris of the filter you used! Try printing and see how it comes out. Presumably these were digital, but what camera and light conditions? Was the sun overhead or at an angle?

In each, are we also seeing the effect of reflections or is the image showing just the surface of the water and whatever shows through the waves?

Asher

Tom dinning · Oct 25, 2012

Asher Kelman said:
Mike,

These are superb at pulling us away to a special otherworldly but believable milieu with water teeming with life. It's remarkable for the myriads of interwoven shapes created. In the first perhaps, cattle, and the second fish and maybe crocs too! Some fractal effect on the brain, I guess! Hope you have a bunch more!

I like that these have a pristine appearance as you have not left any digital debris of the filter you used! Try printing and see how it comes out. Presumably these were digital, but what camera and light conditions? Was the sun overhead or at an angle?

In each, are we also seeing the effect of reflections or is the image showing just the surface of the water and whatever shows through the waves?

Asher

I'm still seeing vaginas as a result of overexposure to Marks lawn.

Tom dinning · Oct 25, 2012

Jerome Marot said:
Sometimes we do post photographs here.

I can see George Washington's face in there. Is it a sign?

Tom Robbins · Oct 25, 2012

Close, but no cigar, Tom. It is actually Ginkgo Biloba, the famous explorer who discovered the Panama Canal in 1547.

Michael_Stones · Oct 25, 2012

Thanks Asher. Photos were taken on a moderately bright day with Nikon D3s, sometime in the afternoon with the light slanting.

Here's a couple more piffles from the same session.

Maybe it's a pity that Hermann Rorschach was drawn more to klecksography (making inkblot pictures) than photography in his childhood. Had it been otherwise, a "Piffling Personality Test" might have taken the world of psychology by storm

(just kidding).

Cheers
Mike

Jerome Marot · Oct 25, 2012

Tom dinning said:
I can see George Washington's face in there. Is it a sign?

Yes. It is a sign you have had too much beer. Probably. Or that they started mining shale gas next to your house, I can't be really sure.

nicolas claris · Oct 25, 2012

Some pretty neat images here!
As a sailor and photographer, water ripples are part of my life (note that sometimes ripples may become huge waves!).
Almost 3 years ago, returning from an assignment in (or better, on) the Red Sea I did post here these images…

Tom dinning · Oct 25, 2012

Tom Robbins said:
Close, but no cigar, Tom. It is actually Ginkgo Biloba, the famous explorer who discovered the Panama Canal in 1547.

You nearly had me there, Tom. I think you will find it was the Panama Hat the year after.

nicolas claris · Oct 25, 2012

What about some muddy ripples ?

All shots full frame, no crop, Canons 1DS3 and 500mm

Already posted in OPF in March 2009 there

Tom dinning · Oct 26, 2012

It took me a while to fond some ripple piffle that is worthy of this thread. No luck I'm afraid. We only have inter-tidal ripple piffle here.

_DSC9263 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

_DSC9261 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

_DSC9286 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

All photos recorded at Casuarina Beach with a camera. I was wearing my Ripcurl boardies and a T-shirt at the time. Images first displayed on HP Omni 27 monitor in my office. No muslei was spilt on the keyboard during the operation of this task.

Asher Kelman · Oct 26, 2012

Tom dinning said:
It took me a while to fond some ripple piffle that is worthy of this thread. No luck I'm afraid. We only have inter-tidal ripple piffle here.

_DSC9263 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

_DSC9261 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

_DSC9286 by tom.dinning, on Flickr

All photos recorded at Casuarina Beach with a camera. I was wearing my Ripcurl boardies and a T-shirt at the time. Images first displayed on HP Omni 27 monitor in my office. No muslei was spilt on the keyboard during the operation of this task.

These Tom are great Pifflings! Job well done!

Here's the way it is, then, we take pictures, no pretenses or messing,

"it is what it is!"

No rules, no titles, just show your mom your terd and it's great as it is!

We're liberated! If you like it, share it and no fuss, no muss!

Still, these pifflings of yours have decades of experience and taste in photography propping them up! Think of all those times sitting on the pot meditating, all the pictures you took and stories you wrote down and then thousands of hours teaching your craft to new generations of photographers. You can piffle then with the cheapest of camera, and you still do a great job. That's why I consider you as one of the finest photographers I have come to know!

Asher

Tom dinning · Oct 26, 2012

Asher Kelman said:
These Tom are great Pifflings! Job well done!

Here's the way it is, then, we take pictures, no pretenses or messing,

"it is what it is!"

No rules, no titles, just show your mom your terd and it's great as it is!

We're liberated! If you like it, share it and no fuss, no muss!

Still, these pifflings of yours have decades of experience and taste in photography propping them up! Think of all those times sitting on the pot meditating, all the pictures you took and stories you wrote down and then thousands of hours teaching your craft to new generations of photographers. You can piffle then with the cheapest of camera, and you still do a great job. That's why I consider you as one of the finest photographers I have come to know!

Asher

What is it with you, Asher? Vaginas, tits and now terds. I know a good shrink.

Not all Australians are beer swilling pissheads. We leave that to the Scotts. I haven't had a beer since 1968 and haven't drunk any form of alcohol since 1998. I'm feeling very virtuous and sober.
Mind you, I do remember the taste of a 12 year old single malt and a 1954 Grange Heritage. I discovered being an alcoholic with extravagant taste doesn't go well together.

You should get out more, Asher. Remember. I just take pictures.

Asher Kelman · Oct 26, 2012

Tom dinning said:
What is it with you, Asher? Vaginas, tits and now terds. I know a good shrink.

Not all Australians are beer swilling pissheads. We leave that to the Scotts. I haven't had a beer since 1968 and haven't drunk any form of alcohol since 1998. I'm feeling very virtuous and sober.
Mind you, I do remember the taste of a 12 year old single malt and a 1954 Grange Heritage. I discovered being an alcoholic with extravagant taste doesn't go well together.

You should get out more, Asher. Remember. I just take pictures.

Tom,

I can't be expected to get it all right, being cerebrally challenged from all the decades of great wine and my lascivious life, LOL! As to the terd, that's one of a human's first solid achievements! We're potty training 3 grankids and the one who has graduated is proud as punch of his achievement! This is the origin of "found art" I guess!

Get out? I do that all the time for grub! Sadly, our kitchen got destroyed in a tragic flood and so we have to eat out for the next 4 months!

Asher

Asher Kelman · Nov 8, 2012

Sorry I can't match Tom's work! Not enough money in my piggy bank at the moment! Darwin in Australia is too far away and too expensive! I have not gotten to the beach, just watching my grandsons learn to swim and at twilight, realized there was some piffling going on in the surface of water!

Asher Kelman:Water! #1

Asher Kelman:Water! #2

Asher Kelman:Water! #3

Asher

Andy brown · Nov 9, 2012

Here's a quick one

Maggie Terlecki · Nov 11, 2012

Triple piffle from me, no post except to crop a bit and put them together as a group.

These icicles (now melted) took on the color of gold and glitter in the setting sun.

PIFFLE or not?

Member

New member

Well-known member

New member

Member

Well-known member

Member

New member

Well-known member

Registrant*

New member

Well-known member

Registrant*

Member

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief

Registrant*

Registrant*

Member

Member

Well-known member

OPF Co-founder/Administrator

Registrant*

OPF Co-founder/Administrator

Registrant*

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief

Registrant*

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief

Well-known member

Moderator