[Leica] Re: Eric's PAW

["Eric" <ericm@pobox.com>]

Nathan:

>I have to say, you need to get out and photograph something else.
>The baby is cute and the shots well executed, but they are much too contrived
>for my taste, a la Anne Geddes (sp). I would keep just the one with the cat
>and the one where the baby is interacting with the two women.

If my baby shots aren't succeeding, that means I need to spend *more* time
practicing.  :)

So far, the week 1 alternate (the cat) and the week 2 main (harsh lighting
with a hat) are the only ones I set up.  The others have been grab shots.
Even the recycling bin.  We were playing with her outside and wanted her to
be able to feel the snow.  She can't sit up by herself, so my wife stuck her
in the recycling bin for a little bit.  When I saw that, I quickly yelled
"Outta the way!  Photographer coming through!" and shot off several
exposures as I brushed past my wife.  :)  

I take a reference to Anne Geddes as a compliment.  I really like her
images.  In some sense, that's what I'm trying to achieve.  Except without
the blatant costumes and posing.  I also don't want people rolling their
eyes and groaning, "Not *another* baby picture.  Can't wait for the kid to
grow up and leave home so he'll stop torturing us with her pictures."  I
understand that I'm breaking one of the PLUG commandments.  I also
understand that by doing so, I've got a huge hurdle to overcome.  I'm using
my PAW as a documentary project of sorts.  I've never done documentary work
before.  I've never shot so many images of the same subject before.  I'm
partly inspired by Lea's project where she shot (and is shooting) her
daughter each day.  I'm not taking pictures of mine every day, but at least
every week.

I appreciate your candor, Nathan.  Telling me that I need to shoot something
else is great feedback.  I'm not going to, but it tells me that so far, what
I'm doing doesn't work for you.  That if I want you to be an appreciative
viewer, I need to change something.  I knew that time would come when I
decided to do this.  I'm really not sure how to shoot 52 images of the same
subject yet have each one be distinct.  I'll be happy at the end of the year
if I can pull 12 and be happy with each of those 12.  Any suggestions would
be most appreciated.  :)


Eric
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