Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/08/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jim I took a look at your image and I find it to be technically very good with regards to lighting and tonality. My question in looking at this picture (and most every picture) is 'why'. Why are three very beautiful young girls standing around with pancake ears, clearly posing for the camera? What is to be gained by this? What do we know about them? What have we learned by this photograph that we didn't know before? What happened before this moment? What is likely to happen next? For me, there are not clear answers to these questions and that bothers me. I can't make sense of the similar shirts, the funky posing and the place...are they part of a cooking team? Are they in a school cafeteria? Are they in a cooking class at Disneyland? Are they cooking your breakfast? I'm certain that this image makes sense to YOU and that is a good thing. Looking at it without knowing the details is a bit unsettling because nothing about it clears up any of the questions I have. And that is part of the problem, I think, with posting images to the PAWs and the web in general....so often the image has meaning to the person who took it and to those who are familiar with the events photographed but outsiders can't make heads nor tails out of things. When I view an image it has about 5 seconds to make an impression of good or bad and only if it's really, really impressive do I take the time and trouble to make a comment. That doesn't mean I didn't look...it just means it didn't move me to respond. Are you satisfied to hear your images are technically well excecuted (which I suspect you already know) or do you want to hear critique of what the image says to a viewer? Lea ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jim McIntyre" <mcintyre@ca.inter.net> To: <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 9:27 PM Subject: [Leica] The cat came back... Hello LUG I unsubscribed a few weeks ago. I was a little annoyed with some of the off-topic chatter, the "cliquish" and self-serving dialogue, and the general meandering of the group, etc. More to the point, I posted 5 PAW's in a row, and got zero -- nada -- feedback. I'm under no delusions that I'm the next HBC, or anything close, but I do think I have something to offer. And I really do appreciate feedback -- laudatius or otherwise. The lack of response is worse than negative (and hopefully constructive) feedback. It's like talking to a dead phone line.... However, I have been checking the LUG archives, and looking at the posts. I've skipped over the more off-topic messages (which admittedly can be quite entertaining and educational), stayed away from the vitriolic political threads, and checked all the PAW and photograph postings I could. The truth is I have valued the feedback I have received in the past, and knowing I had an "obligation" to keep up my PAW activities for the LUG kept me active with my camera (no small challenge with rebuilding a career and 3 kids...). So I'm back. And to put my money where my keyboarding is, I've posted a PAW: http://members.rogers.com/jmcdesigns/jamesstreet/2004-33.htm Slam away, lambaste me for using my nieces and daughter as convenient subjects, but please, let me know you took the time to view my work, and by all means let know what I can do to improve. No photographer should work in vacuum...except to remove the dust from the negatives! ciao... Jim _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information