Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/11/23

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Subject: [Leica] PAW2005: the big catch up
From: philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent)
Date: Wed Nov 23 09:44:53 2005
References: <F43E89C9-A737-4DD0-8F2D-4CB77FC8BD04@pandora.be> <p06230903bfa9f14f2a4c@[10.0.1.2]>

Thanks, Richard

About your composition and geography question:
I went to art school (they call it bachelor of arts or something now)  
so I think this has helped in strenghtening the sensitivity for  
patterns, color and shapes I already had because my parents loved art  
and took us to lots of museums when we were small.
So today it has become an almost intuitive reaction when confronted  
with photographeable scenes: I always look for elements that help the  
viewer's eye, or crop the photos afterwards in such a way that a  
certain geometry becomes apparent.

Now having said this, I don't think one needs an artistic formation  
to have/develop an eye for these things. IMO it comes pretty  
naturally: if you ask people to divide squares or rectangulars in non- 
symmetric but balanced parts, they'll allmost invariably do this by  
making parallel diagonals and golden sections. So it's just about  
being conscient about it and looking for it in the beginning. Later  
on it will become a part of yourself, if you would want that.

Secondly, I'm not that sure if this is the only way of making  
'interesting' photographs. Maybe I'm sensitive to certain patterns,  
but this also handicaps me. Very often I find my own work a bit 'cool  
and distant' due to the geometry. IMO the most difficult of all, and  
what discerns truly great imagists from others, is their ability to  
create balanced images in an organic way without apparent geometry.  
There's a lot to learn from old masters such as Rubens and Rembrandt,  
who truly excelled at this.

I hope this clarifies this matter a bit,
Philippe



Op 23-nov-05, om 11:40 heeft Richard S. Taylor het volgende geschreven:

> Philippe - The expression on the young gal's face as she probes the  
> mystery of the big view camera works for me.
>
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/PAW2005/slides/Wk40_1.html
>
> As does this one in the gallery:
>
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/PAW2005/slides/Wk40_2.html
>
> Including the edges of the near wall picture frames is not an  
> obvious choice (I might have been tempted to crop them out, I  
> think) but it was a good idea to leave them in.  It grounds the  
> near wall in the gallery.
>
> I don't know if this shot was her idea or yours.  When my son was  
> her age and photography with Dad was fun rather than something to  
> be tolerated, he used to offer up fun images like this one from  
> time to time.
>
> http://users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/PAW2005/slides/Wk40_3.html
>
> All the circles balanced by her horizontal arm just add to the fun.
>
> I have been rereading a set of notes I have on composition and so  
> have been seeing geometric shapes in posted pictures a lot lately. ;-)
>
> Your pictures seem to have a lot of them (All three of these do,  
> for sure.)  Do you search them out or is it just intuitive in your  
> shooting at this point?
>
> Regards,
>
> Dick
> Boston MA
>
>
>
>> I had a lot of film lying around from the past weeks, so this  
>> weekend, I had it developed and today, I made my PAW selection of  
>> the last 7 weeks. You might have seen some already, but not all,  
>> I'm sure.
>> Most are M4-2, some Konica S3, Canon G-III QL, Ricoh GR1s, Kiev  
>> 4AM (with the 35 Jupiter) and even Samsung ECX2.
>> I wouldn't recommend the latter now that I shot with it, but it  
>> had a Schneider Kreuznach lens and it only cost 20 EUR at a close- 
>> out. Anybody interested? It has an impressive zoom lens!  
>> (quantitative, not qualitative ;-)
>>
>> Starting at
>> users.telenet.be/philippe.orlent/PAW2005/slides/Wk39.html
>> or
>> http://tinyurl.com/7kytl
>>
>> Some weeks have different alternatives, and I'm very interested to  
>> know which ones you prefer.
>>
>> Thanks for looking and
>> comments very appreciated,
>> Philippe
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Leica Users Group.
>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>


Replies: Reply from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor) ([Leica] PAW2005: the big catch up)
In reply to: Message from philippe.orlent at pandora.be (Philippe Orlent) ([Leica] PAW2005: the big catch up)
Message from r.s.taylor at comcast.net (Richard S. Taylor) ([Leica] PAW2005: the big catch up)