Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/11/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Well, here goes. Super pragmatic bandwidth saving, I assure you all. --- Hi Kyle, Good one. Do them all like this and you'll have another Amazone winner. I loved your Warpaint idea from the start (BTW sometimes I wonder what you do best: writing or photographing) but also found a number of the photographs somewhat distracting due to the situation they were taken in. It seems to me that you are using the same technique as Armed America (shoot people in their natural environment). In that case (IMO) it worked very well because the interiors of those folks told a lot about who they were. In the Warpaint series I think it's somewhat different: the actual info of these guys is written on their bodies. No need for something else but a simple grey background. Perfect light for it, too. I just found it strange that you framed the image horizontally. Imagine your next book, vertical format (DIN A3 ofcourse), photos on the right pages only. On the left page, in a sober and rather small typography the accompanying prose. I have a few ideas about the cover (design and texture) and possible paper choice, and can even suggest some REALLY good printers (Armed America deserved better). I would become a top museum library best seller (http:// www.tate.org.uk/shop/books.htm), I'm sure. I might be completely wrong of course, or just overpraising, and in that case I'd really like to know why you approach it the way you seem to do now. Others are invited to join this discussion, too, as it really might shed some light on what everybody's on this list's vision on photography is. After all, isn't that what it's all about? To discover ALL these different opinions on about what photography should be? And learn from them? Or agree. Or disagree. We can all push a button. We can all make 'a' shot. We can all - sometimes once and certainly not always- produce a top notch shot. We all know that. Or should know that. For me, the thing (next to the comrades feeling -in french 'cameraderie', no pun intended) of this list is not about posting as much shots as possible, but about talking about the posted shots. Simply posting shots would become pretty mute. So talk about why they are good. Or not so good. Which I presume is interesting, at least. Thanks for showing, Philippe --- Now, the times that I've been so detailed in a mail almost always resulted in very low responses. As probably will be the case for this mail, too. So why would I bother? Just a quick raffled hopefully well phrased reply to the posted shots also does the 'trick'... There are better reasons for my scarce detailed RE's, see below. So better no response than these simple ones? Taking a few of us heavy mailers out would turn this list into a very slow paced and slow evolving thing. For those liking the family concept of the LUG, this can be compared to: all the family is gone, just a few strong and very old oaks left in the nursery. Some might like that, but if that should be the case or rule, please let me know, onlist or offlist depending on your ecologic belief, because then this would not be my family. Still too young for that. But old enough to take the sour uncles of the family for granted... Another positive for the short RE (and I tried to explain this partly at the Amsterdam BeneLUG meeting with Hoppy): I just very strongly believe that every appraisal, even the simple ones, should be on list. Why? Very few pros on this list. This means that most of us are doing it because we really really love it. Sometimes overromanticise it. There is no better way of motivation for us than through positive remarks. On list, because this means the appraisal is outspoken. It is a simple message meaning 'You're on the right track'. It's what we need to get better as amateurs. Also, giving detailed comments on all these shots is simply impossible. So what's best? Repeated appraisal or simply reacting to the better part of all the posted shots? The guys that post the better part don't need detailed reactions. They know what's good from themselves. All the other ones can use every help they can get. (modest winking smiley here) And finally, onlist -sometimes short and somewhat enigmatic- appraisals tend to get other people looking at the posted shots. Which they all deserve. Because it might take a bit of courage to post what you've just done and that you obviously like yourself but are not a 100% sure of. Just IMO. So I post a lot of these for some fatiguing shorties. There even is a increasing appraisal system in them. With the best you can get being a very detailed RE. And before that a mixture of short suggestions, adjectives, comparatives, superlatives, plain or well put, etc. Always with one basic thought: If I criticize, talk about general rules (they exist, as they do in any other art form: Picasso was a classically schooled artist f.i.) BTW also short, because yes, I like this family but I also have to work for a living. And for a real family, too. Which also answers the final remark: you should shoot as much as you talk. I which I could, believe me. But I'm a dude, and dudes can't multitask well. Here I rest my case. Now you know it. Am I angry? Just a bit. What a bad week this is becoming. Thanks for reading, Philippe Op 29-nov-07, om 20:39 heeft Kyle Cassidy het volgende geschreven: > i'm very happy with this one > > http://www.kylecassidy.com/warpaint/temp/jeremy.jpg > > the simple magic of a softbox -- really. > > > "Between my two deployments I did my back piece -- a large tribal > phoenix -- it was a difficult time frame for me -- I felt very > displaced > coming back from my second tour -- reality was so much better there -- > the sun came up, you woke up, you did your work for the day -- there > wasn't so much ... clutter, or distractions -- once you did your work, > the sun goes down, you go to sleep and you get up the next day and > do it > all over again. > > Coming back here, the lights, the sounds, were so much more > intense. So > many more factors that are bombarding you all of a sudden -- I felt > out > of place and was dealing with some difficult times -- one of the > reasons > I wanted to get a phoenix was because of it's deep, meaning -- > internationally, with many cultures -- the idea of rebirth...." > > Sgt. Jeremy Willett, USMC > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >