plane
by whiteroom

Comment:
I feel like I'm flying!

Tree on Hill
by chaddybones

Comment:
careful, a vignette like this can suck somebody right up.

Day 3 - Bird and Rainbow
by Bruce_the_Robert

Comment:
from the blurgeois pedagogues thread:

This contrasts nicely with some other photos I've looked at. For one thing, it is confessed to be an accident. The "art" here was the art of selecting the right accident, cropping it to the size and shape it wants to be, and then processing it. This is a valid and common way for an artist to balance the left and right brain, the ego and the id, the conscious and the unconscious.

Next, in contrast to Jeffrey above, blur in this case makes the symbols *more* symbolic. It is impossible to think of the bird as one particular bird. The rainbow, too, is impossible to think of as the weather condition of a particular day in a particular photographer's life. The viewer is forced to look at these subjects as symbols, and to an extent viewers like seeing such an authoritative stance from the artist. It's like reading a novel by Dickens, an authoritative narrator.

The danger, though, is that the image will be too simple. It will be too obvious what I should think. But the obvious message that normally would resonate from these symbols is missing, and that would be the message of aspiration and progress. This image is not a corporate success poster.

How did Rob avoid that? Well, for one thing, the bird is practically sideways, not soaring upward. Also, the composition is cramped. The bird actually seems trapped by the rainbow. The rainbow itself has more personality than you normally expect from a rainbow. It's a little crabby, looks a bit neon and brittle. For me, the image represents a frank look at change, how it forces transcendence but at a painful price. For you, it might be different. But that room for interpretation is NOT an accident. It was built in by the artist.

Yin & Yang
by Konador

Comment:
I suggest a tighter crop with no vignetting.

one window
by tate

Comment:
too... much... vignette.... can't.... take it....

Missing
by levyj413

Comment:
from the blurgeois pedagogues thread:

Here is another use of blur: to complicate and/or obscure symbols.

For symbols to work, they have to be known by the viewer. But if the viewer already knows what a symbol means, then the symbol is a cliche. This is the Catch-22 of someone who wants to create a meaningful work. The artist must come up with strategies to circumvent it.

In this photo, we have the symbol of the framed photograph. It is clearly a family photo of a child. To show that photo and not the child is a symbol of the child being absent. Next we have the symbol of the man in darkness. The darkness tends to represent the man's own misery. The man is clearly looking at the photo. This symbolizes the importance of the girl to the man.

If this were all there was to the picture, it would be a cliche. But obscurity complicates these symbols, and that obscurity is a combination of darkness and noise (blur). The obscurity does not help the symbols as symbols. Quite the opposite. For example, it is difficult to tell what is holding the picture up. Close examination reveals that it is sitting on top of a bookshelf, but the bookshelf is so dark and obscured as to be ghostly. The viewer ends up spending a lot of time wondering, what is the position of this child in the family, bringing up metaphorical notions like what is her role? and what is her status? Also, the high position of the photo causes the man to look straight ahead, with his chin up, in a position more proud than defeated. His whole posture echoes that. All of which makes the viewer want to look at his facial expression for additional clues.

Ah, but no such luck! The dark face, which in a slouched position would be a cliche, an expected piece of the puzzle, now becomes a mystery, a missing piece of the puzzle.

Gust of Shadows
by fotojunkie

Comment:
wonderful photo/title combination.

white feather
by karmat

Comment:
Beautiful. You should have told me to vote this challenge. :)

I woke to shadows on my window.
by shamer

Comment:
I Love It!!!

untitled
by Gnarf

Comment:
This is one of the very best fulfillments of the challenge. But DPC doesn't like shadows. sigh...