Day 3 - Bird and Rainbowby
Bruce_the_RobertComment by posthumous: 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.
Photographer found comment helpful.