Gjumi selects the underrated: romance

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

02/09/2006 05:06:42 AM · #1

Here I go again...

First, the difficult ones:

angela_packard's Restrained Romance

and

agenkin's Castle's vine veins.

People see different things when they talk romance, and most of them see sweet and lovely packaged chocolates, flowers, and stuff like that (including beaches). These two images reminded me that there are other things in romance, except sweetness.

Angela's image tells me what romance is all about, and it's not the bondage and the kinky stuff. Look at the look of the model (selfportrait, right?): she's not suffering, she's just pleasing while playing one of those romantic games that sometimes make love more interesting. She's saying "come here" and "I want to come there" at the same time. One note though: I didn't like the bricks. If they were of those small garage style, image would have been better. In my opinion.

Arcady's bricks were much better :-). Well, the setting of this photo is wonderful. If flowers and cakes make for a romantic photo, why not grapes and a lonely closed window? And, it's not what is in the photo that makes this one romantic, but what is not: there are people missing, grape is not there, the window is closed. This means, at this place romance died, so the image looks quite gloomy. Technically, this photo lacks a lot. I think it was a crop of a larger image. But, I liked the idea.

Now, the easy ones, in the sense that I don't really have to stretch my mind to get romance in it. But, the difficult ones, in the sense that I don't really get how they ended below 100 (20%).

stars and sons' Distant

This image is the essence of romance. Lost while laying, careless hair, eyes although straight at you, far away, a mouth half open, without a smile or a word. anibal187's comment sums it: it's so sexual, I don't dare to look for too long.

muur88's Awaiting the Rendezvous

A hotel in a dark alley with street lights that light just what is needed, while casting a shadow at the love nests. And then hardly, but unmistakably I see the silhouette of a woman waiting by the window.

jrjr

Canon EOS-5D

02/09/2006 05:37:11 AM · #2

If these are good romance photos then love is blind.

Arcanist

Nikon D810

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm f3.5-5.6G ED VR

02/09/2006 05:45:56 AM · #3

Have to admit that although each image had very strong points technically, I was hard pressed to accept the challenge link in any of them although vines was somewhat reminiscent of a castle and that evokes a bit of the fairy-tale romance impression and the motel room and bondage scene only evoked sleazy sex.

Probably should have 1'd them all for not meeting the challenge, but I've gone a bit soft and gave the benefit of the doubt that there 'might be some link to the challenge. None of them scored high however because of 'my perception' of that lack of a direct correlation to the challenge outline.

Message edited by author 2006-02-09 05:48:21.

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

02/09/2006 05:55:00 AM · #4

Originally posted by jrjr:

If these are good romance photos then love is blind.

Tautology?

jrjr

Canon EOS-5D

02/09/2006 07:16:45 AM · #5

Originally posted by gjumi:

Originally posted by jrjr:
If these are good romance photos then love is blind.

Tautology?

Wow! You and I are on different wavelengths- I do not see the tautology here.

Anyway- do not be angry because others disagree with your ... perceptions. It is the nature of art to be interpreted differently by different people. If we always agreed about what was good or bad, pleasing or unpleasing, then we probably would not even need the concept of art.

(I believe those were ivy vines, not grape vines)
--jrjr

Message edited by frisca - removed personal attack.

KaDi

Canon EOS-300D Rebel

Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

02/09/2006 07:34:10 AM · #6

Originally posted by gjumi:

Originally posted by jrjr:
If these are good romance photos then love is blind.

Tautology?

I took it that way....since generally we say "Love is Blind"--I tought jrjr meant he agreed with you that these are good romance photos. (Of course my husband took it the other way.....English!)

02/09/2006 07:43:49 AM · #7

Jim, but love is blind, now isn't it?

I'm not angry. In fact, I started this topic so that I can have as much as possible comments from other people. I just want to learn more about photography. As I said, if we agree, that's ok; if we teach something new to each other, that's even better; if we don't agree at all, well, too bad, but the sun will surely shine tomorrow morning as well.

Now, it's obvious that I'm in different wavelengths not only with you, but with JD too (Arcanist). JD says that these photos have good technical points, while are bad conceptually or didn't meet the challenge. I say teh opposite: I quite like the stories that these photos tell, but technically they're not as good as I'd like them to be. So, I know his opinion and I respect that. But, I don't know what do you think about these photos, or the overall challenge. So, please, lend me your eyes so that I can see what you're seeing.

One more note: if I'd get angry about these things, I wouldn't start the underrated thread and go against the stream of DPC votes, now would I? It's just that I'd appreciate if people would explain a bit why they think the way they do. I guess I've got not only a thick skin, but skull as well...Anyway...

Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS

02/09/2006 07:50:34 AM · #8

Originally posted by KaDi:

Originally posted by gjumi:

Originally posted by jrjr:
If these are good romance photos then love is blind.

Tautology?

I took it that way....since generally we say "Love is Blind"--I tought jrjr meant he agreed with you that these are good romance photos. (Of course my husband took it the other way.....English!)

I knew he didn't agree with me, otherwise there would be no "if..." sentence. But, I don't know why he feels like that.

jrjr

Canon EOS-5D

02/09/2006 11:26:57 AM · #9

gjumi-

I really think that your thread concept is important. I did the same thing a few weeks ago, and I know you have started others too. I believe that talking about the results is very important and a great way for us all to learn. I am afraid that I was a little disputacious this morning before my coffee. I meant no disrespect.
I often want to ask the question, " Why are these the winning 3 photos?" What makes them the best when often I think that they should not have finished that high?
Your choice of photos left me a little cold; One of your previous postings was much better at pinpointing "under-rated" photos.

I hope that you continue to regularly post these threads and I hope that many more folks join in the discussion.
Thanks
--jrjr

agenkin

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

Nikon MF Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AIS

02/09/2006 12:33:08 PM · #10

Originally posted by gjumi:

agenkin's Castle's vine veins.

Gjumi, thanks a lot for your kind words. For the record, even my wife thinks that that was not a romantic image, and in this case I disagree with her: to me it is. It's nice to see that somebody shares my view. :) For the record, this is not a crop of a larger image (I only had to crop a little after rotating it), and in the original the window was not over-exposed. This was my attempt at photoshoping an image (I am really not very good with Photoshop) to increase its mood. I obviously overdid it with the curves.

stars and sons' Distant

This was my absolute favourite among all the entries. I gave it a nine, and this was the only image to which I gave above 8. This image reminded me of the Danish movie I am curious (Yellow) (or I am curious (Blue)), both of which I highly recommend to everyone. This image's place 110 out of 129 is depressing and comforting to me at the same time: depressing because it deserves the very top placement, and comforting because I felt in good company. :)

I found that most images had that bitter-sweet advertisment-like taste. I'm very glad that there are people here (and I am very new to this site) who deviate from the mean.

Thank you for starting this thread!

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/09/2006 01:15:15 PM · #11

Although beauty or romance is in the eye of the beholder, there comes a point where the connection is so esoteric or distant that the picture fails completely. I think Angela's shot does exactly this. While I told her I thought it was an excellent picture, I think it is so removed from any conventional idea of "romance" as to make it irrelevent. Sure one can contemplate it long enough to find a connection, but any theme can be found in nearly any picture. Ask yourself this, if you didn't know the objective was "romance", how many people out of a hundred would use the word when decribing it? If the answer is two (and I think that may even be pushing it), is it still valid?

Out of the Box is a great placed to be; but it is not a limitless bound. Eventually you can no longer see the box and any connection is swallowed up by the void.

Ombra_foto

Olympus E-300 EVOLT

Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital

02/09/2006 01:28:37 PM · #12

Not everyone's idea of love or romance fits in the same box.
I can assure you, that to a much larger percentage of the population than you might imagine, that her depiction of romance does indeed fulfill their fantasy.
It's just not something that is well advertised unless you know where to look.
Different strokes for different folks.
It's our differences that make the world an interesting place.

agenkin

Mattel Barbie Photo Designer Digital Camera

Nikon MF Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AIS

02/09/2006 01:32:50 PM · #13

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Ask yourself this, if you didn't know the objective was "romance", how many people out of a hundred would use the word when decribing it? If the answer is two (and I think that may even be pushing it), is it still valid?

Out of the Box is a great placed to be; but it is not a limitless bound. Eventually you can no longer see the box and any connection is swallowed up by the void.

There are those who shoot for the others, and there are those who shoot for themselves. If you shoot for the others, then the answer to your first question is "no", otherwise the whole question is invalid: the photographer does not care what the other people will think/say. It is the responsibility of the *others* to keep an open mind when voting. The photographer is an artist.

Out of the box should probably not be a goal in itself. But if somebody naturally thinks/feels out of the box, should he be straightened up for sticking out?

IMO, the *best* photography is personal. At least those are the shots that I like.

DrAchoo

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

02/09/2006 01:44:11 PM · #14

I guess perhaps I read into the word "underrated" as that does carry an implication of being viewed by many people (hence the rating). Sure, I can plop a banana down on a desk, shoot it, and call it "Nude Descending a Stair" and if it works for me...great!

As far as your comment Ombra, I'm sure you are right...in a way. However, I think you are confusing sexuality with romance. More people than we think may consider this "sexy" (heck, I'm one of them), but I still think that very few would conjure up the word "romantic"; certainly not a "much larger percentage of the population than you might imagine". Sure different people have different interpretation of words, but I still think if you showed the picture to 100 people and asked them to write down 5 words that come to mind (making 1000 words total), there is a better chance than not that "romance" would not show up at all. If it did, it would likely be only a few times.

Ombra_foto

Olympus E-300 EVOLT

Olympus 40-150mm f/3.5-4.5 Zuiko Digital

02/09/2006 02:05:37 PM · #15

Well, not everyone is going to get the same things from every shot.
And why should they?
But why should every shot be made for the largest audience?
I wouldn't want to eat McDonalds every day. Sometimes I like things a little spicier.
I'm not confusing sex and romance in any way. Bondage or BDSM is about a LOT more than sex, but that part is highly misunderstood.
Whether the shot was a personal statement or an effort to think outside the box, it does depict love, trust AND romance to a significant part of the population.

posthumous

Canon EOS-40D

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

02/09/2006 02:11:53 PM · #16

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

but I still think that very few would conjure up the word "romantic"

Ah but there's a subtle difference here. the viewer already knows the concept of Romance is expected and THEN sees the picture. So the picture does not have to conjure Romance; it can comment on Romance, or expand the notion. Some people like rethinking their concepts, other people don't.