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DPChallenge Forums >> Challenge Results >> pekesty - "I knew we were closed minded around here"
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01/08/2010 11:47:34 AM · #26
Zeus certainly doesn't spoon feed us and you have to give him credit there...

One thing you all have to admit and that's that it IS a thought provoking image. I would say if you show confidence in your own thinking or have a desire to put thought into the image you can walk away from this with many possibilities. The tones are rich, dark, ominous and soothing to my eye. In frame there's also rich symbolism that can be taken in many ways. Why are the arrows pointing inward? Why are the numbers in reverse? I find both of those elements striking and how they are presented.

If any of you recall the movie Angel Heart with Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro (as the Devil) this image takes me immediately to those creepy elevators going down to Hell. The inward arrows remind me of the "close door" sign or an inward pressure and the reversed number take me backwards or down. That's plenty to chew on.

I think people are quick to run away, ignore or dismiss things they don't get. Fear of the unknown...perhaps? Art has many jobs and one of those jobs is to make people think...think twice...

Art doesn't always need to have a message or be clear...even to the author. I'd just say, take a chance, stare at the shot for some time and make up your own story.

It's funny but if you reads some of Zeus's comments or Posthumous' it's sometimes seems like they're having far more fun with certain images or a deeper experience than the rest of us. I'm envious.

Message edited by author 2010-01-08 11:52:35.
01/08/2010 11:52:04 AM · #27
"Focus is highly overrated." -- Keith Carter
01/08/2010 11:55:22 AM · #28
Originally posted by Louis:

"Focus is highly overrated." -- Keith Carter


I'm finding less and less reason for things to be in sharp focus these days. In fact, I'm finding hyper sharpness somewhat repulsive in many cases.
01/08/2010 12:34:07 PM · #29
Originally posted by Louis:

"Focus is highly overrated." -- Keith Carter


Thanks for that link Louis. Amazing photographs. One of my favourite photographers is Ken Rosenthal. Another who seemingly thinks focus is overrated.
01/08/2010 12:38:41 PM · #30
Originally posted by glad2badad:

Show me the light. What did I miss?


I liked it because it is not your average looking photo. Style is an important element of a photograph, and this image is clearly different. I gave it a 6.
01/08/2010 12:38:45 PM · #31
Originally posted by clive_patric_nolan:

Originally posted by Louis:

"Focus is highly overrated." -- Keith Carter

Ken Rosenthal. Another who seemingly thinks focus is overrated.

Thanks for those links, gorgeous images.
01/08/2010 12:45:45 PM · #32
Originally posted by pawdrix:

Zeus certainly doesn't spoon feed us and you have to give him credit there...

One thing you all have to admit and that's that it IS a thought provoking image. I would say if you show confidence in your own thinking or have a desire to put thought into the image you can walk away from this with many possibilities. The tones are rich, dark, ominous and soothing to my eye. In frame there's also rich symbolism that can be taken in many ways. Why are the arrows pointing inward? Why are the numbers in reverse? I find both of those elements striking and how they are presented.

If any of you recall the movie Angel Heart with Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro (as the Devil) this image takes me immediately to those creepy elevators going down to Hell. The inward arrows remind me of the "close door" sign or an inward pressure and the reversed number take me backwards or down. That's plenty to chew on.

I think people are quick to run away, ignore or dismiss things they don't get. Fear of the unknown...perhaps? Art has many jobs and one of those jobs is to make people think...think twice...

Art doesn't always need to have a message or be clear...even to the author. I'd just say, take a chance, stare at the shot for some time and make up your own story.

It's funny but if you reads some of Zeus's comments or Posthumous' it's sometimes seems like they're having far more fun with certain images or a deeper experience than the rest of us. I'm envious.


I agree with pretty much everything pawdrix said.

There are many reasons I appreciate dpchallenge, but perhaps the most important is that it has taught me to look again at images like this. For most of my life I was frustrated that I truly didn't appreciate many kinds of art that I knew people I admired liked. I just didn't get how certain art was "good" or "great" if I couldn't judge it on technicals or colors or tones. When the posthumous thread started, I studied it over and over again. Then I started trying to predict what images would appear in that thread when voting, and who would nominate them, and I got fairly good at that. One day, it finally clicked. I was voting and came upon an unusual image and my first reaction wasn't "weird" or "someone in the thread will like that", but "Wow - that's beautiful." I finally understand why some people like images that don't fit the DPC mold, because I often do too. Not all the time, and it's extremely personal what I find myself drawn to, but I feel like I'm having at least some of the fun that Zeus and Posthumous are having.

The image that the OP referred to is lovely to me, for almost the exact same reasons pawdrix mentioned.
01/08/2010 12:55:44 PM · #33
Originally posted by alans_world:

This image was not underrated, it was just rated.


Fair comment - it got the score it got - very valid point. For what it's worth I think Vlado's IMHO wording is more accurate than my own which on reflection could seem self-indulgent. I'm not sure I'll use the Mu term / 'award' again.

I would never have taken this image, I wouldn't never have 'seen' it and if I had, I'd never have offered it up. For me zeuszen took something, saw it differently and offered it up as something that pushed some buttons in my brain - I liked that. We often see wonderful landscape images and portraits and pets and wildlife and buildings and flowers - I often score those highly too but when I go through looking for these images to comment on, I spend a long time doing it and I ponder on the choice the photographer has made and I do find I appreciate such images a bit more for doing so.

I think this sort of image is probably much more 'chosen' than many and that choice often contributes to how I look at the image itself.

Message edited by author 2010-01-08 13:16:30.
01/08/2010 01:32:26 PM · #34
There's only a small handful of people here that display great depth of imagination, as shooters or viewers. I'm not one of them but I think I could be. I dabble but am nowhere near where I'd like to be in exercising that power. Zeus's image certainly operates on that level and posthumous is one of the few that displays a rich imagination in his commentary. Using the the imagination is way harder than learning how to take a sharp shot. It's not easy to teach, explain or address.

I think imagination is what this thread is about. Without that or a willingness to explore it this goes nowhere.


life's a stage

posthumous - This is like a whole little world. the world is a stage. Tim Burton's got nothing on you.


Message edited by author 2010-01-08 13:37:29.
01/08/2010 01:34:36 PM · #35
Originally posted by pawdrix:

There's only a small handful of people here that display great depth of imagination, as shooters or viewers. I'm not one of them but I think I could be. Zeus's image certainly operates on that level and posthumous is one of the few that displays a rich imagination in his commentary.

I think imagination is what this thread is about. Without that or a willingness to explore it this goes nowhere.


All that being in your opinion. I with hold any discussion on it until i know if the image is even legit for the challenge, I still believe it to be a photograph of a photograph.

Matt
01/08/2010 01:47:25 PM · #36
Originally posted by MattO:

All that being in your opinion. I with hold any discussion on it until i know if the image is even legit for the challenge, I still believe it to be a photograph of a photograph.

Did you read his comments? It's Duchesne vapour barrier, the stuff you put in basements and other places to keep moisture out. Here it is in action. You can even see the "Duchesne" name in that photo.
01/08/2010 01:47:43 PM · #37
My tasted have widen significantly since joining DPC. I didn't care for almost anything abstract. I'm appreciating it much more these days and will spend more time looking at something like this, trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

For me it doesn't work. I rarely rate anything 4 and lower, (I didn't vote on this one) but I would have definitely given this a 4, perhaps even a 3. This is not because "I didn't get it", I just didn't find any part of it appealing.

Message edited by author 2010-01-08 13:48:16.
01/08/2010 01:48:48 PM · #38
Originally posted by MattO:

[quote=pawdrix] There's only a small handful of people here that display great depth of imagination...

All that being in your opinion.
Matt


I think you'd be hard pressed to name more than 20 that are way out there. And I mean real risk takers, whether it be in their images or their commentary.

Originally posted by vawendy:

My tasted have widen significantly since joining DPC. I didn't care for almost anything abstract...


My tastes narrowed and narrowed for about my first year here. I got so tightly wrapped in technicals I didn't know which way was up. I'm still fighting my way out.

Message edited by author 2010-01-08 13:52:50.
01/08/2010 01:50:20 PM · #39
Originally posted by Louis:

Originally posted by MattO:

All that being in your opinion. I with hold any discussion on it until i know if the image is even legit for the challenge, I still believe it to be a photograph of a photograph.

Did you read his comments? It's Duchesne vapour barrier, the stuff you put in basements and other places to keep moisture out. Here it is in action. You can even see the "Duchesne" name in that photo.


Those comments were just added. Earlier it only said For Sara.

Matt
01/08/2010 01:50:47 PM · #40
Originally posted by pawdrix:

Originally posted by MattO:

[quote=pawdrix] There's only a small handful of people here that display great depth of imagination...

All that being in your opinion.
Matt


I think you'd be hard pressed to name more than 20 that are way out there. And I mean real risk takers, whether it be in their images or their commentary.


And for some, being way out there isn't nec. a good thing. Its all a matter of taste.

Matt
01/08/2010 01:52:40 PM · #41
Originally posted by MattO:

Originally posted by Louis:

Originally posted by MattO:

All that being in your opinion. I with hold any discussion on it until i know if the image is even legit for the challenge, I still believe it to be a photograph of a photograph.

Did you read his comments? It's Duchesne vapour barrier, the stuff you put in basements and other places to keep moisture out. Here it is in action. You can even see the "Duchesne" name in that photo.


Those comments were just added. Earlier it only said For Sara.

Matt

Actually, they've been there since at least 11:30am today, when I first saw it.
01/08/2010 01:57:43 PM · #42
Originally posted by pawdrix:



life's a stage

That's a very cool photo.

Do you put that in the same category as Zeus's (from the OP)?

Personally, I find yanko's photo (thumbnail in Steve's quote) much more interesting. It's still "artistic", but has much more intrique and interest for me.
01/08/2010 01:58:55 PM · #43
Originally posted by Louis:

Originally posted by MattO:

Originally posted by Louis:

Originally posted by MattO:

All that being in your opinion. I with hold any discussion on it until i know if the image is even legit for the challenge, I still believe it to be a photograph of a photograph.

Did you read his comments? It's Duchesne vapour barrier, the stuff you put in basements and other places to keep moisture out. Here it is in action. You can even see the "Duchesne" name in that photo.


Those comments were just added. Earlier it only said For Sara.

Matt

Actually, they've been there since at least 11:30am today, when I first saw it.


OK so I looked at it at least an hour or so before that? your point being?

Matt
01/08/2010 02:00:28 PM · #44
Originally posted by MattO:

Originally posted by pawdrix:

I think you'd be hard pressed to name more than 20 that are way out there. And I mean real risk takers, whether it be in their images or their commentary.


And for some, being way out there isn't nec. a good thing. Its all a matter of taste.

Matt


It wasn't a question of or about taste. But I do realize that some people probably couldn't answer that question if it's not in their line or way of thinking.

The work of Picasso, Pollack, Diane Arbus is probably Chinese to a lot of folks. Zeus's image could easily fall into that folder for some...?

Message edited by author 2010-01-08 14:01:28.
01/08/2010 02:02:10 PM · #45
Originally posted by MattO:

OK so I looked at it at least an hour or so before that? your point being?

Well, I suppose my point is that it can't be a photograph of a photograph, or a picture of an x-ray, or camera film, as you've contended. It's a plastic sheet. So now that you know, you are free to discuss it on its merits, instead of being suspicious of its rules-legitimacy.
01/08/2010 02:04:49 PM · #46
i haven't been around for a while, and it's been even longer since I've been the "villain", so here it goes:

This image is not good. I gave it a 2. Now that I've seen this thread and gone back to study it, I wish I had given it a 1. I'm not closed minded. I don't lack imagination. I'm not afraid to take risks. I'm not new to photography. I'm not ignorant to the many forms which "art" can take on. The image is bad, it got a bad score. That's it.

Zeus Zen has produced some excellent images during his dpc life. This is not one of them.

respectfully ... milo

:)
01/08/2010 02:05:10 PM · #47
Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by pawdrix:



life's a stage

That's a very cool photo.

Do you put that in the same category as Zeus's (from the OP)?

Personally, I find yanko's photo (thumbnail in Steve's quote) much more interesting. It's still "artistic", but has much more intrique and interest for me.


Actually, I was hoping someone would cough up some money and send yanko a housekeeper...

eta: I'd start by saying that I doubt many of us would not have even dreamed of picking up our cameras and taking a picture like yanko's nor view it in terms of it's title. We could start and stop there.



Message edited by author 2010-01-08 14:16:45.
01/08/2010 02:06:25 PM · #48
...or at least a vacuum cleaner.
01/08/2010 02:11:41 PM · #49
I think someone could spit on the sidewalk and some people would call it artistic expression.

This is not my cup of tea - I guess I'm closed minded.
01/08/2010 02:16:13 PM · #50
Originally posted by Louis:

Originally posted by MattO:

OK so I looked at it at least an hour or so before that? your point being?

Well, I suppose my point is that it can't be a photograph of a photograph, or a picture of an x-ray, or camera film, as you've contended. It's a plastic sheet. So now that you know, you are free to discuss it on its merits, instead of being suspicious of its rules-legitimacy.


I personally don't like wasting my time discussing the merits of a photograph only to find it is a photo of a photo. Which to me is what it appeared to be, those aren't the sort of images typically seen on DPC, so one can only wonder of the validity of said image. Particularly when the artist won't speak up in a thread discussing it.

This somewhat reminds me of one of my favorite photographers, Sally Mann, I could see this as something she might do in wet plates. Personally though this image doesn't speak to me. Even as a piece of art. I'm not without taste or a sense of photography as art. This just doesn't appeal to me. I can see it's merit and it's creativeness and certainly out of the box for DPC, it's just not something I like. And to be called Closed minded because of it as a blanket statement on the member of DPC is just uncalled for.

Matt
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