On Sun, 6 Mar 2005 19:01:11 +0000, Bob W <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > One more comment - not a criticism, because I like the picture, but > something I try to look out for when I take photos. The big 'For > Lease' sign. It's probably the whitest thing in the frame, and so it > tends to pull the eye towards it. But, and this is what I try to > avoid, it is a lot of in-yer-face text that is not part of the real > content of the photograph.
Well, my last post in reply to this one was just being silly, and joking around, and surely I didn't need the smiley in it, but just in case, I'll smile now... <vbg> You are, of course, absolutely right. Like any sighted person, I couldn't help but notice it either, and I certainly recognize that it's something of an annoyance and a distraction. I simply missed it when I took the photo, having paid more attention to the pedestrian, sparse traffic and trying to get the framing (what I considered) "just right" WRT the angles of the buildings and the sidewalk and all. But, yeah, I just missed it, and, although I would certainly consider cropping something like that out, it would change the dynamic of the photo enough that I think my choice would be to leave the framing as is, and simply live with the sign, in all it's glory <g>. I guess that were I to have another print done up, I'd burn it a bit - not that it would eliminate the distraction, but it might just lessen the impact or noticeability just a smidgeon. > > The problem with text is, you read it and it distracts from everything > else. It assumes an importance that it doesn't deserve, unless it's a > billboard condemning your neighbour, or a contrast between > rosy-cheeked white middle-class people, above a breadline of flood > victims. > http://www.zonezero.com/editorial/diciembre99/photo2.html 1) I love MBW - she's one of my all-time faves! (as Annsan knows <g>) 2) That photo, wonderful and full of impact as it is, is not what it appears. It's actually a relief line for flood victims in, IIRC, Missouri or Mississippi somewhere. It was assumed by viewers to be a bread line or line to a soup kitchen, given when it was taken, and given the obvious disparate social classes of the line and the billboard people. Certainly, it was used by editors of the time and since as an example of how the Great Depression hurt the poor and blacks as compared to (some) middle class whites, but that use was just a little bit disingenuous. > So I do my best to choose a vantage point that avoids intrusive text > because I know that if the text gets in the frame, people will read it > rather than look at the real subject. Absolutely. I simply wasn't paying attention, as I was walking toward her as she was me, and the snap was a bit of a reaction to the moment. I appreciate your comments, and I'm glad you liked it otherwise. cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
