On Jan 23, 2011, at 3:18 AM, Boris Liberman wrote: > On 1/22/2011 9:03 PM, Eric Weir wrote: > >> On Jan 22, 2011, at 12:05 PM, Boris Liberman wrote: >> >>> http://pentax-ways.blogspot.com/2011/01/peso-2011-03-object-formerly-known-as.html >> >> Depressing. But perhaps capturing one of the inevitables of life -- death. >> >> Even all that BS aside, just as an image it doesn't appeal to me. > > Thanks, Eric. But could you please say few more words as to why this image > does not appeal to you. I'd like to learn from that.
Thanks for asking, Boris. Obviously, from others' reactions it's something peculiar to me. I've struggled with the question since reading it. I'm sort of at a loss. It might just be a purely peculiar emotional reaction. Some of the things I reach for -- the muted colors -- won't do because there are lots of photos with muted colors that I've really liked, e.g., Christine's foggy day in Chicago shot. Others -- composition, focus -- aren't a problem with this photo. Gets me wondering what it is -- and it may not be one simple thing -- that makes a photo speak to us. A thought that comes vaguely to mind is that maybe it has something to do with the fact it presents things to us that otherwise we might have overlooked -- e.g., Vivian Maiers' candid shots of the "non-ordinariness" of ordinary people, or the patterns and juxtapositions that she captures -- or when it presents something with which we're familiar in an unfamiliar way, a way that forces us to see it differently, to find it interesting or attractive when before we might not even have taken notice, e.g., an image that someone shared with the group that was a real sharp close close-up of a metallic ornament on the side of an automobile. So, that's where your question led me. I don't ascribe much validity to my top-of-the-head musings, but I guess if I had to say why at this point it would be that I don't know what you're saying, or what the photo is saying. I don't see anything I wouldn't have noticed without the image. I probably wouldn't have known that it was "formerly a palm" if you hadn't told us, but beyond that it just looks like a former palm. One thing that's caught my eye in the process of thinking about this is the way fronds of the palm that have broken off sort of trail off into the upper right hand corner of the image, and I kind of wonder about that. But it doesn't leap out at me. Again, setting all the BS aside, this is the first of your photos that I haven't liked. Always in the past they have been immediately attractive. Some, like your shots of Jerusalem have been pretty muted color-wise. Some -- maybe all -- have had a particular perspective, like the one shot looking up a high-rise building from close to the base. Bottom line: I really don't know. But I sure am glad you asked the question. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Weir Decatur, GA USA [email protected] -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
