My job (pediatric oncologist) shows me lots of the pain and unfairness in life, and the ugliness of the world is constantly on display in the news. Photography helps me to slow down, and to look for and see the beauty in life and the world.
I made about 1400 exposures during my trip to Paris, and have posted fewer than 50 pix here. That's about my usual ratio. I post the ones I like, and it's always interesting to see how others respond to them. Rick http://photo.net/photos/RickW --- On Thu, 3/31/11, Collin Brendemuehl <coll...@brendemuehl.net> wrote: > From: Collin Brendemuehl <coll...@brendemuehl.net> > Subject: Why do you shoot? > To: "pdml" <pdml@pdml.net> > Date: Thursday, March 31, 2011, 1:39 PM > Tim just gave us some pretty macro > flower pics. A lot of people will like them. I > enjoy them as well and even really liked a couple. But > as someone said a couple of weeks ago, the more seriously he > takes his photography the less he shoots. The question > is: How do we better our photography and get past > cliche images? Can we take it more seriously without > falling into either the trap of elitism or the trap of > demanding a certain level of commitment from others? > (That's the motivation behind my recent technical > criticisms. We can do better without burning ourselves > out.) > > I think about the retirement home with little old ladies > taking oil paint lessons so that they can do still life > paintings of daisies. I wonder how many of us have > nothing better in our imagination than warm fuzzies. > And I think Tim senses some of this with the sarcasm in his > title about beating us to a bloody pulp with these cliche > images. In 2D art one can hardly get more cliche than > pretty flowers. > > So the challenge is this: Make a picture say > something. Make it say one word That is, other than > Ahhhhh or Ooooooo. A real word. > High. Long. Fast. Friend. > Love. Charity. Cold. Hot. > Soft. Hard. Tomorrow. Yesterday. > Win. Lose. Amateur. Professional. > Try. Succeed. Fail. Return. > Leave. Strong. Weak. Majesty. > Humility. Service. Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, > adverbs -- they all work. > > This can help you when you take pictures at kids baseball > games or at a wedding. Capture more than just the > people. Get their faces, their hands, their > interactions with each other and the world around them, > their full expressions. > > That's what makes the Ali(Wasn't he still C. Clay at the > time) v Liston picture so special. > http://www.sportsmemorabilia.com/sports-products/muhammad-ali-framed-8x10-photo---ali-over-sonny-liston.html > > Sorry about the rant, but cliche images bother me deeply. > > Sincerely, > > Collin Brendemuehl > http://kerygmainstitute.org > > "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what > he cannot lose" > -- Jim Elliott > > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link > directly above and follow the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
