can i get some feedback on this image?

[airfrogusmc]

Some of Siskind's photos are very decorative and interesting by the pattern they present. I do like those for what they are (not a story, but a decorative abstract image). Hell, i even tried to make some of those once in a while.
Some others indeed resemble Joe's photo here and no, i don't care much for those ("abstract expressionism" ? wall with half-ripped off announcement poster without an interesting story behind but not abstract enough to disregard the content... not for me)
About Gibson i don't know. Gibson who?🙂

Of course that's okay that you like what you like. That was not the feedback Joe asked (he asked our feedback on his image, not our feedback on what the other RFFers like 🙂 )

Ralph Gibson and for Siskind, Gibson and many others it's about the bodies of work not the so much the individual pieces. Like pieces of the puzzle. It's more about the big picture than each individual piece.

 

[airfrogusmc]

And I gave feedback and the background of what one prefers and also what one doesn't like (or in some cases understand) can be relevant. Some hate abstract work so there is a bias. Some people hate street work so there is a bias. Some people hate landscapes so there is a bias.

 

[robert blu]

Joe , this is a photo I like very much. It does nor shout a story, it just wishpers something. It suggests a starting point leaving to each one of us the freedome to build our own story.
Which is the kind of photography I like.
robert
PS: i find interesting to go through this thread and the interesting links provided, thanks

 

[zauhar]

Excellent image Joe. Agree with all of the above, including the comments about cropping off the vertical fold at the far right. It is a little distracting from the rest of the content, which is really compelling. The light here is perfect.

You really didn't need to be told this is a good image, did you? ;-)

EDIT: Maybe you did need to be told, a couple of viewers were nonplussed. Depends on how you react to images - unless there is a human moment captured, I like them more as containers for form and texture.

 

[Pherdinand]

And I gave feedback and the background of what one prefers and also what one doesn't like (or in some cases understand) can be relevant. Some hate abstract work so there is a bias. Some people hate street work so there is a bias. Some people hate landscapes so there is a bias.

i gave a perfectly valid background for motivating why i don't like it, and what do i like as related to the image.
+there's no "work" that i globally "hate". Certainly i do not hate abstract work so there's no bias in there. As i also don't "hate" this photo of backalley. I "hate" some of my own photos, the ones that i had great expectations for, and disappointed me (myself). It stops there.
+the image was a single image not a body of work, so... there's no extra context.

 

[petronius]

I like the contrast between the sharp edges of the torn paper and the soft, gritty background.
I also like the fragmented typo; the letters are clearly readable, the text is an enigma.
The font on the upper piece of paper is different from the lower one; was that one poster or were there two?
I like to imagine what text was written and if it was torn off intentionally. The pieces don´t look as if they were ripped off by wind and time.
I can recall the feel of old posters with brittle paper that breaks before it bends.
Old pieces of paper make a special sound when they are moved by the wind.
The tracks on the inside of the gritty glass show a (human) action a short time ago.
I like to think about the time that the upper piece of paper will need to fall off completely.
I look at the lower paper and feel the disappointment when ripping a similar piece from a wall and the glue is the winner.
I can feel the satisfaction when I clean a little piece of a dirty window to look through. (Like Hattori Hanzo, when he wiped out the name "Bill")
While the paper has a digital look, the upper left corner reminds me of a calotype.
The picture has a sort of postapocalyptic mood to me.

...

 

[back alley]

I like the contrast between the sharp edges of the torn paper and the soft, gritty background.
I also like the fragmented typo; the letters are clearly readable, the text is an enigma.
The font on the upper piece of paper is different from the lower one; was that one poster or were there two?
I like to imagine what text was written and if it was torn off intentionally. The pieces don´t look as if they were ripped off by wind and time.
I can recall the feel of old posters with brittle paper that breaks before it bends.
Old pieces of paper make a special sound when they are moved by the wind.
The tracks on the inside of the gritty glass show a (human) action a short time ago.
I like to think about the time that the upper piece of paper will need to fall off completely.
I look at the lower paper and feel the disappointment when ripping a similar piece from a wall and the glue is the winner.
I can feel the satisfaction when I clean a little piece of a dirty window to look through. (Like Hattori Hanzo, when he wiped out the name "Bill")
While the paper has a digital look, the upper left corner reminds me of a calotype.
The picture has a sort of postapocalyptic mood to me.

...

wow! you really dissected that image...more than i did!
but you have the right idea in that the image is (for me) only a small piece of a bigger entity...a bigger sum from tiny clues.

 

[petronius]

I´m sure that there were similar thoughts when you shot the picture, but we don´t really think when we see and shoot and that´s the right way in my opinion. HCB said that we only can think about the composition (and be satisfied about a successful one) when looking at the picture, but not when we shoot.

 

[airfrogusmc]

I like the contrast between the sharp edges of the torn paper and the soft, gritty background.
I also like the fragmented typo; the letters are clearly readable, the text is an enigma.
The font on the upper piece of paper is different from the lower one; was that one poster or were there two?
I like to imagine what text was written and if it was torn off intentionally. The pieces don´t look as if they were ripped off by wind and time.
I can recall the feel of old posters with brittle paper that breaks before it bends.
Old pieces of paper make a special sound when they are moved by the wind.
The tracks on the inside of the gritty glass show a (human) action a short time ago.
I like to think about the time that the upper piece of paper will need to fall off completely.
I look at the lower paper and feel the disappointment when ripping a similar piece from a wall and the glue is the winner.
I can feel the satisfaction when I clean a little piece of a dirty window to look through. (Like Hattori Hanzo, when he wiped out the name "Bill")
While the paper has a digital look, the upper left corner reminds me of a calotype.
The picture has a sort of postapocalyptic mood to me.

...

Very good critique.

I think images that respect the viewer enough to allow him to think and question and not spell it all out (Weston called it the obvious and I knew a great photographer that called those kind of photographs nouns) are the ones that I find the most interesting. They are not obvious or nouns.

 

[airfrogusmc]

I´m sure that there were similar thoughts when you shot the picture, but we don´t really think when we see and shoot and that´s the right way in my opinion. HCB said that we only can think about the composition (and be satisfied about a successful one) when looking at the picture, but not when we shoot.

Bresson called it a developed instinct and a couple of quotes to your point and said far better than I could ever say it and I agree.

"In photography, visual organisation can stem only from a developed instinct." - Henri Cartier-Bresson

"Thinking should be done before and after, not during photographing."-Henri Cartier-Bresson

"The state of mind of a photographer while creating is a blank...For those who would equate "blank" with a kind of static emptiness, I must explain that this is a special kind of blank. It is a very active state of mind really, a very receptive state of mind, ready at an instant to grasp an image, yet with no image pre-formed in it at any time. We should note that the lack of a pre-formed pattern or preconceived idea of how anything ought to look is essential to this blank condition. Such a state of mind is not unlike a sheet of film itself - seemingly inert, yet so sensitive that a fraction of a second's exposure conceives a life in it. (Not just life, but "a" life)." - Minor White

"One does not think during creative work, any more than one thinks when driving a car. But one has a background of years - learning, unlearning, success, failure, dreaming, thinking, experience, all this - then the moment of creation, the focusing of all into the moment."-Edward Weston

And from the great sic-fi writer:
"Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things."-Ray Bradbury