Color Street Photography

Not very much colors those painters had.

As a painter you should know the famous statement of Ingres: Le dessin est la probité de l'art.

Erik.

Translated -- The line is the honesty of art... Dega epitomises the combination of line and painting - he expresses the line, but as form.

That may be (if artists can talk about their work :)), and I was aware of that in the Sargent show at the Metropolitan yesterday, but Ingres is above all else "color."

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"Princesse de Broglie," 1851–53 Metropolitan Museum of Art

Both Ingres and Sargent caught subtle expressions "remembered" in sketches, which made their visual constructions in many ways stronger that the reality of photography.

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Polly Barnard, Study for "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose" Metropolitan Museum of Art

Edit, those cave painting are however far from monochromatic. http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/images/lascauxmain.jpg

Honestly over "Le dessin est la probité de l'art," I prefer the "Whole Earth Catalog" -- “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”
 
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Broadway, Washington Heights

I think of color by default since the advent of digital. Color should enhance. I usually do not think of color when I am photographing.

Good stuff Keith and I think that some see in color and some see in B&W. It should all be a natural response with thinking being done before and after but not during. Having said that I do think you can nurture your vision whatever way it leans. Form a developed instinct.
 
The umbrella and the building in that photo and in this photo, the shoes.

I suppose one could define "subject" that way, but IMO, from a literary point of view, I would not see it as subject, but as style or form.

I suppose one could see it as a dissertation on red shoes, and certainly it would be poorer in B&W. I just don't, but of course that is me.

I usually do not think of color when I am photographing.

But surely you feel it? Yesterday the clear blue sky, as seen from the roof of the Met, was overwhelming.
 
I suppose one could define "subject" that way, but IMO, from a literary point of view, I would not see it as subject, but as style or form.

I suppose one could see it as a dissertation on red shoes, and certainly it would be poorer in B&W. I just don't, but of course that is me.


But surely you feel it? Yesterday the clear blue sky, as seen from the roof of the Met, was overwhelming.

Of course I "feel" it. Sometimes I already know when I'm in the mode of photographing, what will be B & W and what will be color. My default though is color. It really became the default because of digital. I just accepted it from the get go. Before, I had the conscious choice of what type of film to load in my camera. 99.9% of the time it was B & W.
 
Why this sudden south-Asian "nobody understand us" talk?

Not that nobody understand us. Like everything in life, we reach to our own experience, memories to 'make sense' of our senses. (if that makes any sense :-D) I could have easily been the subject photographed back in the early 90's as I sat on the curb in Taipei City shoveling a bowl of Soy-stewed pork rice into my face while waiting for bus to go home after school...

The pictures just going to strike core and speak to me more because I have been there and lived it. Composition, colors aside, it is just easier for me to get what the photographer is trying to capture.
 
Of course I "feel" it. Sometimes I already know when I'm in the mode of photographing, what will be B & W and what will be color. My default though is color. It really became the default because of digital. I just accepted it from the get go. Before, I had the conscious choice of what type of film to load in my camera. 99.9% of the time it was B & W.

I think film is pivotal for many. I loaded Kodachrome in my Kodak Pony when I was 12. But B&W was what I used for many art photos, which were documents of performance, when I was first leaving reportage [street] behind in the early '70s.

I like B&W for many photos. But except for the Monochrome, most of us now have to convert to B&W. Personally I like keeping the color and lowering the saturation almost to the point of a remembrance, rather than gray.
 
Why this sudden south-Asian "nobody understand us" talk?

Not that nobody understand us. Like everything in life, we reach to our own experience, memories to 'make sense' of our senses. (if that makes any sense :-D) I could have easily been the subject photographed back in the early 90's as I sat on the curb in Taipei City shoveling a bowl of Soy-stewed pork rice into my face while waiting for bus to go home after school...

The pictures just going to strike core and speak to me more because I have been there and lived it. Composition, colors aside, it is just easier for me to get what the photographer is trying to capture.

I think a lot of time, that's something people forget when we discuss art. Outside of technicality, what moves more people?
 
Spent some time in the far east courtesy of Uncle Sam and I love those images. So many different cultures in a small geographic space that also have many similarities. Looking at some of this work I can almost smell the streets. I say keep'm come'n.
 
I suppose one could define "subject" that way, but IMO, from a literary point of view, I would not see it as subject, but as style or form.

I suppose one could see it as a dissertation on red shoes, and certainly it would be poorer in B&W. I just don't, but of course that is me.

For me, subject in a photograph is the 'center of interest', one of the oldest terms when it comes to photography.

Color as subject for me is color as the center of interest.
 
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For me, subject in a photograph is the 'center of interest', one of the oldest terms when it comes to photography.

Color as subject for me is color as the center of interest.

There is no question that color could be the subject of a photo essay, especially when it is in the area of fashion or architecture.

But as a single photo like the shoes on the street, it varies, I suppose. I sat on the train yesterday next to a woman with long bright blue hair, any photos of her in color would seem to point to her hair, even if aimed elsewhere.
 
Translated -- The line is the honesty of art...

A better translation is: "The drawing is the concience of art.", as for Ingres the drawing consisted of more than only a line. For him three quarters of a painting was drawing, further the painting consisted of color. For him color was a kind of decoration of art. He was a classisist and he believed (in his early years) that the Greek sculpture and architecture was colorless, until later historians found out that the classical Greek sculpture and architecture originally was colored (polychromed). This is reflected in his later paintings.

Erik.
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A better translation is: "The drawing is the conscience of art."...

"Conscience" works for me, not as literal, Google-like.

But the use of colored glazes over a monochrome underpainting was a common approach, but decorative? Interesting to talk of Ingres, but we are a bit adrift of "color as subject" I think. Maybe derailing the thread at this point?
 
Sure, as you like, but Ingres was very important for the early photography.

I translated his "Écrits sur l'art" in Dutch and saw most of his work in person, also his drawings. His portrait drawings are a kind of "hand made" photographs. Very interesting for photographers in fact.

Erik.
 
Sure, as you like, but Ingres was very important for the early photography.

I translated his "Écrits sur l'art" in Dutch and saw most of his work in person, also his drawings. His portrait drawings are a kind of "hand made" photographs. Very interesting for photographers in fact.

Erik.

I would tend to say the same of many artists, thought that about Sargent's expressions yesterday at the Met. By the way, I was agreeing with your translation, mine too Google-like, too literal.

But Ingres and "new" color work, somehow I have a hard time imagining William Eggleston pouring over Ingres.:D Sherman yes.
 
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