KoNickon
Nick Merritt
Lord Britten of Aldeburgh's 100th birthday anniversary is next week -- I personally am glad he spent time walking the beach!
Maybe it's a comfort
If you like your comfort, nothing wrong with that, there is nothing more annoying than those preachy dogmatic photographers detailing why their approach is the best.
Dear Stewart,... true, I'm probably yearning for John Majors evocation of the 50s while listening to Jeremy Hunt talking bollocks on Question Time ...
... but I would contend that there was a time in the UK's mixed economy post war past when we recognised value in things that didn't involve their cost
The idea that I need to follow someone else's advice and get out of my comfort zone presuppose that we share an ethos and ethic, and that I'm incapable of motivating myself without recourse to some cheap slogans that sound to have come from a second-rate business motivation day ... it, and its like have no place in a creative area, like telling Benjamin Britten he was wasting his time walking on the beach in the afternoons
I often read that as a derogatory comment in "street photography" talk.
Yet I've seen some photos with the back of people's head that just blew my mind. Because the back of the head is positioned or used very effectively within the composition, and the rest of the image tells a very interesting story or perspective.
At the same time, I've seen countless "front of people's heads" (a.k.a faces) photos that bored me to tears.
So my point is, the individual component of a composition does not matter as long as the composition itself is carefully and creatively put together. And to me, this is what makes "candid" or "street" photography so fascinating because the photographer does not have control over the subject other than timing and positioning.
Dear Stewart,
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-- the latest RSA journal is very interesting, and if you've not heard the most recent Thinking Allowed I'd recommend you try it: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03h428y
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R.
I think the advice to "get out of your comfort zone" is usually given when someone isn't satisfied with the results they are currently getting or more growth is necessary.
... is one ever satisfied with their work? I've never been, have you?
I guess you have a point. However, when in the middle of a project you have to decide if you want to keep going or scrap it and do something different. I have felt good enough about my work to keep going on certain projects I've been working on for 4-5 years now. That said, of course I keep striving to get better and the longer you do it, the more stringent you become in your editing. I agree it's a process that never quite ends, but you can be happy with your current direction.
one would need a pretty impoverished imagination not to see their own shortcomings
Exactly. This is why I try to stay inside my comfort zone, which I define as "being able to understand what I need to do in order to get better".... is one ever satisfied with their work? I've never been, have you?
Dear Vince,Roger -- just read this thread. You're stuck, poor man, in a world where no one uses almost meaningless cliches. "Comfort zone" being in it out of it approaching it by helicopter whatever, it means whatever the inarticulate soul who's used the phrase at that moment wants it to mean, including ALL the definitions you've seen here plus your own. Your inquiry is similar to one I'm always asking myself when on a bus or subway in NY and I hear that I shouldn't forget my "personal belongings." I can't tell my personal belongings from my official? Professional? Impersonal? belongings, and I end up feeling anxious until I've disembarked and found some new outrage to unsettle me.