First posts to Gallery with CV 35/2.5 and CV 15

T

Theo-Prof

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Apr 14, 2005
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Location
Fort Worth, TX
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After being a member here for a few months, I have finally been able to borrow a scanner in order to post some photos taken with my Bessa-R. The photos are all marked with the lens used and the aperture at which the photo was taken. Most also have other information such as the film used. (I could not resist adding a few taken with Nikons before I got into rangefinders and bought a Bessa-R and a couple of lenses).

I hope you enjoy the photos. i enjoyed taking them. Below is the link to the folder I created for my first posts.

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=5066

I would really like to hear your comments.

Kevin
 
Bluebonnets are usually one of my favorites, but the IR photos from the Japanese Garden are absolutely stunning. The mill photo taken in the Fall from an older shoot is classic.
 
Welcome, Kevin! There are not many theologians in this group that I know of and I am heartened to see you join. Is it possible to discuss the theological implications of various photos, photographic techniques, and photographic processes? Hmm… It is an intriguing prospect. I’ve thought about it in terms of specific photos, or series of photos, but not really photography in general, or any more broadly than the representations in specific contexts.

Your photos are gorgeous! Sure doesn’t look like Texas!
 
welcome to a fellow Texan! Great pics, love to see more.

Todd
 
I was afraid that people might not have caught on that "Theo-Prof" stood for "Theology Professor." After I came up with it I thought that "Prof" on a photography site might be taken for "professional."

I'm glad you liked the photos. As for the theological implications of photos or photography in general, I am more than willing to discuss that. However, I would not want people to think that I am hijacking the forum.

Kevin
 
I showed someone the Infrared photos in my galery today and he asked how I mounted a red filter to the CV 15 when it has no filer threads. I thought I would pass on this tip in the forum for those who own (or are thinking of buying) the CV 15.

I used a Cokin P-series filter holder and a 52mm adapter ring. I put four pieces of electrical tape along the inside edge of the adapter ring. The tape took up the slack between the focusing ring and the adapter ring. I put the filter in the outermost slot of the holder. The filter would just touch the hood of the lens when I slid the holder onto the lens. Even with this set-up I could still read the aperatures and focus distance. This system worked pretty well, but since i was afraid that it would fall off when I walked around, i took the whole assembly off and put it in my shirt pocket after each shot. This is not the most convenient system but it does work pretty well.

Kevin
 
Kevin, Thanks for the tip. I have to say that is the main reason I bought the 12mm ;-)

As for hijacking the forum, that would be impossible. This is a big place with room for everyone. I for one, would love to hear you wax theological (or otherwise) about photography. I am constantly having the sense that photography reveals things that we don't normally see. In fact, I seek out techniques that might do that. I think that what is being revealed in our photos bear reflecting on (as it were).
 
Dominic,

I would like to see some shots made with the 12. I will have to check out your gallery to see if you have any there.

As to waxing theological about photography, what comes immediately to mind is the very notion of creativity. I think that human creativity is one of those instances where we display the Image of God in us. With photography, or any creative endeavor, be it music or art, we are mirroring the one who created us. However, while God creates “ex nihilo” (out of nothing) we can only create using previously existing material. Even in poetry, language itself is a “given” for us. Therefore, we use things like silver halides in gelatin or pigments in oils in order to express our creativity.

I could say more but I think this is enough for now.

Kevin
 
dominicLF said:
Your photos are gorgeous! Sure doesn’t look like Texas!
Click to expand...

All the wildflower and the Japanese Garden photos are from Texas. The rest are either from when I lived in Louisville, KY a few years ago or from West Virginia where my wife's parents live and we frequently visit.

I am working on scanning some more Texas wildflower shots taken with non-rangefinder cameras. I did not want to post those too soon since this, after all, is the rangefinder forum

Kevin
 
Photographic Image of God

Photographic Image of God

Theo-Prof said:
Dominic,

I would like to see some shots made with the 12. I will have to check out your gallery to see if you have any there.

As to waxing theological about photography, what comes immediately to mind is the very notion of creativity. I think that human creativity is one of those instances where we display the Image of God in us. With photography, or any creative endeavor, be it music or art, we are mirroring the one who created us. However, while God creates “ex nihilo” (out of nothing) we can only create using previously existing material. Even in poetry, language itself is a “given” for us. Therefore, we use things like silver halides in gelatin or pigments in oils in order to express our creativity.

I could say more but I think this is enough for now.

Kevin
Click to expand...

Right on, Kevin! I love this whole problem of expression, especially when it comes to photography. Just what exactly is being expressed? Would you say that it is ALWAYS the Image of God? That would be a pretty wild claim, mostly because it erases the whole problem of theodicy. However, I am very sympathetic to it. If God created the world then, in some real sense, it is all made directly from the divine substance. In other words, it’s all good. On the other hand, and this is just a knee-jerk response, I’ve seen some pretty bad pics. Maybe it is ultimately good that I see those bad pics? Another interesting thing about expression, or creativity, and photography is that so much of it is optics, light reception, accident, happenstance, and luck. In other words, it may be one of the most passive of the plastic arts. What becomes of expression in this context? There may be less artist and more of the world, other people—Creation—in this art than in others.
 
dominicLF said:
Another interesting thing about expression, or creativity, and photography is that so much of it is optics, light reception, accident, happenstance, and luck. In other words, it may be one of the most passive of the plastic arts. What becomes of expression in this context? There may be less artist and more of the world, other people—Creation—in this art than in others.
Click to expand...
Hi -- While there's certainly an element of luck, there's an expression about making one's own luck. I'm coming more to think there's a lot of subconscious and peripheral perception that benefits the well-practiced photographer. I'm seeing too much "coincidental arrangement" in too many of my pics for it to be mere chance. Kind of encouraging in a way! 🙂
 
I don't think we display anything about god, I think we are god. Or at least his brothers. That's the best part, we just don't know. If we knew, our concept of knowing would certainly diminish whatever it is. Which is the fun part of Buddhism: No assertion that anybody knows what's up...the exact opposite assetion. "Knowing" is delusion. Which does suggest something hilarious about the teaching of theology 🙂

Meanwhile, those are great Texas photos. Shows something important about the superiority of mankind Vs deities.
 
Cloud of Unknowing

Cloud of Unknowing

djon said:
I don't think we display anything about god, I think we are god. Or at least his brothers. That's the best part, we just don't know. If we knew, our concept of knowing would certainly diminish whatever it is. Which is the fun part of Buddhism: No assertion that anybody knows what's up...the exact opposite assetion. "Knowing" is delusion. Which does suggest something hilarious about the teaching of theology 🙂

Meanwhile, those are great Texas photos. Shows something important about the superiority of mankind Vs deities.
Click to expand...

Way to go, dude. Of course, the double irony is that this Negative Theology is as old as theology itself, a staple of the mystical traditions and that you of course are delivering a theological argument. More interesting would be to hear what you think this Cloud of Unknowing has to do with photography. I do think that there is a certain passivity in photography and therefore less intention. That's why it starts to make a lot of sense to start talking about "unconscious process", etc....
 
dominicLF said:
Right on, Kevin! I love this whole problem of expression, especially when it comes to photography. Just what exactly is being expressed? Would you say that it is ALWAYS the Image of God? That would be a pretty wild claim, mostly because it erases the whole problem of theodicy. However, I am very sympathetic to it. If God created the world then, in some real sense, it is all made directly from the divine substance. In other words, it’s all good. On the other hand, and this is just a knee-jerk response, I’ve seen some pretty bad pics. Maybe it is ultimately good that I see those bad pics? Another interesting thing about expression, or creativity, and photography is that so much of it is optics, light reception, accident, happenstance, and luck. In other words, it may be one of the most passive of the plastic arts. What becomes of expression in this context? There may be less artist and more of the world, other people—Creation—in this art than in others.
Click to expand...

Dominic,

You make some very interesting points. However, I have to disagree with you on at least one point. I do not grant that being made in God's image necessitates that we are made of the divine substance. When theologians use the phrase "creatio ex nihilo" they mean only to say that God did not use previously existing materials; God not only created all that we see but also the "stuff" out of which it is made. Nor when theologians say that God created out of "nothing" do we mean that God used some substance called "nothing." For one thing this just opens up another whole can of worms; predicating existence to "nothing," i.e., calling "nothing" a "something." So, I do not think that the concept of the image of God necessitates a pantheism or panentheism, much less that all that we see is merely an emanation of God, or the "One," (e.g. Plotinus).

Your comments about the image of God and BAD pictures is an interesting point. Theologians have said for millennia that something has gone terribly wrong with humanity's ability to reflect acurately the image of God. I could go on but I don't want to "preach."

I would like to read more about your comment on theodicy. I think you mean that if everything that exists emanates from the divine substance (which I do not think I must grant), then whatever is or whatever happens is just the outworking of God. Thus if we grant that God is Good, then everything that happens is Good by definition (even bad photos). I think this is what you mean but I may be mistaken. Please correct me if I am wrong.

What I would like to hear someone comment on is the question of aesthetics itself. Certainly someone in the forum would be willing to contribute their thoughts on the notion of beauty itself and from where it derives. This could be an interesting conversation.

Kevin
 
Last edited:
Photography, like other relationships with existence, it addressed better by honest people than by theologians. Words about "important" things are valuable when written by poets and novelists. People who can, do.
 
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