Gallery Picks for Week Ending Monday 10 December 2007

ClaremontPhoto

ClaremontPhoto

Jon Claremont
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How to:

Choose your favorite photo(s) uploaded this past week in the Gallery.

Mention them here, with photographer's name, photo title, link, and perhaps a one liner about the photo - either descriptive or praise.

If you think the thread needs bumping then drip your picks in one at a time every time you see the thread drop down the front page.


We've moved:

Gallery Picks has moved from the Photo General Discussion forum to the Critique / Salon / Picks / Most Viewed forum (but listed as just Critique in the left navigation).

Does anybody agree with me that the new forum's name is somewhat less than snappy and that Imagery Discussion would sum it up better?
 
chewbacca 'Mechanism'

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=7268&ppuser=6025

A link to an album of chewbacca's which he uploaded over several days as it is a body of work he produced for an exhibition rather than standalone photos. The photos deserve to be seen together.

The subject is anorexia in young women, and he thinks that some people may be disturbed by the photos. I wasn't: I moved by the sensitivity of his approach to the subject.

I commented on the one titled 'm11', and chewbacca commented too adding to the information previously supplied.
 
ClaremontPhoto said:
Does anybody agree with me that the new forum's name is somewhat less than snappy and that Imagery Discussion would sum it up better?
Click to expand...

Yep.

It's not a big deal but it would certainly help to have a simpler forum name. Individual thread names within that forum can tell us what each thread is more specifically about. It would also leave more room for those fora that are more specific, such as equipment and film stuff.

I'm trying to catch up on last weeks gallery uploads and will post my picks asap.
 
Five that caught my eye....


Chewbacca - Mechanism.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74528&cat=fav
One picture of many - a visceral series which needs to be appreciated in full and which seems to me to function at an archetypal level, wtih resonances from myth and folklore.

JBF .
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74603&cat=fav
A warm and wondrfully successful environmental portrait. Part of another excellent series.

Nico - Roofs
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74795&cat=fav
Masterly magic realism - another image from folklore, rich with narrative, compositional complexity and evocative atmosphere

Marc A. - Portrait of a Young Woman
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74609&cat=fav
Marc photographs women with extraordinary understanding and love. He is uniquely able to photograph the emotional bond between subject and artist that is the essence of great portraiture. This is a very characteristic work, which is high praise indeed.

Sitemistic - Yee Haw!
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74862&cat=fav
Somewhere on the margins of tragedy and comedy - you can tell just how he feels :)

Cheers, Ian
 
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The following two stopped me in my tracks

- Horses taking a shower, PStevenin
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74664&cat=all&limit=last7
A mix of archetypal elements under a ligthing that would had been a cinematographer's delight provide this photo with a strong and also curious physicality.

- Roofs, Nico
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74795&cat=all&limit=last7
Compositionally layered and complex, it revealed, as well as hid, its main subject in a maze of reflections, lines, smoking mirrors, all superimposed over a seductively nocturnal Lucca. Magical, evocative, bizarre.

I also liked very much

- Manchester, Joshuar
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74683&cat=all&limit=last7
for the very strong composition and the way it collects simple elements to tell a broader photographic story

- Writing on the WAll, Zgee
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74819&cat=all&limit=last7
for the way the ancient texts project on passers-by, creating an allegory for a modern-day Babel.

Good light to everyone for this week
 
More fabulous photos this week.

More fabulous photos this week.

Nico. Roofs. Marvelous drama.http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74795
doagiec29. 50150005.Wonderful light and exposure. http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74776
nksyoon.L1000100. Composition and exposure are perfect, way to fire on that 15 FOV.http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74741.
Tuna. untitled. Inspiring! Excellent light and shadow.http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74636
 
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Some of those from last week that caught my attention -

Tuna - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74865&cat=fav - Witty with maybe a slight barbed edge but beautifully composed and timed as ever

Petronius - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74833&cat=fav - Excellent compositionally and perfect timing. I really think alot of this image, though it needs a larger scan to do it justice. If you took it in colour originally I'd be intrigued to see that version too.

Nico - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74795&cat=fav - This has already been mentioned several times in this weeks GPfW and rightly so. All I'll add is Nico regularly posts interesting and enjoyable photographs, this is in my humble opinion the best he's posted for a while.

Marc-A - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74695&cat=fav - Simply a very well seen moment that Marc captured and most importantly, captured very well. Dignified yet bemused.

Sinetsin - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=61105&cat=fav - A lesson in how to make a graphic image from simple key components while leaving room for the imagination to play.

Joshuar - http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74683&cat=fav - Using light, compostional guile and timing, the tools of a photographer, to produce a very impressive image. More of the same...or similar please.

I'd also like to praise Chewbacca's series of images. I haven't had a chance to view much at length this week but I have been halted in my tracks by this series. I didn't place any picture in the above list as I think they succeed as a body of work. I'm not usually a fan of such intimate collaborations between photographer and subject ( I know, I'm pretty much on my own there) but this stands out for me.
 
MY VOTE: "More Beef"

This has all a successful image should possess. It is professional and printworthy. Something to be proud of. The eye wanders in a postive way and returns to the subject and is not lost or disappointed wandering. The perspective of her arm strongly supports composition.

The second, a very close and STRONG second, is "mechanics". Very professional images, some pretty strong, and beautiful in terms of quality of imagery.

But I felt they are missing *something* and the story is not easy to discern from them alone. They do not stand on their own in my opinion.

We have forsaken the world of words for that of images. I personally feel that images should stand on their own without help.

But if I must choose, it should goto the prior (More Beef). This is a moment that cannot be recreated and a moment captured.

In my opinion, therefore touchest the highest flights of photography (and what it is about for me) and always wins out.

The others do not at all impress me, and border on banal. Some nice efforts.

I enjoyed them all though. Keep shooting!! I see everyone is sincere and thinking...very important!
 
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demian said:
MY VOTE: "More Beef"

This has all a successful image should possess. It is professional and printworthy. Something to be proud of. The eye wanders in a postive way and returns to the subject and is not lost or disappointed wandering. The perspective of her arm strongly supports composition.

The second, a very close and STRONG second, is "mechanics". Very professional images, some pretty strong, and beautiful in terms of quality of imagery.

But I felt they are missing *something* and the story is not easy to discern from them alone. They do not stand on their own in my opinion.

We have forsaken the world of words for that of images. I personally feel that images should stand on their own without help.

But if I must choose, it should goto the prior (More Beef). This is a moment that cannot be recreated and a moment captured.

In my opinion, therefore touchest the highest flights of photography (and what it is about for me) and always wins out.

The others do not at all impress me, and border on banal. Some nice efforts.

I enjoyed them all though. Keep shooting!! I see everyone is sincere and thinking...very important!
Click to expand...

Hi,

I wish to disagree, I find your critic about "the others" to be close minded. The reason for this is that the picture titled "More Beef" that you and I like so much, is indeed a scene that most people will not come across every day.
So, it seems to me that your view of good photography is expressed by the manifestation of unusual scenes and/or subjects, which is fine, but to call banal other pictures because they feature scenes and subjects of everyday an everyday life is being extreme I think....

Perhaps, good photography could also be to have the ability to turn banal and everyday scenes into something surreal and unusual =)
 
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The following selection of mine does not include pictures posted by Monday 10th.


SPECIAL MENTION
formal more beef
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74639
First the girl, fiddling with Formal, then the drunk missing the story, and by the end some confused boy trying to activate his digital.
Now Formal, the angle from which you choose to make the image, and the perfect moment of firing to obtain such a look from her, are both outstanding.
PS
Now, between me and me, what a cold blood one must to have to do things right in such circumstances....

xpanded girl at the botanical garden
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74844
Very good eye, xpanded. Congratulations. The image is interesting, well focused, exposed framed and cropped. But above all, your situation awareness !

nico roofs
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74795
Good one Nico ! What i like here is the three focuses of attention: the man, the view at the right, and the strong presence of the photographer expressed both in the window and the man looking at you. And each side of the triangle is interesting by itself. (1+1+1)+(3X3)=12 points at Eurovision!

petronius 821
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74895&limit=recent
I like it very much

way sunlight
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74880
Mistic or religious effect achieved !

dougiec29
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74779&cat=all&limit=last14
Amazing ! great lighting (timing to do it), exposure, composition, colors.... a delight to the eyes

schaubild Guitar
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74638&cat=all&limit=last14
Great aesthetic image schaubild, congratulations.


louiskht 01a1
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74627&cat=all&limit=last14
dramatic scene, helped by the man. Very well composed and trimmed.

Shac Tsewang
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74771&cat=all&limit=last14
Iimpressive portrait

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74699&cat=all&limit=last14
what makes this image specially interesting to me is the combination of a close up face with the absolutely indifference about it by the subject. The face expression itself insinuates a delicate personal character.
Very nice Shac !

pinafore2 low tide, old dog and ice
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74693&cat=all&limit=last14

jbf rendevouz ribs
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74661&cat=all&limit=last14
This is a very cute image, with nice strices of light from above, the fumes, motion, and the front fat man, who makes it all. About him I would like to speculate his half indifferent and half ironical expression doesn't represent his attitude towards the photographer, but rather an attitude towards life and his place in the food chain.

nksyoon L1000100
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=74741
Hi nksyoon,
I happen to find a straight line between this fine image and that color portrait I cherished some weeks ago. You seem to have an uncommon talent to deal with complex issues without diminishing or exagerating them. And always you get away with a master touch of elegancy !
 
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demian said:
MY VOTE: "More Beef"............

.................

The others do not at all impress me, and border on banal. Some nice efforts.

I enjoyed them all though. Keep shooting!! I see everyone is sincere and thinking...very important!
Click to expand...


Hi demian,
Once upon a time a folk here wrote something about my "feeling of superiority". Your last sentences I abovequoted give me a round idea about what that folk may have felt. As you understand I would not like to give the same impression ever again, and I will be very happy if when it happens, some other folk points my attention to.

You sound to me sincere and bold when telling that high quality photographs shown this week "border on the banal", and I am very glad you are happy to "see everyone is sincere and thinking". We all will do our best to comply. I promise.

The only problem is that in order to teach, or even be heard, one must take care of the feelings of his audience. The day you will achieve a consensus about your special status, or at least a small group of admirers here, they may gladly welcome your sincerity in telling them they "do not at all impress" you, "and border on the banal". Yet, don't let them foolish you. Such a groupi gladly accepting such insults, will amount to nothing else than your biggest repulsion.

Since I have not seen any of your work, but take your words in good faith and have to assume you create at such high a level enabling you to express yourself from the heights you do, kindly allow me to propose you a more modest manner for a starting point, in order not to block the ears of your potential true audience, making them to loose all you have to teach, just due to an unfortunate pedagogical shortcomming.

As for myself I will not be less sincere than what you require, and must say I don't think I will ever be able to learn from you unless you show the ability to overcome your self, and feel an equal to your equals, the only way to be both sincere and speak as an equal. The day you f e e l you will also speak as such.

This is just me. For me real greatness is found when the highest talent is not driven away by the crowd of chickens clamping, but when in spite of the crowd a man of achievements maintains himself at eyelevel with the others.

Because no matter how big a man thinks he is, he is nothing by self declaration, nor without true friends, or the warmth of human feelings surrounding him.

Cheers,
Ruben
 
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