My latest article is up at Steve Huff Photo.

[peterm1]

Hope you enjoy it. It only took a couple of years for me to get around to writing it. Best regards Peter
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2017/...-mood-in-photography-part-3-by-peter-maynard/

 

[raid]

Nicely done, Peter. Congratulations. I like the article as a whole.

 

[FujiLove]

Great article Peter, and very timely. I've been reading and thoroughly enjoying Saul's book, 'early color', and feeling very inspired to try to add a painterly feel to my more abstract images. I saw his exhibit at the Photographers gallery in London last year and was completely blown away by the images. He was a wonderful artist and also had a great attitude to life.

 

[Thardy]

Great. I'll go read it. 🙂

 

[froyd]

Peter, I remember when you shared your musings about the value of lenses with high IQ for impressionistic and surreal images. I'm not sure were you ended up on that question, but whether you are using toy lenses or summiluxes, the results are excellent. The realism inherent with photography and the surrealism of the dreamscapes you produce create a wonderful dynamic tensions that gives your work resonance.

 

[peterm1]

Peter, I remember when you shared your musings about the value of lenses with high IQ for impressionistic and surreal images. I'm not sure were you ended up on that question, but whether you are using toy lenses or summiluxes, the results are excellent. The realism inherent with photography and the surrealism of the dreamscapes you produce create a wonderful dynamic tensions that gives your work resonance.

Thank you for this, its much appreciated. In fact thank everyone for the great feedback.

On the questions of lenses, rather like most people here, I tend to enjoy and use nice glass both new and vintage - I have not tried toy lenses etc although I have considered doing so especially now that m4/3 cameras provide such tremendous flexibility with respect to the lens mounts that can be accommodated. But in general I tend to just use whatever is on the camera at the time - usually a longer lens as I have a phobia about not shoving a lens in an unsuspecting subject's face. And I let the rest go from there.

I will be honest though and say that I always let the image lead me. What I mean by this is that if I think the image coming from the camera shows potential but "needs" some shadows for example, perhaps to get rid or downplay some distracting details I have no problems doing this in post. This sort of approach may sometimes lead people to believe I am using toy lenses, which is OK. My philosophy is that its all about the vision and the result. Whatever achieves the vision and gets the result is OK by me. So I do not obsess about doing it all "in camera".