helen.HH
To Light & Love ...
For some 'Imperfection' is painful to view... a muddled mess
For others a door into the Imagination...
More Emotive, atmospheric beckoning the viewer to pause
be drawn in
Like Attraction
It's more complex than many people can communicate,
It's something you can’t really control.
it just happens
& takes one over
More so when You least expect it
so much of life is all about
what's unsaid ~
For others a door into the Imagination...
More Emotive, atmospheric beckoning the viewer to pause
be drawn in
Like Attraction
It's more complex than many people can communicate,
It's something you can’t really control.
it just happens
& takes one over
More so when You least expect it
so much of life is all about
what's unsaid ~
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mapgraphs
Established
Jonathan R
Well-known
So, do you think we should aim for imperfection, or just embrace it when it happens? I suspect, given your taste for pictirialism, you will say the former?The way I see it, it is as I more or less said above. Photos that are imperfect (in the right way) force the viewer to consider the image more closely (assuming they consider it at all) than they would with a perfect photo that simply lays out the image to look at. The analogy I used was that of reading a poem as opposed to reading prose. Prose can describe a scene very accurately but tends to do little to the reader emotionally. A poem which hits the spot, engages directly with a readers' emotion and if it works, is more impactful.
Or to go back to using an image based analogy it is to me, more like say, one of James Abbot McNeil Whistler's Nocturne paintings.
helen.HH
To Light & Love ...
1936ContaxII
Member
A combination of ...
... on a late summer evening in Nantes, France, 2023 (1937 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 50mm f2 uncoated, wide open, Contax IIIa, about 1/2 sec - I was excited because I tried to take street pics for the first time)
The second one: Cologne, Germany, Autumn of 2022. (1947 Carl Zeiss Jena Sonnar 50mm f/2 coated, Contax IIa). I had just begun to develop black-and-white slide films myself and that time I had totally messed up my bleach bath
:
First I was disappointed, but very soon I was glad I messed up the bath 😆.
If not, the picture would have got pretty boring. Same with the Nantes pic I suppose.
Michael
mdarnton
Well-known
There are still great photographers doing great work. They are just buried to invisibility under millions of technically-perfect superficial ones raised to prominence by people of superficial taste. The recognition of the genuinely good things is not a common skill, though in this era it's common to believe that everyone is an expert at everything. Supposedly Georg Solti once told the Chicago Symphony in rehearsal that 95% of their audience had no idea what they were hearing and that the musicians should therefore be giving their best effort for their own gratification.
We now live in a materialist world where the superficial is valued whereas underlying spiritual meanings are intentionally spit on. Thus happens our situation. But you can still have imperfection devoid of meaning; imperfection is just another (contrarian) materialist value in much of this thread--perfect imperfection for the sake of itself, still with no important statement.
peterm1 will probably think I also missed the point, but I don't think so.
@Ko.Fe. , thanks for the Bocharova . That's the real thing!
We now live in a materialist world where the superficial is valued whereas underlying spiritual meanings are intentionally spit on. Thus happens our situation. But you can still have imperfection devoid of meaning; imperfection is just another (contrarian) materialist value in much of this thread--perfect imperfection for the sake of itself, still with no important statement.
peterm1 will probably think I also missed the point, but I don't think so.
@Ko.Fe. , thanks for the Bocharova . That's the real thing!
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Richard G
Veteran
In the latest Black and White magazine is a photo of a waiter, slight motion blur. It’s a terrific photo. Elsewhere in the same issue a favourite quote of one of the interviewees, Alfred Stieglitz: “In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.” An exaggeration, but you can see where he’s aiming.
mapgraphs
Established
Something inexact. The perfection of imperfect light.
Richard G
Veteran
Dogman
Veteran
My signature below indicates my stand on the issue at hand.
Sometimes I take a picture with the intent of making it look sorta rode hard and put up wet. This was done with that in mind and most of the imperfections come from software (and my limitations on the use).
Sometimes I come upon a happy combination of circumstances that add interest to an otherwise dull subject. In this case, some pottery on the mantel of our back porch fireplace and the smoke from a just-lit fire. I knew the upper right was gonna be overexposed but I didn't know what to really expect. Some processing in Silver Efex topped it off.
I knew this was out of focus when I shot it although I didn't really mean for it to be. I was using a manual focus lens and I couldn't see well enough to get it in focus. So I just decided to do it and see what happened. An intentional unintentional imperfection, I guess.
Another happy accident. Driving down the street and seeing the sign. No place to stop, shoot through the windshield while moving in traffic and avoiding the other cars--not a recommended procedure. Topped it off with some post processing.
I remember someone saying that, in playing jazz, if you hit a wrong note you just repeat it a couple of times and everyone thinks that's the way it's supposed to be. I don't think there's any wrong notes in photography. It's just the way you play the photos. If the results look good or if they touch someone's heart, it's successful. That's why I have my signature below.
Sometimes I take a picture with the intent of making it look sorta rode hard and put up wet. This was done with that in mind and most of the imperfections come from software (and my limitations on the use).
Sometimes I come upon a happy combination of circumstances that add interest to an otherwise dull subject. In this case, some pottery on the mantel of our back porch fireplace and the smoke from a just-lit fire. I knew the upper right was gonna be overexposed but I didn't know what to really expect. Some processing in Silver Efex topped it off.
I knew this was out of focus when I shot it although I didn't really mean for it to be. I was using a manual focus lens and I couldn't see well enough to get it in focus. So I just decided to do it and see what happened. An intentional unintentional imperfection, I guess.
Another happy accident. Driving down the street and seeing the sign. No place to stop, shoot through the windshield while moving in traffic and avoiding the other cars--not a recommended procedure. Topped it off with some post processing.
I remember someone saying that, in playing jazz, if you hit a wrong note you just repeat it a couple of times and everyone thinks that's the way it's supposed to be. I don't think there's any wrong notes in photography. It's just the way you play the photos. If the results look good or if they touch someone's heart, it's successful. That's why I have my signature below.
Joao
Negativistic forever
Photo of a log at the side of the road. Iskra, probably Fomapan 120 film.
Insufficient developer in the tank left an undeveloped stripe at the upper border.
I decided to let that "dark sky" stay there.
Log by João Avelar, on Flickr
Insufficient developer in the tank left an undeveloped stripe at the upper border.
I decided to let that "dark sky" stay there.
Log by João Avelar, on Flickr
robert blu
quiet photographer
Unfortunately because of a small family emergency I was not able to complete my previous post, sorry!
As I said I think a photo which poses a question involves the viewer more than a perfect photo, where everything is clear and exactly where or how it should be.
This is why I shot and still shoot Polaroid and I liked very much even the first generation of film made by Impossible, which was far away from perfection.
This is a zine I made from a road trip during which I made large use of imperfect Polaroid, old and expired.
You should be able to browse the zine on the blurb site : Blurb Books | BookShare
and one of the phots in it (most of my Polaroids are visible in my RFF Gallery)
Polaroid apart I confess it is for me more difficult to make an interesting imperfect photo than a normal photo!
Today (not only today) we are inundated with technically perfect photos but I often find them with no soul, like a nice calligraphy exercise.
Having said this do not misunderstand me: I have much respect for who is able to make a great interesting perfect photo, perhaps after a long walk with a tripod and some heavy gear.
I prefer for myself a simpler spontaneous picture even if blurred, like the portrait of my wife here! To each his own tastes!
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Do I put lipstick on the pig a.k.a. overprocessing? Of course I do.
Taken with digital Leica, applied similar to filters you have used for headshot.
Elora Mill Inn... by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr
Contact print from digital Leica via negative printed on regular paper.
Untitled by Kostya Fedot, on Flickr
The layers of imperfection are not limited.
The entry layer is to apply imperfection filters on digital images. Don't make false assumptions. This method examples are on my public Flickr.
It means I do like it.
As person who has grown on visual art from Impressionists it is just natural to have something with "missed focus".
My point is, the entry level approach prevails on photogaphy forums, where most are not into the art, but gearheads approach.
And if picture is not in focus, not framed under primitive rules, not technically right WB, crooked horizon and so on - it is called as imperfection.
To me, as person who has grown on impressionism this is way too simplified approach.
Back to Anna Bocharova photography. She is one of the few making living by photogaphy.
For money, she takes technically perfect product photos with DSLR. After work, she goes on the streets and it takes hours to tune in.
It is not about been in focus, framing and such. It is about starting to feel something inside and starting to react to it.
And she doesn't use digital. Only film and mostly Leica with some slow, old lenses.
I have same thing, I can't go out and shot instantly (I mean I could only do technically fine pictures right away), it takes times and walking distances to start to react on something not too obvious.
Photos often doesn't come anywhere technically perfect. The moment of feel is very short and not predictable.
So, it is always a struggle. Start taking technically fine photos or continue to find something you won't even expect.
Actually, it is one of the Lomography principals. But this days it is gone and replaced by Abu Dhabi style of consumerism.
Well, some are trying to re-live Lomography (originated on cheap film cameras) and using old digital P&S.
Polaroid, Instax is same thing, just more expensive, artsy and original form on technical imperfection
.
Yokosuka Mike
Abstract Clarity
Thanks Peter for this interesting thread. I personally like photos, but drawings or painting as well which pose a question instead of giving a simple explanation, therefore my interest (love) for imperfection. Imperfection that does not have to be simply shabbiness. It can be casual or "searched" on purpose and must add something to the image. It must somehow involve the viewer.
I'll add something more later, sorry but I'm short of time in this moment!
Robert, this is very, very nice! Bravo and well done! Thank you for sharing.
All the best,
Mike
Ko.Fe.
Lenses 35/21 Gears 46/20
Exactly so.
Easy going approach is to apply imperfection in the post processing or to use something imperfect. Lack of content compensated by special effects.
But imperfections could come as side effects of attempts to catch something not ordinary...
One of the comments of Anna's photos was - it looks like photos been taken by the child.
It was posted as negative commet.
Yet, kids have open minds and not-limited imagination. It is how they able to discover and learn.
By adult age most have it lost. It takes time to wake up inner child.
Does result resonates with rest of adults... Not always and not with many. But the funny thing, every major gallery, museum I go... endless halls with fat and naked or overdressed bodies in the frames. Surrounded by crickets. Where the crowd usually is? In not to big hall with impressioninsts and so on "not in focus".
j.scooter
Veteran
Love the cover of the zine. I had a really good laugh. Will check to see if later if the zine is available for purchase.
Unfortunately because of a small family emergency I was not able to complete my previous post, sorry!
As I said I think a photo which poses a question involves the viewer more than a perfect photo, where everything is clear and exactly where or how it should be.
This is why I shot and still shoot Polaroid and I liked very much even the first generation of film made by Impossible, which was far away from perfection.
This is a zine I made from a road trip during which I made large use of imperfect Polaroid, old and expired.
You should be able to browse the zine on the blurb site : Blurb Books | BookShare
and one of the phots in it (most of my Polaroids are visible in my RFF Gallery
Polaroid apart I confess it is for me more difficult to make an interesting imperfect photo than a normal photo!
Today (not only today) we are inundated with technically perfect photos but I often find them with no soul, like a nice calligraphy exercise.
Having said this do not misunderstand me: I have much respect for who is able to make a great interesting perfect photo, perhaps after a long walk with a tripod and some heavy gear.
I prefer for myself a simpler spontaneous picture even if blurred, like the portrait of my wife here! To each his own tastes!
Yokosuka Mike
Abstract Clarity
I'm a big fan of ICM photography (Intentional Camera Movement).
All the best,
Mike
All the best,
Mike
agentlossing
Well-known
There is no imperfect light, only imperfect time (exposure value) or place (focus).
GMOG
Well-known
I dig this thread! Here are a couple of my favorites, both taken in the mid-'90s.
Can't remember which airport this was. I was definitely fooling around with moving the camera.
This one taken from the backseat of a 2CV bouncing around on the streets of Palma de Mallorca. The movement tells the story pretty well. Without it the image would be much less interesting to me.
Can't remember which airport this was. I was definitely fooling around with moving the camera.
This one taken from the backseat of a 2CV bouncing around on the streets of Palma de Mallorca. The movement tells the story pretty well. Without it the image would be much less interesting to me.
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Rikard
Established
Unintentional double exposure with my Holga. Tri-X in rodinal. I feel that the best way to grow as a photographer is by embracing making "mistakes".
