"CARL" by Al Kaplan (once more with feeling..........)

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Al's comments....(from the website)<div></div>

Thanks, Al.

HI Al, you really show us what photogaphy is all about. You show a beautiful portrait of a human being and manage to show us what is grand and dignified about him. Thanks for the lesson. I hope this means as much to others as it does to me.

Nothing could be better. Thanks.

My opinion only but these are terrible. Very ugly murky shadows and they're mostly out of focus. I get a sense of the beauty of this old man but these photographs have not really captured that. The compositions are unpleasing, even cluttered to my eyes. Nothing remarkable about your timing either in capturing an expression that makes you have to love this guy. I am trying to see the beauty others obviously see in these photos but frankly I don't get it. Just his 80 (or so) year old hands and an old shoe would have done it for me. Please don't take this personal Al.

I just read Al's comments...(you don't have to read to copy and paste...: )...but Al, where is the "broken old man" in the last couple of photos....I see a beautiful vibrant human,...but can't find the broken old man.

 

My favorite is the photograph of him in the chair in the hospital...what a beautiful light embrace you caught.<div></div>

To be brutally honest, Al's write-up seems to honor Al's "humanism" more than it honors this old guy and that seems self-serving to me.

Yes Kent, these aren't very good.

 

Normally I wouldn't say anything if it was another member, but, for a year and a half I've heard nothing from you about how much you've shot, the merits of film, the good living you've made and where you've been all the while raving about little german rf cameras and slagging others images and their style made with 'auto-everything' slrs. In the couple months since Belle and others have been helping you, I haven't seen one decent pic. I'm disappointed the walk didn't match the talk and am surprised these actually accompanied words in print at some point.

I like them. Tells me a story.

 

I don't care about perfect focus or murky shadows. Could easily be the scanning skills of

the poster (no offence intended Belle, I'm glad you are doing this).

 

About Al's "humanism": I would WANT it to show through in his work. Sure beats some of

the perfectly focused, perfectly exposed, and utterly lifeless crap that gets posted

regularly.

Every picture tells a story in some sense. The object is to tell a worthwhile story and to tell that story artfully, with craft. I think sometimes you can make it on craft alone but I always admire the artists who have something important to say as well as well.

Pardon the hiccup. I haven't been drinking. Yet :^)

Kent, You have expressed such silly notions that many eyes have turned to you...your situation must surely be pathetic. Is it simply extreme loneliness?

 

I'll bet Al could make some honest portraits of you, despite his humanism. Me, I'd prefer to see you in something more Weegee-like. :-)

Its a good story really very touching and Kudo's for that, and I like the way the pictures work with the words, its just that I expected better photos technically from Al. Yes, I'd say in this situation, these photos are better'n no photos, but I've seen other stuff from Al that was so much better.

Pardon me Mr. Kelly. I'm just the kid in the crowd that doesn't know he's supposed to ignore that the emperor has no clothes. As for your personal attack it speaks for itself or I should say for your self. Do you even have anything worthwhile to say? Oh yea, now I remember: "Nice outfit Emperor." (suck suck)

"your situation must surely be pathetic. Is it simply extreme loneliness? "

 

More personal insults.

 

Why would the moderators allow this to continue? Do they feel the same way?

These are probably flatbed scans of actual prints; where the shadows get blocks up abit and super dark areas lost. A scan of the negative or maybe a better flatbed scan of the print might bring the dark areas to shadow details. Nice work.

I am stunned by people who completely miss the feeling and spirit of a photograph

because of what they see as technical weaknesses.

 

First, it's completely unfair and ignorant to bring up such issues when dealing with older

photos. They come from a time period in which auto focus didn't exist, lenses weren't

what they are now, and film was slow.

 

Second, pictures should tell stories, provoke feelings and put you in touch with your own

humanity. To do so, it's not necessary for them to "wow" you with sharpness, composition,

and shadow detail. The famous photograph of Che Guevara is incredibly compelling. Close

up, the quality of the prints that are published isn't that great. So what? The picture works

and it's one of the most well-known of the last 50 years.

 

It would be nice if some of the monitor-huggers who make such comments actually got

out of the house and explored the human landscape with their cameras. Go ahead. Don't

be afraid. Take a picture of something that lives, breathes. You won't get bitten. Shoot at

2.8. I promise your lens won't fall off.

 

But instead, they sit around presumably calibrating their monitors, and in the end, post

pictures with the emotional impact of jigsaw puzzle landscapes.

 

Just my opinion. In the meantime, I always enjoy Al's pictures.

From Al Kaplan,

 

"Last October when I stopped in to get some shoes repaired and took those first three photos, he was still a vibrant happy person serving the community."

The date one the calendar is only March 2003; these are not older photos.

Exactly! Anybody who made the effort to read the text would have found out that the pix in the shop were done in October, 2004 and the hospital pix were shot about a month ago. The actual prints were made a week or two ago on a textured paper, Ilford pearl surface Multigrade IV RC DELUXE MGB.44M and the prints have an image area less than 4x6 inches. Why that paper? I had it handy. They're smaller than they appear here. They weren't made as "Great Art". They were just some prints to cheer up a good friend, keep track of his progress, and hopefully end up taped on the walls of that shoe repair shop when he re-opens. And they got scanned and they're here too.

 

Hopefully they can soon join the other assorted trivia taped up all over the place, from old calendars to photos of pretty college girls who now bring their grandchildren there to get their shoes repaired.