'Search Google For Image'

In Windows, if you right click on one of your images, then select Search Google For Image, not only can you find out if there are any similar (possibly illicitly copied ?) versions of your image - you can also have fun discovering the aspects of the image that Google thinks are relevant or important; which in my case are very seldom the intention ! :)

you can also have fun discovering the aspects of the image that Google thinks are relevant or important; which in my case are very seldom the intention !

1) Google doesn’t think. :)

2) Ask a bunch of viewers what your intention was and you’ll likely not get much traction either. A lot of the time “intention” may focus a photographer but then it gets filtered both through the photo and through the eyes and experience of a viewer, all of which transforms it. Often, intention serves more as inspiration than as direct object or theme of literal interpretation.

3) Google and many viewers (and photographers, for that matter) focuses on things, often to the exclusion of ideas, poetry, and metaphor, all of which play key roles in (good) photography.

4) Gauges, coastal fort, ATM, socks, luggage, courthouse, three-wheeled vehicle, postwoman/postman ... recent No Words threads which seem to mimic Google’s concrete and thing-oriented “thinking.” Note the lack of emotions and metaphors in No Words themes. A lack of creative thinking and a concentration on the concrete is to some extent being driven by google and to some extent being mirrored by google. Better to set our sights lower for google and higher for the human race!

5) What a different world it would be if Silicon Valley employed folks like Warhol, Duchamp, Man Ray, and White in addition to folks who’ve spent the majority of their time in statistics, software, algorithms, and common denominators.

When I said 'thinks' I was using the term figuratively, as I'm sure you realise. Obviously only pre-specified criteria can be used by any software trying to match an image, but with the example I gave, it amused me to see that the original subject, and the photographic principle, were both deemed unimportant.

No Words can only reflect the threads started by the users, so it is up to those who wish to contribute to start a thread which reflects their wishes. 'Ideas, poetry and metaphor' can indeed (in my view) be important in photography, but the images I post, although you have (if I recall) been kind enough to 'like' some of them, are almost invariably taken to record places or occurrences which have been important to me - if they fall within these parameters, fine, but that is not the primary reason for my taking them.

Things vs ideas. Hmm.

I can't get it to work anyway.

When I said 'thinks' I was using the term figuratively, as I'm sure you realise.

Yes, of course. I was being lighthearted in saying google doesn’t think, thus the smiley face.

'Ideas, poetry and metaphor' can indeed (in my view) be important in photography

I think we agree. Neither of us is saying they’re the exclusive purview of photography.

No Words can only reflect the threads started by the users

Yes. That was part of my point. That’s why I said the threads sometimes mirror google-like “thinking.”

you have (if I recall) been kind enough to 'like' some of them

I have, indeed. Perhaps, on occasion, I like just that kind of photo and perhaps, on occasion, I saw something in a photo that went beyond your stated intention, which I quote next ...

are almost invariably taken to record places or occurrences which have been important to me

I know.

if they fall within these parameters, fine, but that is not the primary reason for my taking them.

I like what you’ve said here because it recognizes that the reasons for taking something can sometimes be superseded by something in them the viewer finds compelling, sometimes regardless of whatever intentions the photographer may have had.

Sam,

I had (and have) no intention of disagreeing with you, or contradicting you, merely explaining my own motivation for taking photographs. Your own images often strike a chord, which may or not have been your intention, with me - often bringing to mind or memory events 'under the surface', which needed a certain amount of encouragement to be with me again.