Drinking the Sound.

[pavel_l.]

Thank you for your thoughts.

Cheers.

 

[Marv Thompson]

I think the concept is sound, no pun intended. But, there always seems to be a but, to me the image "floats" in the frame. It needs a tighter crop. I would crop so there was as little back ground as possible. Then I would crop some more, down to the point where you only have the center and the arm and controls. Try it and see what you think. 

[pavel_l.]

3 hours ago, Marv Thompson said:

I think the concept is sound, no pun intended. But, there always seems to be a but, to me the image "floats" in the frame. It needs a tighter crop. I would crop so there was as little back ground as possible. Then I would crop some more, down to the point where you only have the center and the arm and controls. Try it and see what you think. 

Thank you Marv.

I agree that image needs some crop, but I prefer to keep turnable intact.

Cheers.

[ed_farmer]

11 hours ago, Marv Thompson said:

It needs a tighter crop

I don't think that cropping is the issue so much as context.  There's no reference to time or place in this image.  The turntable is forced to stand on it's own.  It look likes this was your intention but I think that it distracts from the image.  Also the glass appears to be more of a "sunday" bowl than a drinking glass . . . Maybe a martini glass?

[Robin Smith]

I am not sure that in English drinking the sound is anything we really say, and I agree that a wine glass or beer glass etc would be better.

[jordan2240]

I like the motion blur.  I don't know how many people might get the reference since, as Robin noted, 'drinking the sound' isn't a common phrase, at least in the U.S. as far as I know.  I also don't like being able to make out the end of the table and seeing the cord to the record player.  As others also noted, the glass doesn't look like a drinking glass.

[pavel_l.]

On 1/25/2023 at 9:43 AM, ed_farmer said:

I don't think that cropping is the issue so much as context.  There's no reference to time or place in this image.  The turntable is forced to stand on it's own.  It look likes this was your intention but I think that it distracts from the image.  Also the glass appears to be more of a "sunday" bowl than a drinking glass . . . Maybe a martini glass?

 

11 hours ago, Robin Smith said:

I am not sure that in English drinking the sound is anything we really say, and I agree that a wine glass or beer glass etc would be better.

 

5 hours ago, jordan2240 said:

I like the motion blur.  I don't know how many people might get the reference since, as Robin noted, 'drinking the sound' isn't a common phrase, at least in the U.S. as far as I know.  I also don't like being able to make out the end of the table and seeing the cord to the record player.  As others also noted, the glass doesn't look like a drinking glass.

Thank you Ed.

Thank you Robin.

Thank you Jordan.

"Drinking the sound" and vessel shape I used as allegorical statements. Enjoying music sometimes may be similar to seeping the good drink.

Edited January 27, 2023 by pavel_l.

[mikemorrellNL]

I like 'concept photography' and yours too! I think the concept of 'drinking in the sound' is creative and fine. It's perhaps not a common phrase but EN native speakers will IMHO immediately understand what the phrase means. 'Drinking in' has many related synonyms.

I think it's generally more difficult to express a 'concept' (= tell a story) in one single photo than in a short sequence of 2, 3 or 4 photos. But even in 1 photo, there are multiple ways of expressing the same 'concept'. In your photo, for example, one alternative might have been to show a 'liquid' dripping off a (static) record player into a glass with a straw in it. Or showing someone drinking through a straw with other end touching the record. In fact, a record player is just one possible 'sound source prop' for expressing the concept. Others might be a radio, someone with headphones on (or earplugs in) a loudspeaker, etc. 

So it's always worth considering various alternatives through which a 'concept' can be visually expressed, In a single photo or (sometimes better) through a short sequence of photos. In this case, a short sequence could for example consist of:

- a hand putting a glass + straw down near to or on the record

- a half-full glass (implying that the glass is filling up)

- a hand holding up a 'full' glass + straw (to be consumed)

While I really do like your concept, the revolving (empty?) glass in your photo wasn't - to me - immediately (visually) recognizable as a 'drinking glass'. It was also a stretch of my imagination to 'bridge' the visual expression (photo) to the concept. In the sense of the glass perched above the turntable somehow 'filling up with sound' and someone later drinking from it.

On a last (constructive!) point: I think the way you photographed the entire record player in BW against a light grey neutral background, visually expresses the record player as an 'interesting object' in its own right. For me, this detracts from the expression of the 'concept'. There are two things going on the photo: the 'interesting object' photographed - almost as an 'art work' - in isolation and 'the concept'. For me, the two don't quite go together. The 'concept' seems to play a relatively minor role compared to the record player as an 'object'.

In summary, I think my main suggestion is decide what's most important to you in your 'concept photography'. Is it visually expressing your concept is the most creative way, considering a range of alternatives? Or is it photographing 'interesting objects' and thinking some kind of 'concept' to make the 'object photo' a bit more interesting?

No criticism intended here! I hope that my feedback is useful to you. Take away what's helpful and ignore the rest😀.

Mike

PS. There are of course many books, articles and YouTube video's on 'concept photography'. This just one: https://youtu.be/nxkpa7oHRrc

[pavel_l.]

Thank you Mike.

Thank you Norman.

18 hours ago, mikemorrellNL said:

I think it's generally more difficult to express a 'concept' (= tell a story) in one single photo than in a short sequence of 2, 3 or 4 photos. But even in 1 photo, there are multiple ways of expressing the same 'concept'. In your photo, for example, one alternative might have been to show a 'liquid' dripping off a (static) record player into a glass with a straw in it. Or showing someone drinking through a straw with other end touching the record. In fact, a record player is just one possible 'sound source prop' for expressing the concept. Others might be a radio, someone with headphones on (or earplugs in) a loudspeaker, etc. 

So it's always worth considering various alternatives through which a 'concept' can be visually expressed, In a single photo or (sometimes better) through a short sequence of photos. In this case, a short sequence could for example consist of:

- a hand putting a glass + straw down near to or on the record

- a half-full glass (implying that the glass is filling up)

- a hand holding up a 'full' glass + straw (to be consumed)

While I really do like your concept, the revolving (empty?) glass in your photo wasn't - to me - immediately (visually) recognizable as a 'drinking glass'. It was also a stretch of my imagination to 'bridge' the visual expression (photo) to the concept. In the sense of the glass perched above the turntable somehow 'filling up with sound' and someone later drinking from it.

On a last (constructive!) point: I think the way you photographed the entire record player in BW against a light grey neutral background, visually expresses the record player as an 'interesting object' in its own right. For me, this detracts from the expression of the 'concept'. There are two things going on the photo: the 'interesting object' photographed - almost as an 'art work' - in isolation and 'the concept'. For me, the two don't quite go together. The 'concept' seems to play a relatively minor role compared to the record player as an 'object'.

In summary, I think my main suggestion is decide what's most important to you in your 'concept photography'. Is it visually expressing your concept is the most creative way, considering a range of alternatives? Or is it photographing 'interesting objects' and thinking some kind of 'concept' to make the 'object photo' a bit more interesting?

No criticism intended here! I hope that my feedback is useful to you. Take away what's helpful and ignore the rest😀.

Mike

PS. There are of course many books, articles and YouTube video's on 'concept photography'. This just one: https://youtu.be/nxkpa7oHRrc

Thank you Mike for extensive feedback.

I see the point to use the sequence of photos to tell the story, though, I considering this approach only as one of the branches of conceptual genre.

The "glass" is not empty - you can see the "glass" filled up to the brim with sound.

I decided to create more condense story with minimal "icing." I can say that in my version the higher degree of conceptualization was utilized, in the end, everything is a matter of taste.

The light background serves as "a painting board" for the listener's imagination.

I'm considering the criticism as a healthy dynamic process, whereas the "like" is as "the frozen  past."

[AlanKlein]

"I'll have a martini, stirred not shaken."

[dcstep]

Why is it blurry?

 

[pavel_l.]

5 hours ago, dcstep said:

Why is it blurry?

 

What is blurry?

[dcstep]

11 hours ago, pavel_l. said:

What is blurry?

Interesting!! Not today.

 

[samstevens]

2 hours ago, dcstep said:

Interesting!! Not today.

Maybe you, too, were drinking the sound! 😊