inoneeye Posted October 29, 2023 Share Posted October 29, 2023 (edited) Gesture and Emotion are important in photography. I have spent the last many months selecting, processing, printing and editing nearly 50 years of my photo work. As I am nearing the end of the 11 folios that emerged I have been reflecting on why I have chosen the photos that remain. Often… it is gesture and emotion. With portraits and street work the people I shoot, body language and the way they express their mood speak to me. And even with no people in the image I am most satisfied with expressing my emotions. Photography offers many tools and opportunities, gestures to achieve this…. the editing of these folios got easier and more interesting / rewarding when I realized that for me gesture and emotion are a good way to express myself. Edited October 29, 2023 by inoneeye 5 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samstevens Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 I appreciate the two sides of gesture you allude to, the human gestures made by subjects and the gesturing of the photographer. The two kinds of gesturing, which meet in the photo, are a synching mechanism. It's where collaboration between photographer and subject exists even when the collaboration isn't overt. You also got me thinking about secret gestures, the signs and indications that probably have meaning only to the photographer. Such secrets don't need to be literally communicated but they still have an effect on the photo and the viewer. Something's there. As a viewer, I may not know what it is, but I can sense it's there anyway. As a photographer, I don't have to reveal all the secrets in the photo, but those secrets can still imbue the photo with significance, if not necessarily meaning. I thought for a while and decided to post this photo. It was you who at a certain point mentioned the gesture of Ian's hand on John's shoulder and its poignancy for you. I had asked Ian to put his hand there, but don't think I realized at the time the impact of it. I was after a simple connection but think I wound up with more. Probably my most significant shooting gesture here was aligning the beveled reflections in ways that felt right to me and then post processing in conjunction with the contrasts and harmonies I saw and the inclusion and exclusion I felt. Though I purposely avoided my own reflection, I see myself in this one. ian+john 2 1 "You talkin' to me?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inoneeye Posted October 31, 2023 Author Share Posted October 31, 2023 👍 . Ian sucks you in with eye contact and light.ed skin... John's eye gaze and shadowed lighting take me beyond the frame. A very physical image in subject, content and also by using me the viewer. . I feel the presence of the camera and myself. "I see myself in this one." i also sense you in this photo Sam... maybe even more about you than Ian &or John, both doing a great modelling here. For me, you and your voice are present in the disciplined formality and structure of the image - often found in your photos. I have had minimal success in posing people but you are able to use poses and collaborations to incorporate your voice and make it yours through subtle and obvious gestures on both sides of the lens. 1 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Herbert Posted November 1, 2023 Share Posted November 1, 2023 (edited) Gesture/Emotions language without language .Of course we have been expressing ourselves for 10's of thousand of years without language. Indeed, we still do...if your boss is unhappy with you, that time for a bollocking is written all over his face. Not a word needs to be said.. And street candid photography it is often about gestures/emotions; those subtle gestures speak volumes. Edited November 1, 2023 by Allen Herbert 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Melia Posted November 2, 2023 Share Posted November 2, 2023 Gesture in the sense of movement or positioning of hands, or any part of the human Or (other) body can be a powerful tool to identify and define relationships between people (or other subjects) in an image; thus strengthening the appeal of the image by imparting emotion. In perhaps a more abstract, or general sense, the term can be used as sense of "what the photo is about". For a better explanation than my poor paraphrasing, consider the master: Jay Maisel... https://vimeo.com/116718991 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inoneeye Posted November 2, 2023 Author Share Posted November 2, 2023 (edited) 👍. Non-human gestures can also portray an emotion or communicate an idea. Lighting, framing… subject placement, textures, mood, contrast, capturing or imbuing agression/sense of calm, etc are all non verbal gestures and often expressions of emotion. Some captured in front of the lens and sometimes enhanced or created by the photographers voice. For myself this is key to the magic and the essence of what makes a photograph memorable. Edited November 2, 2023 by inoneeye 1 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samstevens Posted November 2, 2023 Share Posted November 2, 2023 Quote Mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons. —Friedrich Nietzsche I like watching the gestures of a symphony orchestra conductor, even though they're often as much for show as they are for musical expression. A photographer who considers all the aspects of a photo inoneeye mentions above is kind of like a conductor, keeping the rhythm, adjusting all the elements, forming a whole out of many parts. The dictionary definition of "gesture" begins with movement. Photos are considered stills or frozen moments. But there is a lot of implied or suggested movement as well. This can give a photo depth and help it transcend both the moment and the stillness, if desired. A gesture is often an invitation to another or at least the establishment of a non-verbal connection. I think a photographer's gestures can help connect viewer to the human(ity) behind the picture. That may not always be desired, in that some photographers want to keep themselves out of their pictures. But I like feeling connected to photographers through their work, when it happens, and I like thinking of viewers being connected to me through mine. So a photographer can wave, smile, furrow their brow, bring a hand up to their chin, scratch their whiskers, maybe even dance ... as a way to imbue their photos with movement, which can translate to life. "You talkin' to me?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inoneeye Posted November 11, 2023 Author Share Posted November 11, 2023 1 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inoneeye Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 1 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricochetrider Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Hmmm... Interesting! I've not put a lot of deep thought into my photography (or photographic style), but do tend to "see" things in ceratain ways- so my style may have developed along certain lines. Not sure I'm ready to analyze my own sense of vision, much less emotion & gesture- IF any of that is evident in my style of capturing the world I'm "seeing"? Clearly, much of what I shoot taps into a human emotion for nostalgia, so I guess there's that, but maybe my love of old things & how I see the world in general is conveyed in the shots I take? Here are a handful of film photos digital image: 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samstevens Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Nostalgia - I see it. This series of shots in particular, I'd describe as having an earthy transcendence. That is, down to earth, detailed, grounded, but with something extra lurking in the wings. 1 "You talkin' to me?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inoneeye Posted November 13, 2023 Author Share Posted November 13, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, Ricochetrider said: Not sure I'm ready to analyze my own sense of vision, much less emotion & gesture- Good point, on point. It was through my browsing of books, collections and editing my own work recently that I saw the importance I placed on gesture and emotion. Curating put me in a different mindset than shooting.. Usually when shooting I am at best in the moment letting my gut take over. As editor-curator I think about connections, notes, rhythms, movement …. thank you Sam! A question that always has me dumbfounded and mumbling is “what do you photograph, what style?” Edited November 13, 2023 by inoneeye 1 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Herbert Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allen Herbert Posted November 16, 2023 Share Posted November 16, 2023 "A question that always has me dumbfounded and mumbling is “what do you photograph, what style?”Inon. A journey on the infinity road. There's no style, no what. Only you. Just the journey and what you perceive. You , are the creature on that journey.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inoneeye Posted November 17, 2023 Author Share Posted November 17, 2023 1 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samstevens Posted November 17, 2023 Share Posted November 17, 2023 ^ Gestureful (in motion and in layers, including that of the world of artifice) [also in providing an example/illustration of what this thread is actually about … thank you for singing on key] 1 "You talkin' to me?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikemorrellNL Posted November 18, 2023 Share Posted November 18, 2023 On 10/29/2023 at 9:48 PM, inoneeye said: Gesture and Emotion are important in photography. I have spent the last many months selecting, processing, printing and editing nearly 50 years of my photo work. As I am nearing the end of the 11 folios that emerged I have been reflecting on why I have chosen the photos that remain. Often… it is gesture and emotion. With portraits and street work the people I shoot, body language and the way they express their mood speak to me. And even with no people in the image I am most satisfied with expressing my emotions. Photography offers many tools and opportunities, gestures to achieve this…. the editing of these folios got easier and more interesting / rewarding when I realized that for me gesture and emotion are a good way to express myself. Totally agree! My (amateur/voluntary) photography preference is 'people'. Whether it be street, portraits or events. When photographing people, I wait. Trying to anticipate when individuals or groups might be most expressive (gestures, emotion). Whenever I suspect an 'expressive moment' might be coming up, I take a 'burst' of photos. Often I'm wrong. Sometimes I'm right. Sometimes I miss the 'expressive moment', But I have no doubt that photos that show human expression are the best photos. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inoneeye Posted November 19, 2023 Author Share Posted November 19, 2023 “There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment. This kind of photography is realism. But realism is not enough — there has to be vision, and the two together can make a good photograph.” - Robert Frank - 1 i n o n e e y e Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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