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Although I must admit that global warming was not on my mind when I was shooting these daisy shots I see quite clearly were the reference comes from. I did occur to me at the time, that these poor flowers were getting overheated. Perhaps that is what is in store for us. For me personally I am not certain the jury is in for global warming. Global climate destabilization is my preferred term. If the weatherman can't predict the weather 3 days from now with more than 50/50 accuracy, I have trouble with weather predictions that span decades.

the image has "LEGS" -- from the top of our soul -- meaning

ready to put this PN BITCH to bed or do ya wish for more ;P

Growth requires fertile ground -- ignorance in MIT programming is no excuse for failure in

ART -- Where are the Gordons of Yesteryear has been answered in a POW and I love ya for

the insight -- best Pow of the year and I'm a fan from here on.

Those last three posts seem to be submitted by three different people...all using the same name.

Thodoris, I don't think I used the word "marketing" in these posts, at all. And I am about as far from a salesman as a modern American can be... marketing may be my greatest weakness. I think I did work as a "salesman" back about 1971, in a hippy clothing shop that sold bell bottoms. That's the extent of my "supply and demand" imprinting.

Regarding my "intentions"... at the moment of image making, I try not to have intentions. I try to stay clear of concerns that are outside of that moment. I am not really thinking of anything except what might happen next, ie: light, shadow, perspective, stillness, color, and the distribution, application and recording of these things. And maybe wondering if am I likely to be mugged, hit by a cab or slip into the river, or get nothing...

Issues of pricing and demand have recently come to bear because I was persuaded to exhibit in a commercial context. Pricing print or service is the most difficult aspect of being a photographer, for me. Making the photograph is, in the best moments, a compulsive and effortless activity. In this regard it seems Gordon and I are one. Wearing slippers? no problem. Slogging through bogs before sunrise? of course. How much for this print?......uh, can I get back to you?

as to the "real value", that has nothing to do with money. You don't need to own a thing to understand it's "real value".

I just need to come to an agreement with the guy who owns the gallery, who paid for the invitation, framed the 30 prints in the show, and pays an exorbitant price per square foot for his gallery's chic real estate address.

I'm looking for an alternative to pricing photography by the square inch of the print, which seems much more irrelevant than how much work went into its creation, or even how well it synchronizes with the other prints in the portfolio... t

Thodoris, this is not important but Tom did not write the post on Marketing I did DAVID BROWN, thats why the name in red above the post is there so we know who we are talking too. Yes I have been in sales and marketing for about 20 years now so supply and demand are imprinted, that is how I have survived in my own company for the past 8 years. I am not the expert on marketing in photography but if you asked Frans Lanting his opinion I would be surprised if it differed too much from mine.

Once we are back to using $ as our attached value I think it becomes a marketing issue and then Davids points come to bare. I have not been selling my work so you Tom have given this more consideration. My initial thoughts would be that when looking through my work some images stand out as crowd pleaser's and some of my favorite images do not. This tells me more people are going to want the former and supply and demand tells me I can sell it for more and/or sell more copies of it than the latter example. Now that is an arrangement between buyer and seller, artist and patron. The artist and the viewer are setting the value within the marketplace. Now the same thing can happen outside of the market place when you switch out monetary for artistic value, to me It still remains equivalent. A different yardstick but not a different concept. If any artist creates a piece of art and puts it out into the world because he/she believes it to hold merit and the art world responds positively if all factor were equal (which we know from Dave they are not) the art would end up hanging in a gallery whether with a price tag attached or not.As I mentioned earlier and Tom has just reiterated, non of this is going on at the time of capture, it all comes into play after the fact. What does come into play at the time of capture are all those years of visual acuity you have developed as well as every bit of technical knowledge you have gleaned from your experiences. There is also some, hard to define factor,I will for the sake of discussion call the "soul of the photographer" which sets each apart from the next. I think we have all, at at least a few occasions, gone out and did a days shooting with some pals and even shot identical subjects for the same vantage point. A week later if the images shot were compared the differences would likely out weight the similarities. This last part is where I believe the entire concept of attaching value, becomes hugely subjective and thus harder to ascribe.

Tom, thank you for being so polite after what you thought I accused you of. I apparently put your name in the place of David's. I'm sorry for putting you through this. I might be much younger (therefore totally different life experiences) but there is nothing you said I disagree with.

David, I'm not trying to convert anyone into my thinking. I just have a genuine dislike for salesmen and advertisement/marketing in general. You just happened to be the one to bring this dark side of our art forward. Sorry to snap at you.

Gordon, my reasoning about value was intended to be applied after the creation of the picture. Except for the intentions part that has its place both before and after. As for the actual moment of capture, well we all react in our own special ways. I for one love the moment when I can feel my heart beating of the excitement that comes from the realization that this is it; everything has fallen into its place; the subject is interesting, the composition works well and the lighting is right on... these moments of clarity are what I'm after. As for the relevance of the values (money vs. "real") I'll have to disagree. I don't think they're equivalent. I won't devalue a picture that I love just because people don't buy it. Too bad for them, they have no taste... ;)

Peace out ;)

(Regards.)

I do not even agree with what I said, once I reread my statement.That they are equivalent one to the other was not what I had meant to communicate, parallel would have a better word to communicated my thoughts. The opinion you ascribe to me is not the one I hold, which I"m certain bodes more to my lack of articulation than your skills of understanding. It's been fun.

 

Peace out as well ;-)

I have recently become aware of two serious markets, The Decorator and The Collector. The Decorator buys more with less content, if it matches the couch. The Collector is not concerned with mass appeal and picks the rare gem with layered subtexts. This image may have the ability to cross over. That's real value.

This conversation has indeed been fun (with no offense taken Thodoris). Thanks to all. Onward!... t

I love this photo, but I have absolutely no idea what use it is of whether it says anything to me. It's like a mouthful of candy - pleasant but unsatisfying.

look so beatiful but so sad at the same time

The same could certainly be said for your three photo portfolio but perhaps I'm being too kind. It's not a plumbing tool Mark it does not have to be useful.

Gordon... I thought it appropriate that my first comment on one of your photographs (finally...) would be to congratulate you on having this one selected as POW! I think that there are actually several pictures in this series that could just as easily have been chosen. My critique skills are limited...and I don't have anything profound to say about this photograph, but I will say that it is stunningly beautiful! I love the textures, the colors, and the fact that the flower looks as though it is floating through water. I'd like to have seen your reaction when you first got a good look at the finished product. Did you have any idea that it would turn out this well when you first decided to take the shot? I'm curious because I quite often find that in my own work, the shots I'm most pleased with come as a bit of a surprise. Anyway...a great photograph that anyone would be proud to have made.

Thanks for dropping by and offering congrats. If I had to wait to come up with something profound to say before leaving a comment, I'd still be waiting to give a first comment :-) I settle for trying to relay how the image affects me. I try to understand what the photographer was try to convey with the shot and offer my feelings in the hopes it let the person know if they hit their mark, or I suppose better put, if their mark hit me. Sometimes "wow very cool pic" comes to mind and other time I ramble for paragraph after paragraph.

 

To answer you question, I did notice a potential when I first saw this scene but I had no idea what a wealth of images could be mined from these old windows over a period of a week.

 

These flowers trapped between old storm windows were right at the edge of my laneway, laying against an outbuilding. The first time I noticed them was early one morning while getting the van ready to drive a couple hours north to an appointment with a neurosurgeon. I was on a schedule and pressed for time but the morning dew and the early morning sunlight on the glass was too much to pass up. I got out the gear and took a few shots. That night when I put them up on the screen I knew what I had. For a week after I got up early every day and went out with my tripod and my morning coffee and worked this scene. It was a goldmine. Long winded and I ended up sidetracked, but yes I do find the same thing as you had mentioned. I often set out to accomplish a certain shot I had in mind and while I am out something else catches my eye and I go with it. When I get back home I sometimes find the idea that got me out in the first place did not yield what I had hoped for but some side diversion turned out to save the day by being the best shot I took.

Stunning Beauty! Everything about this is stunning! I love this whole series...I love all your photographs! Thanks so much for sharing! :)