past favorites (color) Mirror Image

Beware of the ambushing ninja.

Who is, as usual, perfectly positioned between the warring clans

Fabulous. Nothing else to say.

... but did you see the ones on the wall in disguise? Now THOSE guys are good! :) I like this shot, Jack, it takes a brave man to take such a shot and then frame it so perfectly. It takes a good one to have it align perfectly. I love your natural monochromes.

I see a dopey, trusting, wide-eyed face here. I agree with Dennis regarding how well you've framed this one. Any distortion, and the shot wouldn't work at all.

I love the symmetry and the monochrome feel to this. LINES!!!

Indeed they are good my friend. ;)

Nice lines!

very nice and untypically "clean" for you Jack :-) like it.

This is definitively, unmistakably Jack.

Please note the following:

 

 

 

This image has been selected for discussion. It is not necessarily the "best"

picture the Elves have seen this week, nor is it a contest.

 

 

Discussion of photo.net policy, including the choice of Photograph of the Week should not take place here, but in

the Help & Questions Forum.

 

 

The About Photograph of the Week page tells you more about this

feature of photo.net.

 

 

Before writing a contribution to this thread, please consider our reason for having this forum: to help people learn

about photography. Visitors have browsed the gallery, found a few striking images and want to know things like why is it

a good picture, why does it work? Or, indeed, why doesn't it work, or how could it be improved? Try to answer such

questions with your contribution.

 

 

Cubist, minimalist, trascendent, dreamy and surely - sometimes - baroque and post modernist: ... this interesting work is only one among many shots presented here on PN by Mr. Jack McRitchie, a very good eye whose portfolio is a living collection of animated, ordinary things. Thank you Jack for sharing your works: it's always a pleasure to see a brilliant mind behind the viewfinder. Ciao, Giuseppe

I agree with the elves that that the photos of Jack are the best example of the "profound in the ordinary" we have on PN

and he has a one of the best pair of eyes around for seeing such scenes. He is an example for many of us. Whether it is

"cubist" is another question - I'm not sure. A great congratulation to Jack for this POW.

clear, simple, enough, satisfying symmetric fans, wonderful white - couldnt be better in dark, simply wonderful.....

congratulations..!

Very well done, Jack. I am glad to see you getting the recognition you deserve. I hope that this will encourage many new viewers to peruse your portfolio. I really do love the way that you can find something extraordinary in many everyday settings. This is not my favorite work of yours, but it is worthy.

 

--Lannie

Always compelling. Always educational. Always a few steps outside the box. Perpetual applause.

This image is composed with clinical precision,very good exposure and light. I feel Jack has many more images in his portfolio, which evinces his ability to capture " profound in the ordinary" ,and sublimate mundane objects into work of art. Therein lies his special talent. The little lamp seems to be "animated" and balances the composition.

Well, okay... I know you a little without knowing you much, Jack...:-) I saw your comments here and there and

many of them were very interesting to read, and you are obviously an asset to this site. Yet I don't think we

ever commented on each other's pictures, and looking at your portfolio again just now, I think I can guess why:

we are miles apart in terms of interest, subject matters and approach towards photography. So, please do all take

what I'm going to say as an outsider's subjective point of view, an opinion from someone who just can't seem to

relate to this kind of work at all - which is probably my loss.

 

But well, I do have an opinion about this picture and about number of your other posted pictures, so I'm just

going to explain it, no matter how dumb it may seem to those who do get it - that's after all the point of such a

forum, isn't it ?

 

So, in short: I don't get it. I don't get what's the point of shooting this picture at all. Nor do I see the

point of shooting quite a number of images I just saw in your folders. Whereas I do see the point of shooting A

FEW of them.

 

Here, what I see is a wall, photographed in a perfectly symmetrical manner. Okay. It's well done, and to a point,

it's rare enough to find something so perfectly symmetrical, and so the picture could seem, for this very reason,

to be worth taking. And yet, the question on my mind will be: so what...? Or perhaps: why does it matter at all...?

 

Is this really unique...? I'd say yes and no. Yes because of the white tiles perhaps, and because of the little

lamp in the middle. But no at the same time, because human beings manufacture thousands of symmetrical objects.

And no because anyone can find hundreds of symmetrical portions of architecture all over the world. SO, I'm left

wondering what I'm looking at, in fact. A statement about the human tendancy towards symmetry, I would guess...?

That's also what the title says, so perhaps I did get it after all...?

 

But then comes my own personnal judgement about it: I know human beings build symmetrical things, so I expect to

find something else, something more interesting than that, when I see a street capture. Whereas I can see why

people would look at your work and generally say that you are looking for "the profound in the ordinary", what I

feel is that you may sometimes end up with a very ordinary picture that may look profound, but which, to me, just

isn't.

 

So, I'd like to ask what's profound here ? And what's profound in the many other street pictures I found in your

folders ? I know it sounds harsh, and I apologize for that, but to me a street picture like Tony Dummett's second

POW is indeed profound, because it tells me something important about humanity, and says it in the strongest and

most interesting manner. Whereas I'm just bored looking at this white wall...

 

As a conclusion to this post, I'd like to quote F. Nietzsche, the philosopher. This is a free translation with my

apologies for my imperfect English: "When the crowd doesn't see the bottom of the water pond, then it thinks it

is bottomless". In French: "Quand le peuple ne voit pas le fond, il dit que c'est profond". In short, I'm affraid

lots of people are fooled on daily basis into believing that this or that mysterious art work may be profound.

And that's especially true for many modern art pieces, if I need to tell you what lies behind my post.

 

All I'm hoping for is that people who will read my post will remember my first paragraph, and just explain to me

what's profound about this (admittedly perfectly well photographed) POW ? I hope you will see I'm looking for a

discussion on content here, not just bashing the photo just for the sake of bashing it. It is indeed mildly

amusing, but "profound", I need to be convinced. Just my honest opinion. Moreover, I should add, that I consider

no more than 10% of your pictures posted here, Jack, to be actually profound, and let me quickly add: I'd be

amazed if even 1% of the pictures in my own folders would be considered "profound"...! :-)) Basically, really

profound pictures are very rare, and I have the greatest respect for them. And this isn't one of them. Till

someone shows me what I'm missing... Cheers.

I want to thank you all for your comments about this picture, the selection of which surprised me as much as it must have surprised you. This was posted some months ago and I had quite forgotten it. If I were to publish a book of my photos, this one would probably not be included. However, let me address Mark's critique of this picture. First of all, I did not submit this picture or any other picture for consideration as POW; its selection has nothing whatsoever to do with me. I take pictures mainly for myself, not to enlighten, educate or exhibit my profundity to the world. I don't really even consider myself a photographer in the true sense of the word, more a court jester than anything else - a little juggling, some sleight-of-hand; a few jokes. I enjoy looking at and producing images but Mark is far more a true photographer than I am as you will discover if you visit his portfolio. As for me, if you like my pictures, wonderful I'm happy. I've made some great friends here on photo.net and I like looking at the world through their eyes. If these pictures aren't your cup of tea, no problem, I'm used to it, In the end, we're all alone with out little collection of images and I hope we all are comfortable with our own work. I know I am with mine becuse I discover myself in the pictures I take. At my age (65) I'm getting a little long in the tooth to be in competition with other photographers; it just takes too much energy. I don't know why the powers that be picked this photo as POW. It's a nice honor but I realize there are a multitude of photographers (including all of the names above) that deserve to be recognized more than I do. Thanks again, Jack

Jack,I do like this image but to put into words why, I am afraid I hit a brick wall.

"I take pictures mainly for myself, not to enlighten, educate or exhibit my profundity to the world."

 

Point taken, Jack. That's quite flagrant in your approach to the world anyway. Your work shows a genuine interest for the world's funny little things, and it shows humility, too. . Best regards.

Well congrats Jack on POW. It's very minimalist & the symmetry perfect. Aesthetically, I just find a little too much in all the lined patterns presented

If you were to write a book on composition using Jack’s photographs as examples then this image would have to be near the beginning or

elementary concepts stage of the text. The subjects will get far more complex and interesting as you proceed to the following chapters. Go look

at the portfolio.

 

There is a strong artistic influence in Jack’s photography but I would categorize it as impressionistic rather than cubist. I think both are built

around the idea of Jack’s ability to often present two views or perspectives within a single frame.

 

The other phenomenon that I see at work in many of Jack’s images is that there is a sense of subtractive composition or a missing element that

we are left to provide for ourselves; which in effect is like holding up a mirror (“Mirror Image”) in front of our own thoughts and emotions. We often

see the images as profound, not because of what is there but because of what is missing and because of what we are consciously or

subconsciously supplying to the game. Jack is fond of saying that the analysis or interpretation of an image usually comes after the fact. It is

much more difficult to express or explain what triggers the impulse to create the image in the first place. If we knew that, then we too could make

it look this easy.

 

We each have our own reasons for creating photographic images and for many it is a purely personal activity. The interesting part comes when

we present them to an audience for some sort of feedback. The photographs are a constant, meaning that they could languish at the bottom of a

drawer or languish in plain view in a public forum and they would still be the same thing. In presenting them here should we consider our own

agenda or those of the viewer? I usually go with the first, often robbing my images of any sort of meaningful impact on the audience. Perhaps the

secret of success is finding the right audience to fit the artist or is it not to post at all?

 

I’m not going to try to convince anyone that an image is profound or ordinary but I will say that it is much safer to seek the profound in the

ordinary mostly because you have a better chance of not falling victim to false advertising or falsehoods in general. Perhaps the reason we are

so easily swayed is because we continually seek the profound, only to eventually discover the banal.

 

For me this photograph is not close to being profound and it may even be a little cliché. Mark is right in saying that images like this are not all that

hard to find in a man made world. Think of this as an exercise in image making and this image as the warm-up. Warm ups are not meant to be

hard or profound. They just get you ready for the real workout and soften the blow of the punch line (title) when we finally realize that we are

really only looking at our own sad and sagging image in the mirror.

I think that what I like in many of Jack's works is exactly his eye to observe that little special something that changes a banal corner that our life are full of, to a well composed little saga of the mundane. many of his photos are little stories, not all of them " profound", but lighting pieces of human life, smiles, oddities, everyday activities , lights and shadows, cropped in good compositions. Humanistic and many times thought provoking!. I think that the wisdom of Jack's photography is lying in this line, observant, modest and skilled.

 

This is perfectly executed Jack, and aesthetic. Congratulations! and just continue.

"It is much safer to seek the profound in the ordinary mostly because you have a better chance of not falling victim to false advertising or falsehoods in general."

 

Who said art should be safe? Why look for safety, generally speaking, when holding a camera? And one thing I generally like in Jack's work, by the way, is that he, for one is choosing challenging subject matters. Either aesthetically challenging, either challenging for the mind. Another thing I disagree with in the above quote is the idea that advertising belongs with falsehood and both belong to the trash bin. Advertising photographers are not "victims" of falsehood, in the first place. They are well aware that their pictures are just meant to serve a purpose, which is simply to sell a product. I know for a fact, that in the snobbish artsy art world out there, advertising photography is often regarded as the art of lying, but honestly, from the ad photographer's stand point, there is no lie and no truth, just a job to do, and to do as well as possible. And by the way, considering the number of truly well done advertising photographs on this site - although most of the greatest ad photographers wouldn't spend a minute here -, and considering how many ad photographs have been granted POW status since this site exists, I think it is quite clear that the safety the Elves are looking for is another kind of safety: the safety of believing there's a Truth, and that in can be found (only?) in the ordinary. :-)

 

As far as I am concerned, I just feel there is much more to be learned this week if we address this POW's content, than by spending time on its clean, cold, but totally empty aesthetics. Now if the photographer had tried some magical concept to somehow make us feel what he thinks about symmetry in our modern world, I'd applaud twice. What we have here is the safest composition : nothing can go wrong and we may call it perfect, because it is the most tragically blunt exhibition of symmetry we can think of. If simple means artistic, then no doubt, this has got to be art, and indeed, very safe art.

 

"Think of this as an exercise in image making and this image as the warm-up",

 

I can agree with you on this, but I have personally seen on photo.net a lot of great photographs with amazing technique and feeling combined , some of which are certainly not a warm-up exercise, but the main dish. So if it wasn't for the great opportunity I see here to discuss content matters for once, I would honestly feel, that there is far more to be learned from a truly well done photograph than from such a safe direct-statement-like photograph. Simplicity and sobriety are not a sure sign of profundity, nor are they the sure sign of great art - or at least, that's what I think.