STAGES OF EVOLUTION

Yes the evolution of graffiti as it makes its way up the food chain. Hell of a good photo, Daniel.

Interesting composition. I like the concept, the black and white and the strong contrast.

Kindn Regards,

Rosario

The "light painting" is fascinating and makes this special.  As with a painter you are modeling the image as you wish to emphasize it.  Excellent work, Daniel.

Thoroughly like the composition and light

This is third rate manipulation in the service of vapid social commentary.

I think its a great capture of something we might not otherwise notice. Its a stage, yes and someone thought enough about mise en scene to decorate it.

I agree with Marie -- an old building and fire escape set the stage (stages, in the case of the fires escape) for state-of-the-art calligraphy. The cloning in the bottom left corner is a bit muddled, though--I'd like to see a crop above the lower-most landing (or maybe just reclone from a portion with a more appropriate angle of view and then darken that corner enough that it doesn't need to be interpretable). I'm thoroughly enjoying the path that the stairs give us through the image--really nice lines.

Julie, I don't understand your use of the phrase "vapid social commentary." I see no social commentary at all in this image. Rather, I see the exterior wall, windows, and fire escape of a building - presumably a multi-unit dwelling; I also see graffiti in several locations on the wall.

As for manipulation, it certainly is possible that Daniel engaged in some post work after he took this shot. Whether he did so or not is irrelevant to me. In my opinion, the image is quite well composed; the lighting is masterful, and the detail is sharp enough to reveal the textures in the wall.

 

I'm afraid I'm more in Julie's camp on this one, if not to the degree of applying "vapid". I trust Julie to recognize composites and manipulation and I agree with her that this is not an outstanding example. The image is superficially engaging, but a reasonably close examination quickly reveals that it is a not-very-well-executed composite. Obvious signs include the inexplicable discontinuities in the masonry and other architectural elements, particularly in the lower-left quadrant. It is also hard to resolve the seeming inconsistencies of the graffiti in relation to window openings and wall textures. Immediately I suspect this image is an artificial construct it loses its initial appeal. (As opposed to my appreciation of Julie's or Michael's works that are intentional expressions of the composite as an art form in itself.) In this case the level of manipulation goes far beyond adjustments in post processing and crosses well into the realm of composite/abstract, but without the same level of technical and artistic craft demonstrated in so much of Daniel's (and others') work.

I don't see this as a photomanipulated shot particularly: perhaps some dodging and burning, but nothing leaps out at me as otherwise manipulated unduly. As to whether I like and admire the photo: not particularly as I see graffiti like this every day I go to NYC (not that this should count against it, but it is not novel to me). I suspect this is a shot where the color of the graffiti might have been a plus and would rescue the photo from its monochrome ethos. I also don't get the title: what evolves here? The graffiti is essentially repetitive.

It's interesting to consider that an intentional, thoughtful use of composite or collage here might have given us a strong

image. What's been attempted instead is a sleight of hand, badly done, so it rings false or at least hollow. There would

have been potential, for example, in pasting on the graffiti and/or fire escapes and making it appear compellingly pasted on, artificially

constructed, since that's often what graffiti can feel like. But trying to make it look like it was just found on this building, and

doing a bad job of it, just shows poor technique and not much resourcefulness. If you can't find an actual scene of graffiti,

fire escapes, and night lighting in the inner city, then you're not trying hard enough. If you want to create one, use your

tools well enough to do so. Or make it obvious enough, with an actual layered idea behind it, to take it to a consciously

constructed/artificial level.

 

Graffiti in itself is a social statement. A title "Stages of Evolution" also seems statement-oriented. But I don't find there to

be a there there. It's just words.

Positive elements: Nice lighting on the building, uneven and enigmatic. A staircase that takes us up a diagonal to the top left, the lower zig-zag being eliminated and a little unexpectedly the staircase linearly goes to the edge of the frame. A potential there. The writing on the wall contrasts nicely with the low toned building and stairway, but without a strong purpose as subject it simply yields a little eye candy.

Negative elements: Evolution of what? The graffiti is boringly reproduced at each level (stage?) giving the viewer no message at all, evolutionary or other. If there was some point to the photo (symbolic, event determined, or surprising or convincing graphics), I would happily and quite easily dismiss the foregoing reservations about the technical limitations of the compositing as being relatively unimportant (here shown as a composited image rather than a collage of different elements), but the image doesn't seem to me to have a purpose. Vacuous may be a strong comment, but "a spade is a spade" (as a longtime former Liverpool co-renter once liked to describe that which cannot be denied) and little message is offered.

Overall, the negative wins for me.

....while still recognizing Daniel's good use of B&W tonality and diagonal elements.

It is interesting to one who grew up in an old brick urban house with the requisite steel fire escape landings that went up and up and down and down. I like the truncated feel to the crooked line across the image as contrasted to the brick background flat. Hot city summer evenings one might lay on the fire escape, get artsy inspired by the moonlight and then do some wall decoration. I ignore the title, not part of photo work. Call it OPUS 99. Yes, that diagonal criss cross has always been a painting subject I enjoy on canvas too. This has atmosphere. And evidence of people without people. A 1930s film set, with Newman Street Scene score in the background of the Lower East Side ghettoes...Hardly empty. No negatives at first glance, maybe if I try harder. Add a little smoke and shadow and haunted faced couples in two of the windows and it would be less vapid I guess or suppose . Hard to brush it off. Except it would work in color well I am thinking. Good one, Daniel. (As to manipulation, I no longer am experienced to judge what is honest fakery or successful fakery anymore. A hard metric to learn for a representational loving sharp- focus type so I pass on that part)

The urban villages of the mid century as a kind of found photo art. Not exactly Mondrian but rectangles notheless. Street photography perhaps. Before urban renewal and poured concrete walls and central air. A little individuality of color in each flat apts. and on the rooftop a tree. So I find color to be more inviting and see in color mostly. This is from my personal archive. Houses that were built in the early part of the last century. No doubt converted from gas lamps too.. Fire scapes wedged on after code changes and the Triangle disaster in New York..Places where greenhorn immigrants landed on their feet before their kids moved to the burbs.

Though Mondrian uses rectangles, his work seems infused with vitality due its sense of rhythm, its harmonies, the energy and dynamics of the way he creates geometry. His colors, as his compositions, are elemental. Part of his motivation, and for me it shows in his work, are his felt ideas and beliefs about what art could be and how he could do it.

Gerry, your photo doesn't say Mondrian to me. It has an observant, documentary look. It seems to me not abstract or street.

Though I don't much care for the POTW, it feels like a street photo to me.

I, too, grew up with these kinds of buildings in the night with fire escapes forming ever-present diagonals of steel. If the POTW reminds me of that, it's merely through association as opposed to empathy or actual inner feeling.

Fair points, thanks Fred. I guess I do not rate personal association as necessarily defining in a photo, nor unwelcome nor empathy or as you say inner feeling to be necessary or vital to find a POTW at least interesting enough to draw my attention. And form the basis for discussion that may or may not lead to those elusive elemental things we try to isolate. And share.

Curious choice this POTW, by Die Elves if designed to stimulate the senses or provoke much discussion.-I can agree that it is not sparking much chit chat..OTOH, A rain washed city byway that might have been More Inviting from Dan's gallery. Or more fulfilling. Just from a brief glance at Daniel's large output. I like cobbled texture and the atmosphere even with the B and W which is not my top taste preference I hasten to say, but it has qualities( as do charcoal drawings.) From some Italian village, a section of old Paris? Again, no people, but the felt presence of peple. Quiet town still alive. Nice lines.

 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18319630&size=lg

I, too, like Gerry's selection from Daniel's portfolio far more than the POTW. I don't think the POTW is

even faintly representative of Daniel's best work, so I am baffled by its selection.

Gerry, there is a woman in the photo you linked to, standing toward the upper portion of the road. Her presence doesn't

have much impact, which may be why you missed her. This makes the photo a bit awkward for me. The woman is just kind of there, almost as if the photographer, too, didn't see her. She feels like a missed opportunity to me. Interestingly, if this were part of a collection of quiet nighttime street scenes where the people were hard to find and became afterthoughts, it might have more impact on me. In that sense, it presents an opportunity but doesn't quite realize it.

 

David, I don't think the elves choose among the best of a portfolio. I think photos are come across and chosen. Glenn

has, at times, put out requests for us to write him privately to suggest POTWs, so it may simply be someone either liked

it or felt it was worthy of discussion. I don't believe the elves are a regular group of people who choose with a particular

rationale. And it's been made pretty clear that the POTWs are not chosen because they're necessarily liked or good or in any way representative of the photographer's body of work. I'm not saying I think this is a particularly good method of choosing photos. I think less randomness and more coherence and caring in the choices would go a long way in improving this forum. But I am glad they're not always good photos or the best photos of the photographers chosen. This can lead to helpful criticism.

I find the bicycles in the photo to be interesting as to placing it and giving it a human scale that is lacking in the photo the elves chose. If a photo is indeed uninteresting for discussion then it is a careless choice. I think the criteria for selection should be a little more thoughtful and I guess we would all agree that the selection might be more in keeping with the idea of provoking some more contrasting views. If it is vapid, I would say give it a pass. I would say for sure the method of choosing needs to be 'recalibrated.' Not all that hard. For a while, Fred, you sponsored some good choices for educational discussion. Just to set a mark. We have so many good galleries.( I offered a couple named one at one time.) And there should be as many categories as possible under the theme lists.

Gerry, I actually think the current POTW, as lacking as it is, would make for good discussion on how carefully we look and

what and how each of us sees. David pointed out some of the very obvious technical flaws and his comment was, for

the most part, ignored. It may not be as romantic as discussing our "feelings" about photos, and I'm certainly not

minimizing our emotional responses to photos. But I think there's something to be gained by looking at details, including

technical ones, as part of an approach to photo appreciation. How do we look at photos? Big picture? Technique?

Details? Do we let or force our eyes to move around the frame in order to take in what may be hidden in shadows or by

scale? How long do we linger, even on a photo we may not like, in order to "understand" the photo, especially when it's

being offered for critique? How important is the story and the subject and how important is how that story is conveyed?

What are ways in which we can each actually improve our ways of seeing (maybe deepen would be a better word)? Can

one, in fact, learn to see better? Again, I think David provided some very helpful, objective information on the construction

of this image that is there and not all that difficult to be seen. I'm not clear whether others see it.

Yes, seeing is what its all about isn't it. Learning to see before the shot for learners ( all present I expect). And not so much to please but to illuminate something that touches a common feeling. Which goes beyond documentary or portraiture. Or landscape. I like the Bryce Canyon shot at the bottom of the page done by David. He chose a section of the carved canyons to print. And framed them with a square, not so common these days. But that framing is also a statement which directs us to look in a certain way. I am not sure what I am driving at, but I look at a feature like the National Parks and think of the wonders our eyes reveal. And our appreciation of complimentary and non complimentary colors. A place that, despite the myths, you can not just drop your camera on the deck and get an interesting result. We get to a museum now and then. And the docent stops at a certain framed painting, which draws her attention. And then we in the crowd notice details we did not notice at first and by this we learn to see. Even without a camera as an exercise in observation. Though we are bombarded with images, we need to quiet our minds and alert them fresh each day... I saw a banyon tree root the other day and framed it in my mind and thought about angles. That sort of thing. It had a human quality,that tree root.

AUTHOR'S COMMENTS - JANUARY, 2016
Dear PhotoNet Elves:
My apologies for a belated message, as I was away on business.
I sincerely want to thank the Elves for the honor bestowed to my photograph "Stages of Evolution". I am sincerely honored and humbled by having been awarded this very meaningful and valuable distinction, especially with so many extraordinary photographers in PN. By the way, I take the opportunity to congratulate you for the site and forum you have created. I believer is is one of the best photo-sharing communities, with an excellent and flawless design, allowing for an intelligent and articulated exchange of ideas and opinions.
But I digress. I reiterate my humble appreciation for the distinction, and take this venue to thank all of the participants who so graciously spent time and effort in analyzing, commenting and criticizing my image.
------------------------------------------
A FINAL TECHNICAL NOTE: As a result of the POW award, I received a personal e-mail message from a PN member, asking me if the image was a "composite". It was not a criticism, but a genuine question on technique. For what it is worths, I hereby want to share the response I gave this member regarding manipulation.
"Stages of Evolution" was not manipulated in any way, except for some dodging and burning, to enhance contrast. The photograph however is presented "as taken", and converted to BW. I rarely do compositing, except in a very minor proportion of my portfolios, only for fun and for self-indulgence in a particular visual unintended effect. My approach to photography is quite conservative. A further comment that may help complement my philosophical approach to photography, can be found in another of my recent postings, where I posted a technical comment". The image is entitled "It Had To Do Something With Photography". It’s link is: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=18331911
Author's comments posted on the above mentioned image:
"Thank you sincerely, mostly for your kind visit to my portfolio. I forgot to add some comments, since I hadn't posted it yet for comments or rating. Photographically, I rate myself a 1, maybe a 2. Many flaws, no doubt (I could have corrected the contrast and straighten the verticals, and many other things, but left it as taken to convey the spur of the moment).
I posted it however since the sidewalk fence appeared funny and a strange collage, somehow unusual and different from the ubiquitous graffiti, and mostly continue the apparent pun, i.e. not knowing the meaning or purpose of the collection of images and their spacing, but since it had the famous brand, I just guessed - or wanted to believe - that it "had" to do with photography. In any case, take it lightly, with some humor....but in a deeper analysis, it "speaks" to my in a profound photographic way.
Thanks again for visiting it, and I hope to share with you perhaps a lighter side of photography and ingenuity of human beings in their desire to communicate...something....to someone. Ha, ha, ha....
DG"