Dali'

I thought the advertisement of a Dali' exhibition made a good photo with

the background as composed. I like it myself...I think the seriousness in

Dali's face contrasts well with the serene background...therein lies the

photo's appeal to me. Comments welcome.

Terrific shot. Old Salvatore himself would probably like like that.

Samrat, I entirely agree with Ilia. Very good find. Admirable composition,exposure,DOF and tonal contrast. The arrows suggests that Dali may come and occupy that empty bench. Very high quality image.

Thanks so much for the explanation. Knowing what you wanted to achieve helps me to see the photograph more clearly, and I think you've succeeded admirably -- the contrast is great.

Dali was a world class graphic artist who developed into a surrealist/absurdist artist whose art gained fame by 'distorting' nearly everything, but with a clarity born of his great ability to create scenes with amazing 'realism'.

 

There always was in his work the 'contrast' between the concept of 'realism' as depicted in his crisp lines and his accurate graphic artistry and his 'distortions' which pervaded his work -- in essences, they were the embodiment of the 'ironic contrast: the crisp line and the neat graphic art, shown flowing, dripping, watches like blobs, but painted with super accurate reflections and so forth.

 

Here his photo, showing his trademark outrageous mustache, is depicted in a serene countryside he never would have depicted without distortion, and so the contrast is subtle (like a wry joke) but to those 'in the know' it is clear.

 

For those not, they may have serious inquiries 'why this photo and what the h*ll does it mean?, because it does not 'speak' to all audiences, but only a rarefied few of the more intellectual.

 

This is something that must be acknowledged and accommodated and whether 'guarded against' or something else is something you must come to personal grips with - whether to clue others in on more personal 'jokes' or 'wryness' depends on the perception of the strength of your wryness or humor and its communication -- whether or not it becomes an 'intellectual universality' visible to all' or an 'inside joke'. either clarified or missed by most.

 

What also might have been appropriate, since Dali is now long passed, is to have seen this same serene countryside as a cemetery . . . but that's just me, I suppose . . . and my own surreal sense of humor.

 

It is rumored, or maybe even more, that Dali's handlers kept him pretty much incommunicado in a hotel room, producing until his end, but without much freedom producing his almost priceless works . . . . which, if believed, would have been a form of 'elder abuse' and of course 'slavery' - one of the few recorded case of elderly white people in modern times being held as a 'slave' and particularly a gifted and famous artist -- but such things do happen. Truth or apocrypha? I'll let others write about that.

 

Consider Howard Hughes whose fear of disease -- prevented him from going into public in any sense . . . . he was psychotically and deathly afraid of being near 'germs'.

 

He was tended by Mormons, whom he believed were honest, and the chief among them was Robert Maheu, whom he accused publicly of 'stealing me blind'.

 

So, when Maheu sued for defamation, and served Hughes for libel/slander for saying/writing that, Hughes' disease prevented him from defending himself in Court and Maheu walked away with a stunning; large default judgment - the winner by Hughes inability to defend himself (my personal view -- whether there was theft is for historians not me.)

 

There are other stories of celebrities being held in captivity, and whether or not Dali was or was not is an interesting story, apocryphal or not.

 

Good photos often are made from contrasts; I often make such photos and am justly rewarded for my discoveries and expositions of them,as opposed to just finding and displaying what I think might be 'aesthetically pleasing photos only.'

 

Having a good sense of 'irony' (dramatic or not) is a good quality for a photographer.

 

Magnum Photography Agency once featured its photo of the month - a photo of police and city side warriors in a Northern Ireland city (Belfast?), around the corner from each other, each ready to take on the other,but each side not seeing the other.

 

The photographer,across the way, depicted both sides in their anticipation, with the building corner that divided them also splitting the frame -- the ultimate 'dramatic' irony complete within a frame for an absolute stunning photo.

 

So, developing your sense of 'contrasts' and 'sense of irony (dramatic or not) is helpful to the creation of a certain sort of photo.

 

By the way,such photos generally appeal far more to the more intelligent and intellectual members of the viewing audience because they depend the on the thought process involved in analyzing the work and not just the sense of beauty and 'aesthetics' (aesthetics is not just beauty, but can include 'punch', 'surprise,' 'impact,' )

 

As such, those who produce such photos generally tend toward the more intelligent and intellectual, though they not necessarily be formally trained and/or educated.

 

If, for instance, you find yourself being drawn to the photos of, say, an Henri Cartier-Bresson, or the ironic contrast photos that I sometimes produce, that often 'tell a story' then you probably are attracted (in the case of HCB to an appreciation of his somewhat extemporaneous but studied, disciplined and still formal approach to art, aesthetics, proportion, and lines, while in my photos to the sense often found therein of proportion (not all), aesthetics, lines and the actual story contained therein, often with its 'irony' contained within the contrasts - photos that can by many be 'read'.

 

(How surprised I was when two photo experts/intellectuals gathered over my captures, looked at them and both concluded independently 'that each photo tells its own story' -- something I had given little though to then at all).

 

So, if you are attracted to photos that 'tell stories' or have a narrative within a single frame, and thus may be 'allegorical' in formal painting you may be attracted, say to those works of various Renaissance painters who also used their paintings In a more complex way, 'to tell stories' such as the junior Brueghel (see his 'Wedding' work) or some of the other Renaissance painters, who not only depict, say, a wedding, but also in the celebrants a wide range of life not usually associated with the station of the highly bred (reared) bride and groom.

 

I urge you to analyze why it is you take photos, and analyze the elements of your photography -- to try to 'think through' not only your photos but those of others, to determine whether you like them because 'they're pretty' or because they present an intellectual challenge for a man of overweening intellect.

 

I take photos because for me they present 'instant gratification'

 

They always have.

 

In between two 'photography careers' I got involved in a law career, where it was often weeks, months, and years (sometimes never) before one could see results of one's work.

 

I now practice often 'speed photography, 'recognizing,' 'processing', comparing the scene to my vast internal data bank of prior photos and images (including paintings) as well as intellectual material such as philosophical treatise and theories, political science theories, song and song lyrics, and so forth across the whole range of humanities and sciences, and comparing the image I see to see if it has a relationship to anything else I can bring instantaneously to mind, all at lightning speed.

 

And as it does,I try to frame to make my 'framed photo' match the intellectual idea I bring to mind and am reminded of by the scene -- each part -what I see and what I am remembering almost instantaneously -- reinforcing the other (but only in the successful photos, of course, as so many others are consigned to the 'I tried but could get nothing pile of useless captures that litter my hard drives,since I seldom throw anything away.

 

For instance I posted tonight (in Eastern Europe where I am today), a photo I rescued last night from among my first 20 downloads, but had completely overlooked - a bright-eyed child (whose face is cut by a diagonal (table?)]

 

Dr. Samrat, the good news is you can try to take photos that show or portray great beauty such as great landscapes, then in the next instant, if you see it, try for the 'story' photo when you're nearer people, say at a petrol filling station or in a supermarket, or displaying your captures or equipment to someone . . . it's only natural to take a photo to show them, so why not make it a good and telling one?

 

I do that all the time and many have shown up posted.

 

It greatly increases one's output when one is not feeling inspired to have a variety of genres in which one shoots, as shooting 'street' so often requires a certain 'inspiration' or ability to 'see' which can sometimes be nonexistent or greatly muted.

 

For those times when the muting lifts, it can reveal wonderful things - I've likened it to a companion like being able to walk down a street almost like having a vision so searing it's like possessing x-ray (roentgen) vision, when all others are wearing dark glasses.

 

I think my fellow Illuminati Giuseppe Pasquali, would endorse the idea.

 

My best to you, Dr. Samrat. (sometimes writing can be inspirational and also require peace and energy - writing by rote (instead of inspiration) produces words by rote and that can be no fun and unhelpful to read.

 

I hope you benefit by these thoughts.

 

I think enough of them to mark them © 2009, John Crosley, all rights reserved (they may get published some day as I have learned by the writing process how in some way my work is related in 'irony' to the work of Dali . . . which before I thought would have been a 'stretch' but no longer think so.).

 

My best to you.

 

john

 

John (Crosley)

 

This is so wickedly beautiful. One that catches your eye immediately. Outrageous Dali amidst such a serene background and the arrows pointing to the empty bench suggests that wit is still not an endangered quality.