will_moore

Everytime one of them asks me for money, I give it to them, maybe in exchange for a photo.

 

I just don't see a whole lot of bum's driving Massive, wastful SUV's. I don't see them spending money of Microsoft. Maybe it's because I read "My Ishmael" rather recently. Maybe it's because I have never tried to support a family. But when I walk down the streets, I just see so many overweight, overendulged people who constantly complain about what they pay in taxes. I just think that I hear WAY too much complaining about economics from a country that, really, doesn't have much to complain about. I know this is a statistic that everyone has heard at lease 27 times, but we makeup something like 15% of the world's pop, and consume something like 60% of it's resources. Do you know how easy it would be to help not only the bums in this country, but all the people starving in the world? It takes something like 2,500 gallons of water to produce ONE POUND of red meat. Not one cow, ONE POUND. Cattle consume about HALF of all the fresh water on earth. If Americans reduced their meat intake by just 10%, the sixty million people who starve this year could be fed (by the way, I got those stats from a George Carlin book, so I would like to think they're pretty accurate).

 

But see, most Americans aren't willing to do that. They'll just continue to insist on their 29 cent cheeseburgers. They'll continue to spend amazing quanities of money on Land Rovers, and use them to drive a block to the store to get milk. I mean, you can't deny how astounding the amount of resources we consume is.

I don't know. Maybe when I get out of college, I'll stop giving money to the bums, and I'll stop voting Green party. Maybe I'll start eating meat again, and maybe I'll buy Nike shoes. But until then, I'll continue to be discouraged.

 

Sorry for straying so far off topic, and sorry for preaching.

Something was said up above that I agree with. It really is too bad that the only consideration some people give the homeless is how much their going to cost in taxes. Everybody else in the world is paying $6.00 a gallon for gas, and we're so whiny, look at the fight we put up when we are asked to contribute anything to the welfare of another human. Godforbid that you should have to take your stupid McBurger without cheese in order for someone else to eat. I think I am starting to gain more and more respect for the bum's. They don't consume natural resources, they don't spend there lives in that souless shithole that the free market has become. If they lie about their condition, well, as Principle Skinner said, "Welcome to Dick Cheaney's America." He was kind of an ass about it, but I agree with Gary. I WOULD rather give a buck to a bum than to Starbucks.

 

Gluttons.

Geez man. If you dislike this forum so much, don't read it. If nothing else, post a couple of photos for us to look at. I think it acctually takes some balls to ask for critiques here, because we don't have to look each other in the eye when we give them. As for Tris, I agree that he can be somewhat wordy, but at least he has 100-something photos uploaded, so maybe he has kind of has some leway (spelling?).

I think it does take a fair amount of "guts" to take photographs of the homeless, let alone try to sneak them.

When I made my first comment about this photograph a few months ago, I was living in Rangely, CO were I encountered more deer than people, and I did not have a negative with a homeless person in it. Now I live in Denver where I take time between classes and my weekends to shoot downtown. Now I have a few homeless shots, and my feelings confirmed. However, I do agree that the best way to photograph the homeless is to get to know them. Give them a buck or two, maybe even talk to them. Then ask if you can take their picture, and they will most likely agree to it. More awkwardness will result from bystanders sneering at you than from the homeless.

As for this one, I think it works is an essay, but not as well as a single photograph. The most interesting part of the homeless are their faces.

I kind of agree with Tris. 10/10 is perfection, and damn few things are perfect. Anyway, I've grown to hate ratings. Is there some sort of contest that I'm unaware of? Does someone win a toaster in the end?

Usually, I think when someone makes an attempt at fine art black and white photography (myself included) it tends to fail. However, I do like this image, as well as the rest in the folder. Lately I have been spending hours in my school's library looking at the work of some great documentary photographers, so my head is full of complex street scenes that almost make me dizzy with a sense of movement. I like this image (at least right now) because it is perfectly still. However, I do agree that you should ditch the digital camera completely. Your work needs to be enlarged and printed in order to do it justification.

Yes, this image is just eye candy. No, there's nothing wrong with that. I think it might be going a little overboard to call it "brilliant" and "mastering light." Really, any high school photo student could achieve the same results with only a common sense understanding of light in a studio. Any high school Photoshop student could also achieve the same thing.

 

Someone said that the same same thing could be done in a wet color darkroom. Yes, but usually you have to go from a negative, and seeing as how this was taken with a digital camera, the chances that this was a wet print seem to be pretty slim, don't you think?

 

Also you might note that I have not rated this POW. At first I rated photos, but then I just started leaving comments. How can you rate photography as if it were as tangible and boring as college football or something? Rating a photography trivializes it. It is meaningless.

 

The Tony Awards? Talk about 3rd grade playground stuff. Was that supposed to be clever? I say, if Tony is a little arrogant, so be it. Judging by his portfolio, he has a right to be. I'm tired of people who are mediocre at something complaining about someone who is better at it being arrogant. Same thing in other aspects of life. Proffesional athletes are very arrogant. Yes, but they are also the best at what the do; if they haven't earned the right to be who has? Also, I get tired of people arguing with Tony. Obviously he knows what he is talking about. Just listen to him, and not only will you realize that he is right, but you also might learn something. Would you argue with Mark Grace about hitting? Or Lefty Kreh about casting? Tony's portfolio is one of the few here that makes me want to get off the stupid internet and acctually go (gasp) take photos!

 

Also, where is this list of rated photographers on photo.net? I can't belive there is such a thing.

 

And finally, thank you! Someone else who sees digital manipulation as something else other than photography! As soon as you have altered an image in photoshop, you have stopped dealing with light and have started dealing with electronic signals. You have taken the "photo" out of "photography."

Positively Hilarious! I don't know if I could have pressed the release. How could anyone rate this less than a 7 for originality?

A loner. Facing forward while everyone has their back turned to him. Still, the look on his face is relaxed, content.

The look on the faces are perfect. Critical, pretentious.

Sublime. Perfection. The only photograph I have ever rated a 10.

Great lighting. I love photographs of old couples.

Great printing job, but seems like the camera was just pointed in a random direction. No real subject.

Hilarious.

I love the diagnal line, in both the stairs and the children.

I love the hat and the expression on the face of the smoker.

One of the best street portraits I have seen here. Great printing job.

One of those photos I wish I had the guts to take, because the payoff is so high. I would like to see his face though. However, if I can't, the head is in the perfect position; pointing down, depressed.

Tris-Man, I like this site as much as anyone. It's really the only place I can show photos with any chance of real critique. It's a great place to kill time in between classes. But you really do expend WAY too much time and energy on it to be consistent with good mental health. I mean, I love a good argument about B&W Vs. Color or some such thing, even if it is pointless. I love to hear the opinions of people accross the country. I disagree with those who imediatly shoot down any deviance from disscussing the aspects of the given photograph. But you're writing entire chapters agruing with people that have NOTHING to do with photography at all, and no matter how right you are, the're simply obnoxious. Why try to defend your honor to someone you will probably never see in person or talk to?

 

Concerning the POW; Before I start, let it be known that I am just a humble student, and, when compared to other's on this site, know next to nothing other than my own opinons. Normally I'm content just to lurk.

 

I love black and white. It's really all I shoot with. I have loved the past two POW's, particularly Ian's. I also like this one. However, I am not sure how well suited it was for B&W. Concerts are usually will suited for color with all the lights and constumes. It's not that this photo doesn't work, it's just that it might have worked better in color.

As for the focus, I don't know. I have never been a stickler for completely sharp focus, and this one is more in focus than some of my all time favorites, although I supose that is a poor and irrelevant comparison. I tend to look more at the mood this photo conveys, which is that of a band just jamming in some nightclub, which I like. I love the smoke and the body postioning of the guitarist. Yes, the main subject might be the singer, but if the concentration was meant to be completely on her, why even include the others? Also, I think the horizontal format lends itself to drawing attention to the entire band. Of course, this is pure speculation. I can't know what the photographer was thinking, unless he tells us. I would like to see a little more detail in her dress, though. Probably this is something that can be corrected in the darkroom.

Yes! A photo from one of my two favorite folders here on photo.net! The other one is "asylum" by the same guy. If you just looked at this one, I strongly urge you to look at the folder it came out of. Probably the best B&W photography here.