neil_fiertel

Technically it is fine with nice lighting and thoughfulness in this area BUT..yes...it looks and is staged and lacks exactly what it needs to work as a depthful and contentful image as one immediately sees it for a stage scene and not life but rather a mimickry of life..that is NOT the same thing. That is not to say that one cannot set up an image and make it become true but the artist here did not go nearly far enough in so doing..it is a clean studio and spare look, nicely swept, no extraneity and no life within. One ought to re-do it and make it alive. Photography is NOT painting when it is done with a realist direction and thus, the viewer looks for the grit of the real world. If the photographer went to a more painterly approach the simplicity of the setpiece could have been made to work as then the viewer would not be expecting reality and a painterly stage is very different from one that is merely lighted nicely as this one is. The image could be modified substantially by a digital artist into a fine art work. Right now, it is the beginning of the journey but a distance from the finale as I see it. Of course photographers will no doubt disagree with my assessment of this in terms of modifying, painting and so forth in the digital world but photography for me is a mere beginning to making art so I come to this discussion from this perspective which one need not agree with. Nonetheless, one wants to believe in the image and not feel the need to say that it needs..more. How this is done is the pervue of the photographer of course and there are other solutions that come to mind also that do not entail photo-painting..

http://www.picasaweb.google.com/nfiertel

I like that you posted it and can post it. I have so often found the internet sites dealing with photo so self censoring as to make me not bother to look often at all. This image is very nicely conceived and the moisture, the oiled bodily forms works excellently and the only wish on my part is the lack of depth of field on the back of the hand...I would myself have found a way to deal with that but I also realise that a lot of photographers are more purist than I who work more after the fact with images than in the initial shoot. Many of your images are nicely done..the series of the pregnant woman are excellent, sensitive to the beauty of the transience of this state and fine in all respects.