runswithsizzers

Alton Marsh and John A
One day in an art museum - a museum not in my home town but a 3 hour drive across the state - I realized I was spending most of my day reading the little cards beside each painting rather than looking at the painting, itself. Why would I drive half way across the state to read those little cards, and not spend my rare museum time looking at the art? That is when I realized how different left brain thinking is (words, logic, facts) compared to right brain thinking - experience, senses, art.

For that reason, I prefer to NOT have a lot of words displayed next to my photos. The words are a distraction from the visual process because they lock us into the left brain world of abstraction, which filters sensory experience.

Photos function on many levels (as do paintings) - if documentary, that is, here is something that happened in a particular place at a particular time - then a caption is appropriate. Just be aware that if you are presenting an image not as journalism, but as art - something to be experienced at a sub-rational level, something to be enjoyed for it's composition, colors, and emotions - then a caption may be at cross purposes to your intent.

Because Steve Raub's photo is of a scene which is already out of bounds in time and space - that is, a photograph of a collection of objects from various places and bygone times - it lacks provenance - and functions much better as art than documentation. For that reason, I might prefer not to know too much about the when and where. Let me enjoy the illusion without telling me what I am supposed to be seeing.

Very appealing photograph, both for the eye candy (juxtaposition of colors and textures) - as well as the feel-good nostalgia I get from the subject matter (much enhanced by Raub's handling of color). I am even more amazed when I see how much more magic the final shot has, compared to the original. Good vision, and masterful post-processing to make that vision real.

 

This work does bring to mind an ethical issue I am struggling with in my own work, that has to do with photographing other artist's work. It's not much of an issue with this photograph, because most people would not describe the assemblage of car, building, signs and pumps as "art" - but none-the-less someone (I'm assuming not the photographer) did collect these objects and arrange them in a certain way.

 

In no way am I criticizing Steve Raub, who has more than proven the "value-added" he brought to this scene. But if, for example, I take a photo of an oil painting - a straight-on documentary catalog style shot, I could hardly expect to get much credit if I displayed it as "my" photograph. Any value the image might have would obviously be the intellectual property of the painter.

 

But if I photograph a composition of a group of outdoor sculptures in dramatic light, or the window of an art glass shop full of colorful vases cropped just so, then it seems I am in a gray zone, ethically. How much of the art in the finished photo is mine, and how much is due to the art built into the subject matter?

 

Again, nothing against Steve Raub, to whom I apologize for going off-topic, or this photo, which is above reproach.

 

Is there any consensus on the ethics of photographs which depend, at least in part, on the creative work of other artists?

This photo is striking - the symmetrical composition and sweeping curves really work for me. It has a very 'arty' feeling - the glowing warmth of a flemish oil painting married to the subject matter and sensibility of a Durer print.

 

The exposure is satisfactory, tho I might wish for slightly darker shadows - my main objection to sepia tone is the compressed tonal range due lack of totally black blacks.

 

-GW

A real eye catcher; I'm a sucker for pretty colors. I generally don't relate to abstract, but I do like the way this image pushes the boundary towards abstract without falling over the edge. I've studied it for awhile but I'm still not sure just exactly what's going on here - a leaf and a reflection? two leaves?