rudy - ny, ny

Thanks Scott. Unfortunately, I haven't seen him around since.

 

I have to agree with you on the top middle. It is too blown out. I should fix that. Regarding the flyers, you're right again but I wanted them hot so that I could use them to take one's eye to the top flyer. I felt that if they were discernible/readable they would be adding info to the image that I didn't want; i.e. add a distraction or clutter.

I love the heavy saturation in this! Very rich and stoic. The mass of blue is well weighted against that shock of yellow and plants.

 

This could be used to make a very forceful 2pg. spread in a magazine.

Very graphical. The balance between the blues and whites feels very solid and peaceful.

 

I'm sure that this jpeg doesn't do justice to the original transparency! It must be even more luscious! I love Velvia originals.

 

I'm a bit bias. Greek architecture and especially this stucco type with the purity of its whites along with the slight rawness of the hand crafting really is beautiful art. To me these buildings wear the love and pride that must have been present throughout the process. This type of architecture is very seductive and your photograph does a good job in capturing that for me.

Stand back a bit from it and it looks like a marble obelisk - very piercing.

 

I really like how this photo can play optical tricks on you.

Would love to hear your comments!

 

Note: It seems to have lost contrast in the upload process.

I like the vantage point. My first glance, I saw this as just shapes. And then I spent time having to orient myself and analyze it before I understood the whole story. I like that. You have to dig into this one.

 

I'm thinking that something to try might be removing maybe half of the value from the chair. The resulting contrast might add a bit more overall dynamic.

I like this a lot! Very fluid. Great pattern. Great tones. The turning in of the feet feels youthful and contrasts nicely against the old stairs. I can't tell... are those railroad tie stairs?

The dark wood (or is it cast metal) really balances well with the lighter, larger trunk. And the dark object has the shape of a whale's tail - it's layout gives me the sense of the whale diving downward and you managed to catch the tail right before it went underwater. That provides a lot of energy to this photo.

 

I also really like your contrast values. They create a lot of depth.

 

I'm not too crazy about the title though. :)

I like the parts that get blown out. To contrast against that you have a whole lot of gray. For me, this flattens the image too much and loses the vitality. I'm assuming that you really gel with doing these underexposures and they heavily appeal to your aesthetics but there is one thing that warrants notice. Probably at least half of the photogs won't view them aesthetically but rather start quizzing you about your exposuring. The issue of your content is now not a focus and you begin losing your audience. (anybody out there have an opinion on this? Am I off base?) Of course, this could also be viewed as an opportunity to put forth your views on underexposing.

 

What do you think about sitting down with this and building some contrast? That'll probably provide some more dimension. Bring up the lows and mids a bit while maintaining the blow outs. You might even experiment with opening those up more. Of course, this suggestion will probably take your image from an underexposed aesthetic to something better characterized as "lit too hot" and this might not be what you want at all. It'll be grittier and the denim will come off exuding much more texture.

This was a dark shot to begin with and unfortunately lost quite a bit of definition when resized and jpeg'd. The original print is more powerful.

There is a well known abandoned warehouse in Columbus. I asked Heather to bring this dress and her combat boots. We broke in by crawling through a large pane of a broken window. It was a huge 5 story building that used to distribute machine parts and other hardware. There was all kinds of left behind litter to explore. There was even a shanty town with a couple of people milling about set up in the front office. We walked around from floor to floor looking a spot to shoot. Nothing was appealing and then we came to the room you see on the 4th floor. It was the old mail room. Along the walls you can see shelves with mail box bins. All of the paper on the floor was already there. People have been sifting through this place for years; even a few break-in raves have been thrown here.The entire left wall is window. I was wanting to just use natural light and this was a perfect set up. Heather and I were talking as I was situating the tripod. We heard a bit of rustling and looked at each other. Out of this huge pile of papers off camera left arises this guy. Apparently we had woken him up. It was a harmless situation but the damage had been done. Every Friday the 13th movie had instantly played through our heads and we thought Jason was back (yeah I know - that's Halloween). We apologized for disturbing his space. He muttered "no problem" and wandered off. It took a while for me to regain focus and calm my breathing. I freaking HATE scary movies.

Unsolicited opinions are always welcomed and always appreciated! Good, bad, or ugly.

Not an original shot or procedure by any means (it really was getting done to death there for a while - me included.) What attracts me to this one is the texture of the brick blending with the texture of the polaroid emulsion itself; also, the colors in the image working off of each other and off of the tattered emulsion. For me I perceive the individual pieces and parts of the image as being subtle and dreary but, when taken together, create something very vivid and kinetic. I also relish the short time that we hung out together - so perhaps I'm a bit bias. Otherwise, regarding the layout... I'm sure that it's been done at least 1000 times in every fashion mag dating back to the 1800s.

This is one of those shots that took in more than I realized when first shooting. I was walking down Market St. and saw this man across on the other sidewalk. The flower is feeding off of his music and blossoming. It's hard to make out in this jpeg but the flyer on the wall reads "Carnival of Doom" and comes across as satanic in nature. This photo , to me, became a narration of the myth of Robert Johnson, considered one of the best Mississippi bluesman, meeting the devil at the crossroads and selling his soul to the devil in exchange for learning how to play insane guitar (blues). "O Brother Where Art Thou" incorporates this myth. "Crossroads" is all about the myth. I did not associate the myth to the scene when I first shot it. I shot it 'cause I felt a strong visual impact. Was this a case where my subconcious recognized what was being presented and nudged me to shoot it? Or is that just psychobabble and it was nothing more than pure dumb luck and coincidence? I honestly don't know. I was definitely taken aback when I finally put together its content. I feel like I should have been given a dunce cap and put in the corner (is that still done?) - it wasn't until a year later and several one-on-one darkroom sessions later that it dawned on me. Duh. It's not one of my favorite pieces but I definitely saw it "in a better light" when it became a story to me thus adding a new dimension to an otherwise mediocre street scene. But I still don't know the exact reason why I was intrigued to shoot it.

I live near this spot and I've passed this man at least 100 times (both car and foot) and have stopped at that red light with him 3 feet from the car at least 20 times. Friends and I have walked out of the AMC1000 and crossed Van Ness ASAP in order to avoid his impression. Everyday going back and forth to BART and Muni I am exposed to great amounts of panhandling and people using shopping carts and tarps to build their room for the night. I've been desensitized a lot but this fellow always hits me hard. Many times I've had my camera but never any desire to use it. Whether this man is in such hardships as to have to stand on crutches for hours on end seemingly every day and display his futility for a few of our coins or whether he is consciously using his malady to garner sympathy and handouts makes no difference. I feel an immense soaking of futility as I cross that crosswalk but I have absolutely no courage in addressing it.

 

I know that some view these types of photos positively and acquire a sense of relief that that is not them and how lucky they are because, obviously, things could be MUCH worse. For me, they depress the hell out of me and make me feel guilty. Our lot in life is based a bit, I believe, on luck and the thoughts and tools made available to us thanks to where we landed. I was lucky and built on it. Was he lucky and squandered it or has it been bad luck from the get go? Looking at his picture and debating the question with myself doesn't seem respectful. So what then? I've already concluded that I'm not approaching him. I guess that I just ignore him? That seems cowardly.

 

I don't mean to be dismissive but, fortunately, for me, this photo only serves as a reminder and doesn't portray the full disparity that I feel in the live situation. If I had seen him only once, then maybe.

 

Good social art creates debate and dialogue. It causes self-examination and group-examination. It pokes you in the ribs and reminds you to question and enlighten yourself. In that sense and in my case, I would have to say that Aldo succeeded.

 

This one is definitely a conundrum.

Very soothing. You can feel the crispness in the air. You know that it's not packing snow.

I agree with what you're saying and I debated that but left it in 'cause I liked the implied way it joins the two sides - kind of an upside down triangle. I find cropping very valuable but I also like presenting full frame when I feel that I've done it properly. Was this done properly? Like you said, it's VERY subjective.