chuck_watkins

Two Pieces: a Renoir and a Miro.

When I was in Art School we took a trip to Washington DC. There was a small private

gallery that had many high quality pieces of modern art. One was a Renoir that was

absolutely breath-taking. The other was a small Miro painting. The realization for me was

that no photograph, or magazine, or art book, could reproduce these images; they have to

be seen in the first person to be appreciated.

I can remember for years trying to puzzle out Miro and what was going on. This small

original painting, hidden away in a dark corner of the gallery opened my eyes and I sat

transfixed for about half an hour on the floor in front of this three dimensional image.

Does a photograph of a piece of sculpture or of an artifact made by someone else, (and we

all know there is plenty of that here) constitute a work of art by the person taking the

photograph or should the credit go to the person who originally created the object of the

photograph?

The problem I see with minimalism is that the if the intended response is philosophical,

the subject is quickly explored and abandoned. Emotional responses to minimalist images

can be another matter all together. I have several images in my folder that I consider

minimalist: the watcher, and in the surf.

I also think that minimalist technique can be an effective means to keep a complex subject

from drowning in it;s own complexity.

I agree with everything said so far - but what I'm getting at is not to develope a standard -

I also think that that would be impossible -

At the same time... there is a prejudice that nothing below a 4 should ever be given. This

tends to shorten the evaluation scale and anything below a 4 becomes a personal attack -

often with retaliatory practices by the "injured" party and their friends.

After spending 20 years in photography, I went back to school to get a Bachelor's in Fine

Art. You haven't lived until you've had a piece of your work publicly dissected with scapels

and chain saws.

You don't learn from comments like "WOW... HOLEY COW..." You learn from honest

criticism. IMHO, you learn best from brutal and harsh criticism that is backed by

reasonable arguments.

Is it possible to have a forum on photo/art criticism?

There seems to be a great deal of consternation over low ratings. Anything below a 4

seems to be taken as a personal attack and is often rewarded with a counter-attack.

I love the 2200. I do now and I have always hated glossy prints. Glossy was used

back in the days of B&W press cameras for newspapers. They could be dried hot and

fast.

The semi-gloss epson papers are IMHO probably the best image paper that I have

ever used. the matte paper is a bit too anemic and dull for my tastes.