samstevens

Thanks for looking and for taking the time to comment, Jennifer. Much appreciated!

Thank you, Harry. I should check my portfolio more often for comments. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. Yes. He just seemed like a cool subject caught at a moment he was waiting for his companion to return to the table. Thanks again.

This has a nice mood to it and I like the way his striped shirt works with the horizontals and verticals of the wood. The light on the roof and tree has almost a percussive quality.

Thank you, John. The Airstreams do seem to have some kind of symbolic meaning, I agree. This was taken some time ago but I recently discovered it on a trip through my archives. It made more sense to me now than it did at first. Go figure, indeed. Thanks again for stopping by and for your comment.

I’m intrigued by the title on this one, because I read it as a commentary on the impotence of men with guns. Salt Peter had mythical qualities of keeping the sex drive of men repressed, often referred to during WWII. Of course, the truth of those claims is suspect, which even adds to its mystique. I’m not suggesting you meant any of this, just that it’s the way I choose to see it, since I’m repulsed by guns and found your title a way to ironically view this photo. Your style has a video game / semi-animated superhero vibe, colorful and contemporary, purposefully artificial and comic-book like. You have a consistent and honed approach.

Thanks, Michael. I thought the juxtaposition of the two icons in such a perspective was worth capturing and liked the way the lighting on the flag looked in black and white. I think two strong symbols like this together elicit interesting thoughts, reactions, and interpretations. Yours certainly seem apt and I appreciate hearing them. Your kind of response adds some texture to the photo for me. Last time I went over to Alcatraz was for a newly-added night tour. It sure changes at night, when the fog rolls in and the wind picks up. The sounds alone, of creaking in the dark, are enough to haunt you. There’s a lot of story to Alcatraz, mostly already told. The U.S. flag, on the other hand, is a story constantly unfolding, and a scarier and scarier one as the days go by.

You do know just how to take a picture. Though she’s pointing to the bug, everything about the photo is pointing to her.

I'd say it was semi-private in that I invited friends and family but some people mentioned it to their friends and so a few people I didn't know showed up as well. I may do what's called "Open Studio" here in San Francisco. It's a weekend set aside where artists open up their studios to the public and you get a listing on the main website with samples of your work. It's become a very popular venue and a lot of cities now have it. I also just applied to a local gallery. They have a different local artist exhibit every month and their call for entries for 2020 just happened, so we'll see where it goes with that. I hope to fill out my portfolio here a bit and also want to put together a website which will have all the photos from this latest show (about 45).

Michael, thanks for your thoughts. I think there is something memory-oriented in the photo and I'm glad it evoked some meaningful memories for you. This was taken at a 60th anniversary celebration for my cousin and his wife, the couple shown. So it's also nice that it brought up weddings for you. I appreciate your noticing the soft tones, which felt a good approach for the content of the photo. By the way, I recently had an exhibit of my work (in my home gallery) and the 8 photos in this folder (the only folder I've uploaded so far) were shown together in one alcove of the studio.

Thanks, Patrick. Though we were out for a shoot, this particular shot came about rather serendipitously and unexpectedly. Glad you took the time to look and comment!

Thanks, Patrick. The inner city can be very inspiring!

Gerald, I disagreed with your comment that “if you are happy with it that’s all that matters” for the reasons I stated. I welcome disagreement, especially in a critique group. There can be two competing opinions of a photo and people, including the critics themselves, are certainly entitled to think one more valid than the other (that seems quite natural and ok to me) ... or they may think two differing opinions are each valid or may simply prefer one to the other, without getting into validity. I thought of your comment about the photographer’s happiness as more of a cliché than anything. I hear it said a lot but I think, as I said, it’s defensive rather than constructive . It’s a message of protectiveness in the face of criticism. It’s different from our disagreement on the aesthetics of the photo itself. It’s about how we take in critique, not this photo. To me, as I said, how I take critique can play a big role in the growth of my photography.

"in times past it was an invitation for photos to be heavily dissected but there is not the interaction anymore" It's up to each of us to critique in-depth. It's not so much about lack of interaction like the past. It's what each of us says and does in the present that matters. "if you are happy with it that's all that matters." I don't agree. Learning from critiques, I've discovered for myself, is rarely about my own happiness. It's often about being a little unhappy for a while until I get to the point of accepting a criticism and working through to improvement. My "happiness" with my own photos, especially when I was newer at it but even still today, can be used as a defense from really hearing critique and from improving my photos. My own improvement often comes from a place of dissatisfaction. Too much happiness with my work, especially as a response to critique, can really be a deterrent to growth.

I like the perspective and framing. Overall, though, it feels like a bit of a mess. The blacks are unsightly throughout. I don't mind the dark, foreboding look but this isn't that, to my eye. It's way over-the-top. I don't appreciate that the sky is toned brown and most of the landscape is toned blue, then the very foreground goes back to brown again. The person standing on the right of the trail gets completely lost and should either not be there or somehow incorporated into the story. As is he (they?) are camouflaged. There might be a second person who's mostly hidden in front of him. The photo is cut vertically almost completely in half by the lighthouse which feels awkward. Here, the path is important and makes a great leading line, so I would have cut back on the height of the sky so things were not so centered.