samstevens

21 minutes ago, mikemorrellNL said:

As each new mobile phone version is announced and comes on the market, many owners of previous versions ask themselves 'is it worth my upgrading?'.

I tend to upgrade my phone when I have to, either because the iOS is so old that it has stopped supporting apps or because it can’t hold a charge for more than a few hours.

Picasso included a bit of pop culture, in Still Life with Chair-Caning, back in 1912, using wallpaper printed with a chair-caning pattern. Roy Lichtenstein included pop imagery, comic book heroines, in his work. Andy Warhol is obvious, of course.

Artists who have historically borrowed pop elements and ideas have been reflecting the consumer and technological world we live in for ages, using that very world to comment both on that world and on art, not to mention to express themselves in a language familiar to much of their audience while establishing a sort of meta language of their own.

Using an iPhone creatively and with intention, exploiting the kinds of saturation we see everyday on the Internet, or the traces of halos around objects, or the pixellation that's associated with amateurish post processing helps bridge the divide between high and low art, something artists have been doing for generations.

What happens is that a sense of art gets layered over what's popular, by welcoming what's popular in and of itself and discovering what an intentionally-creative approach can do with what's popular, while also reigning in the hubris of a lot of "fine art" in favor of a more humble and perhaps more relatable vision.

It's really not so much a matter of swallowing the marketing as it is recognizing the effects of marketing and new technologies on culture and turning this recognition to creative advantage and effect.

Embracing "flaws" goes back centuries. Check out Chopin's Etude in E minor, Op. 25, No. 5, affectionately known as The Wrong Note Etude.

https://youtu.be/2W6me8tYEUw?si=ZU7Nx7nPIAEGrHiS

Prokofiev's Cinderella has some my-t-fine clunker-worthy passages as well.

Many artists have senses of humor and irony, find pop culture fascinating, and use imperfection to advantage.

Quote

Mankind would rather see gestures than listen to reasons.
—Friedrich Nietzsche

I like watching the gestures of a symphony orchestra conductor, even though they're often as much for show as they are for musical expression. 

A photographer who considers all the aspects of a photo inoneeye mentions above is kind of like a conductor, keeping the rhythm, adjusting all the elements, forming a whole out of many parts.

The dictionary definition of "gesture" begins with movement. Photos are considered stills or frozen moments. But there is a lot of implied or suggested movement as well. This can give a photo depth and help it transcend both the moment and the stillness, if desired.

A gesture is often an invitation to another or at least the establishment of a non-verbal connection. I think a photographer's gestures can help connect viewer to the human(ity) behind the picture. That may not always be desired, in that some photographers want to keep themselves out of their pictures. But I like feeling connected to photographers through their work, when it happens, and I like thinking of viewers being connected to me through mine. So a photographer can wave, smile, furrow their brow, bring a hand up to their chin, scratch their whiskers, maybe even dance ... as a way to imbue their photos with movement, which can translate to life.

While having a cool car or a comfortable car or a big enough car or a car that gets good gas mileage or one that is shiny or one that's four-wheel drive for the snow or one that has a big enough trunk to load up with camping gear is important for my road trips, the journey for me is about more than the car. It's about stopping at diners along the way, talking to the folks I meet, listening to driving music, feeling the wind on my face and the arm hanging out the window, taking a hike off the road, and all the things I might discover, which having a car enables me to do. Yes, having a car that suits me and the task at hand is helpful, something any trip-taker likely recognizes.

I've happily never been stopped by fellow travelers and told my car wasn't up to snuff. Most travelers I meet on the road don't focus on the vehicle. They often seem more interested in where I've been and where I'm going. If I can convey that with pictures I take, and especially if I can do that literally and figuratively, I'm content.

There is no staff. The site runs on autopilot. A lot of things that used to be available are no longer available. Another member may be able to answer your question, but there aren’t many active members anymore and not many if any are regularly checking into the Help forum. Good luck.

I appreciate the two sides of gesture you allude to, the human gestures made by subjects and the gesturing of the photographer. The two kinds of gesturing, which meet in the photo, are a synching mechanism. It's where collaboration between photographer and subject exists even when the collaboration isn't overt.

You also got me thinking about secret gestures, the signs and indications that probably have meaning only to the photographer. Such secrets don't need to be literally communicated but they still have an effect on the photo and the viewer. Something's there. As a viewer, I may not know what it is, but I can sense it's there anyway. As a photographer, I don't have to reveal all the secrets in the photo, but those secrets can still imbue the photo with significance, if not necessarily meaning.

I thought for a while and decided to post this photo. It was you who at a certain point mentioned the gesture of Ian's hand on John's shoulder and its poignancy for you. I had asked Ian to put his hand there, but don't think I realized at the time the impact of it. I was after a simple connection but think I wound up with more. Probably my most significant shooting gesture here was aligning the beveled reflections in ways that felt right to me and then post processing in conjunction with the contrasts and harmonies I saw and the inclusion and exclusion I felt. Though I purposely avoided my own reflection, I see myself in this one.

ian+john

2 hours ago, Ricochetrider said:

one can indeed get more “serious” with their phone photography

Then again, “serious” may be overrated, even among “serious” photographers …

https://petapixel.com/assets/uploads/2022/06/USA.-New-York-City.-2000.-NYC15335-2048x1371.jpg

https://baseec-img-mng.akamaized.net/images/item/origin/d6e61a67ea98b95f783174c20e71240c.jpg?imformat=generic&q=90&im=Resize,width=300,type=normal

https://niagaragalleries.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/14899.jpg

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5909553a1c7a8e33fb38b57c/master/w_1600,c_limit/120813_bikiniparr-01_p465.jpg

[humor courtesy of elliott erwitt and martin parr]

43 minutes ago, znabal said:

 

4 hours ago, PapaTango said:

Why would anyone want to post that many images at once to an image discussion site?

 🤔

Because they can?

4 hours ago, PapaTango said:

Once upon a time, this was a booming enterprise

21 hours ago, gdrastal said:

staff

There is no staff. PN is what it is, definitely not what it was.

Only advice I have is to make the best of what little is left (which is enough for those who still participate and especially those who are proactive in starting new threads and maintaining regular camera-specific, genre-specific, and No Words weekly threads) ... or not.

The personal gallery side of the site has probably devolved the most from previous iterations. I can't advise on that, since I gave up trying to maintain a portfolio or gallery. I do know that some people seem to have solved that riddle to the extent possible with this new software, but I haven't put in the time or energy to do so. So I stick to forums. My participation is way down from what it used to be, but I still enjoy stopping by somewhat regularly and checking out what's going on, commenting and posting as the mood strikes me.

Good luck.

20 hours ago, je ne regrette rien said:

The sense of a photograph is in the work itself, not in anything else. And therefore depends on the photographer.

Sorry. I see you provided the answer to this, giving it all over to the photographer. But what about the viewer? And what about circumstance? Is a great documentary photo of a VJ Day Kiss not given sense and a reason for being by the couple kissing and the war that just ended? Is a Hockney collage of Polaroids inspired by the camera he was using not giving some of its sense and reason for being by the camera that inspired it? Is a nude of one of Weston’s muses not given some sense of reason by the muse herself and the relationship that ensues? Are the Abu Ghraib photos not given some sense by the horrific circumstances under which they were taken, not just rooted in the photos themselves but in history as well. Without that history, I’d maintain we couldn’t appreciate the full reason for their being or their full meaning. A photo is, in some sense, a kind of magical object that holds a lot of secrets. But it also represents a lot of knowable things which are outside both the photo and the photographer. Photos, in this respect, are not isolated or self-centered.

14 hours ago, je ne regrette rien said:

the sense and the reason of being of a picture

What do you think determines “the sense and the reason of being of a picture?”

The expression of a photograph can be in the photo itself. However, I think there can also be an important expressive relationship between photo and camera used, photo and type of film used, photo and context in which it’s seen, photo and presentation (screen, print, book, gallery, home wall …), and other variables. I think of photos as more than their content, not to minimize content, of course. There’s feeling in the quality of the colors, the texture of the medium it’s shown on. The content will have a different impact when seen as a Polaroid one can hold in their hand or seen as a large fine print hanging on a museum wall. The craft aspect of any art goes well beyond the narrative content of the subject matter. Photos are not just taken and shown. They are constructed (of imagery and paper and colors and textures …) and presented. The same play on a Broadway stage may well elicit different emotional nuances in a seedier off Broadway playhouse, sometimes the off Broadway venue feeling more appropriate to the material. Ragtime played on an old upright piano has a very different impact and “voice” than when played on a concert grand.

Among the five photographers in the article below, there’s one quote talking about choice of Polaroid from the standpoint of its use (and I’d maintain that one can see what he’s talking about in the Polaroid photos he took) and another more directly from the standpoint of the photos it produces …

“That was exactly what was exciting—the spontaneity, the speed.” —Helmut Newton

“There’s something about this camera that makes the person look just right.” —Andy Warhol

https://100asa.com/blog/instant-photography-most-notably-polaroid-was-a-creative

5 hours ago, Ricochetrider said:

We are the generation who must carry the torch forward into the fray of alternatives

I wonder if we are actually the generation who will witness younger generations carry torches forward. We have much wisdom to offer younger generations. Some of that wisdom might be our recognizing our own limits to determine future behavior and to understand that younger generations have many different wants and needs than we do. Speaking of the wisdom of older generations—in this case ancient ones—Socrates noted that wisdom is knowing what you do not know. I tend to interpret that as wisdom requiring a degree of humility. 

23 minutes ago, Ricochetrider said:

Speaking of grand claims by marketing department, I’d like to see sellers of “smart” phones advertise their products’ perfect & unwavering signal reception and amazingly clear audio quality during phone conversations, 

 

 

If you’re having trouble with reception, get your husband, wife, partner, child or a good friend to put some aluminum foil on the rabbit ears and hold them in just the right position. Oh … wait …

19 minutes ago, Tony Parsons said:

Success - thank you again, Sam !

Congrats. But don't forget, you owe me a Philosophy thread!🧵 

I and others have received server errors over the last few days. I'd log out and in again and then try your upload again. If that doesn't work, I'd try downsizing your file. If that doesn't work, I'd wait a few hours and try again. If that doesn't work, I'd try uploading a different file and see if the same thing happens. If that doesn't work, I'd critique some photos and forget about uploading for now ... or take a walk with your camera. Or, definitely last recourse, start a Philosophy thread! 🤓

It would be better, I think, if we allowed each other the space to participate and critique as we see fit. Just as there are a variety of ways to photograph, there are a variety of ways to critique. I suggest reading some art, movie, music, theater, and photography critiques that can be found all over the web. Much discussion of photographers’ and other artists’ motivations from critics of all stripes. Not that I’m suggesting you critique that way. Just hoping to introduce a bit more tolerance.

6 hours ago, Ricochetrider said:

Often, I find the shot doesn't live up to my expectations or isnt what I thought it could be.

Yes! Remember, a really good Major League Baseball player is thrilled to have a .300 batting average. As I understand it, they learn not only from their home runs but from their strikeouts, especially how the opposing pitcher works. I am sometimes pretty sure a shot I’m going to take isn’t going to work, but something in me kicks in and I take the shot anyway. Curiosity. Challenge. Experimentation. I may not show it to anyone, but it becomes part of my process and experience. Process and experience is what helps build vision and leads eventually to results I care about and like. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

16 minutes ago, inoneeye said:

I'm assuming AI was driving, right? 😊