Picture of the Week 26 July 2005

[Greg B]

This week's PotW is by Leigh (Nnnnsic).

I chose this for several reasons, and like it or not,
I'm going to bang on about it, because I can.

The shot is one of Leigh's Shooting Blind series...

- using the infrared filter (R72) of which I am a fan
- giving rise to Sheetshooter's mention of optional focus
(conceivably the ultimate response to the famed d70 backfocus issue)
- giving us mention of apparently revered photographer Ralph Eugene Meatyard
(I had never heard of him before, but now I have, and I like his work)
- the shot reminds me of the photography that impressed me in the sixties
and seventies. Arty, enigmatic, effective.

Sheetshooter made an excellent observation which I quote:-

" the broad in the tit-fa on the bus. (Is it in fact a dame?) Her, her blank presence,
the fuzz of the mobile cocoon - it is all just so very indicative of the numbing
blank-out of commuting on public transport."

(Notwithstanding my love of rhyming slang, it took more than a few mintutes
to figure out what "tit-fa" meant, even though it is very obvious now)

The whole thing smacks of a Monty Python sketch - a photographer named Meatyard,
optional focus, shooting blind (non-venetian).

Ah yes, all in all, a rich experience, all borne from the activities of Stark the Younger
waving his camera around for some desperate last shots with the R72, unable to
see anything much though the viewfinder, capturing a bunch of good shots -
including this week's Picture of the Week, possibly unnamed, but deserving of a
title such as "Woman on Bus"

Great shot Leigh.

Thread here
http://www.d70users.com/viewtopic.php?t=7540

And the PotW.....

[Sheetshooter]

Harking back to a song from several years ago another possible title which would include the viewer in the entire experience might be:

"WE'RE ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE"

I guess shoting blind is something they do a lot in Holland also.

Cheers, and well done Leigh,

[Heath Bennett]

Love it when feeling and 'artiness' takes over the need for the overt technical perfection.

I get sent Getty and Imagebank and Banana Stock and etc etc etc.... books. They constantly break the technical rules. In my opinion, you are qualified to break the rules if you are aware of them, and how they can be broken to positive effect.

This shot does this, bravo.

[Geoff]

This is indeed a uinique style and photograph! Congrats leigh!

[leek]

GregB, Gee... Your lengthy description is worthy of an entry in Pseud's Corner...

Sorry Leigh, I didn't like this particular photo, but some others in that series you did were interesting...

[Glen]

Leigh, nice to see an admins photo as POW, nice to see an arty photo and Greg thanks for the excellent explanation.

[the foto fanatic]

The thing about this image is that it makes you think.
I have had all sorts of thoughts:
"What is the photographer telling me?"
"What is the person in the image doing - going to - coming from?"
"Why is the central figure OOF?"

I think it's a good example of modern urban photography.

[Aussie Dave]

Nice one Leigh...

I have to admit, when I first saw this photo in your original post, it didnt do much for me. However, upon looking at it "on it's own" (without the other photos), I find the photo starts to grow on you (at least for me anyway).

Not sure if you'd intended for the following, but I like this shot because:

- the way there is no vertical or horizontal lines, everything is angular which I feel makes the composition that much more interesting.

- the lines that draw you into the photo, to the front of the bus, lead you straight to the person sitting in the centre of the frame.

There is a nice contrast between the main subject (the person) and the surroundings. One could even look into this further and see brightness and glumness (the outside world shines bright light onto her from right side, whilst the gloomy exterior of the bus gives a mundane, darkened cast to her left side....perhaps portraying she'd rather be back out in the world than sitting on this bus.

WOW, I think I need some more sleep.....

Anyway, great choice Greg and Leigh, keep using that imagination

Well done !

[sirhc55]

As enigmatic as Leigh tries or wants to be, the results of his safari into the true decisive moment have given us all a pic worthy of Bresson himself - well done Leigh

[wendellt]

It's the first thing i think about in the morning, continues to perplex me during the day and at night my subconsious muddles through it's abstract intention and meaning.

without challenge in life where is the joy?

Excellent work bud!

[MHD]

I like it...
Call it: Waking up on the way home


Very sydney public transport!

[PiroStitch]

Congratulations Leigh! Well picked by Greg too Indeed a creative and unique pic.

[stubbsy]

This is a fantastic example of why photography is less a scientific process and more an art form.

For me I just don't get this (a bit like I don't "get" some great art). If I took a shot like this with my camera it wouldn't even get to the PP stage. All I see is a OOF grainy pic that my mobile phone camera could do better. (Hell the horizon isn't even straight )

Maybe I need to go to art school

Strangely I even hesitated to say I don't like it because some of my peers (whose opinion I value) have already said they liked the pic (hell it's a POTW for #%$# sake), but I overcame my fears and decided to expose my lowbrow leanings for all to see

[birddog114]

Congrat Leigh! one of your work for being choosen POTW!
For the last 5 hours, with many times go and come back to look at it, I don't quite understand! and I don't see any life in it.
Sorry, perhaps, it's just myself.

[Sheetshooter]

I contend that it is exactly that lack of life that is such a strong narrative element in this shot. Parts of daily life, like commuting on public transport or waiting in a queue to pay at a check-out or caught in traffic, are times of absolute monotony and drudgery. For me it is the communication of that drudgery that enhances our appreciation of other, more exuberant moments and lifts their enjoyment quotient.

[rokkstar]

Congratulations Leigh.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Peter - I don't understand this at all. I can see how it echoes the daily monotony with its OOF, lifeless feel but I can't see what everyone else is seeing.

Perhaps I do reall need to refine my understanding and appreciation because if I had taken this I would have deleted it off the camera.

But not to detract from Leighs achievement - congratulations again.

[wendellt]

Any photo that incites so much debate is ART in it's truest sense!

[birddog114]

Any photo that incites so much debate is ART in it's truest sense!

Ain't true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Greg B]

Aahhhh, controversy. Happy days.

[gstark]

All I can say is that I'm thrilled.

For a number of reasons: thrilled for my son's image having been chosen as a PotW, for one thing; congratulations to you, Leigh.

And thrilled because it's the image that is sparking this debate: some like it, some don't, some get it and others don't.

But we're all here, expressing our opinions, openly, without flaming anyone else.

And discussing the photo!

We're less than two weeks from our first anniversary, and it's you, the members, that have made - and continue to make - this place the strong, vibrant, and enjoyable community that it's become.

What more could one ask for?

[Nnnnsic]

What more could one ask for?

Cheesecake. Do I have any left in the fridge?

Regardless, thanks Greg... and to everyone in this thread.

You want to know why I shot this? I was shooting absolutely blind and I saw a girl with a patch of bright red hair and I figured that would be interesting so I shot the back of her head.

And yes, I was bored.

Such is the case with me most of the time when I have a camera around me.

Thanks to Sheetshooter for mentioning me in a similar way to Meatyard, I'm sure my Photographer teachers, well one of them anyway, would be disgusted, but then again, she never liked much of my work anyway, so that's a reason for me to celebrate.

[gstark]

What more could one ask for?

Cheesecake. Do I have any left in the fridge?

No. We finished it during the GP on Sunday night.

[mic]

Well done Leigh,

It's amazing what one can acheive when the lights out

Mic.

[embi]

My God....an OOF, leaning horizon, arty shot won POTW.

I am one for celebrating this sort of image. To me its an awesome image. I love it. I think even more so that it annoys the purest's amongst us.

Let's think out of the box and stretch our imaginations.

[phillipb]

Congratulations Leigh.
I can see both sides to this discussion, the only thing I would like to add is that to me the IR filter adds nothing to this photo. If the photo had been taken without it, better framing, DOF and focusing would have been achieved without compromising the general idea.

[Sheetshooter]

To the contrary, I feel Phillip,

Had there been better framing, DOF and focusing THEN the shot would have been compromised. The success of this, or any other picture, is attributable to all of the contributing aspects and is far more than the sum of all its parts, in my opinion.

[phillipb]

So what you're saying is that it's so bad that it is good, in other words the strenght of the photo is in its deficiencies.
When I said better focus. I didn't mean for the person to be in focus. In my opinion without the IR filter you could have focused properly on the seat's frame for example and use DOF to render the lady out of focus.

[Nnnnsic]

I'm not sure. I think with the IR on, it made it impossible to get a good focus on anything and the focus became a luck of the draw.

Had I been able to see through the lens, I'd have been able to focus on something perfectly and it would have pulled some element of chance away from the image.

[Sheetshooter]

Sorry, Phillip,

What I am saying is that it is so good that it is good. A single sharp element anywhere in the image would draw attention to that point and the entire mesmeric haze representing the delerium of the tedious act of commuting would be lost.

[phillipb]

Sorry, Phillip,

What I am saying is that it is so good that it is good. A single sharp element anywhere in the image would draw attention to that point and the entire mesmeric haze representing the delerium of the tedious act of commuting would be lost.

Sheetshooter, sometimes I envy people such as yourself ( I'm not being sarcastic) To be able to "see" all of that in a photo is amazing. I guess that's why I can aspire to be a photographer but I'll never be an artist.

[Willy wombat]

Congrat Leigh! one of your work for being choosen POTW!
For the last 5 hours, with many times go and come back to look at it, I don't quite understand! and I don't see any life in it.
Sorry, perhaps, it's just myself.

Im with you Birddog. Im not in love with it.

Although congrats to Leigh on being the POTW.

[leek]

Sorry, Phillip,

What I am saying is that it is so good that it is good. A single sharp element anywhere in the image would draw attention to that point and the entire mesmeric haze representing the delerium of the tedious act of commuting would be lost.

Sorry Sheet (or should I call you shooter?)... I think that Leigh has already admitted that actually, it was a photo taken without much (possibility of) consideration of composition, focus or exposure...
The camera took the image... I feel that you therefore might be overinterpreting the artist's intent...

In my book it was the photographic equivalent of a pocket call on my mobile phone...

But hey!!! It's Picture of the Week...

[Nnnnsic]

I don't think he's saying at that point that it's the artists' intent, but rather the image's intent.

[Matt. K]

Greg
Excellent choice. An enigmatic, vacuous image reeking of tit-fa.
It has a sense of despair, sorrow, darkness....murmerings of the underworld. Tunnel dwellers. But tit-fa? I am stumped.
Also illustrates why our public transport is under utilized.
Tit-fa?
Well done Leigh!

Stubbsy...ignore the technical quality and sense the emotional connection with the event. This is a bizaar moment in the confluence of humanoid sits in machine going anywhere or nowhere. Humanoid is alone in universe but recorded by blind voyer wielding high tech light capturing instrument of brutal precision. Recorded photon pattern is widely disseminated using language of o's and 1's. Non involved humanoids perceive pattern of original confluence and discuss merit or lack thereof in regards to artistic merit of originating substance and are rewarded by warm inner glow feeling. Get with it Peter!

[Nnnnsic]

Tit-fa?

Don't look at me... I'm stumped as to what it means.

[leek]

Geez guys... I hope you are not being serious...

Tit-fa
Tit-fa-Tat
Hat

Basic rhyming slang 1.01

[Matt. K]

Leek
You are brilliant! But you are English. Or worse, Welsh.

[Sheetshooter]

The picture under discussion is, I feel, as close to a random image as one could get - certainly as close as I have seen done locally and as effectively as this in a while.

At the height of Post-Modernism it was not unheard of for people to strap a camera to their leg and walk along a street making random images at given intervals. What resulted was a trip aloing the street with a record of whatever was in front of the camera say every 30 seconds - or two minutes. The intervention of the photographer was nil in terms of viewing, framing, etc. What resulted was a pure sense of the experience of place - much as Leigh has presented here.

What we see in most photographs is a portrait of the phtographer - irrespective of the subject matter. In this image the photographer is entirely invisible beyond having shared a space with an unknown, unidentified fellow passenger, identified a motif, pointed the camera in the direction of the motif and selected a moment at which to trip the shutter. Given the workings of auto-focus and auto exposure there was a somewhat reduced element of chance but fate has played Leigh a fortuitous hand.

In the unfocussed images of Ralph Eugene Meatyard that I am loking at present there are pictures ranging from groups of people to dappled light through foliage to specular highlights and a sphere embraced by a crescent. Some offer more disclosure than Leigh's shot and some less. Sam Haskins used sequences of no focus with nudes in his hallmark tome of the 60s "Cowboy Kate & Other Stories" and I have also dug out a 1959 Vogue shot by the doyen of British fashion photography, Norman Parkinson of model Adèle Collins wearing a blue jacket and red hat where admittedly the fabric behind the model is sharp but the model herself is a total blur.

The point of me saying this is to highlight the fact that this whole optional focus thing is nothing new. It has been around for yonks and has been accepted in exalted publications.

And please, since we are only just getting to know one and other, let me make it clear that it is not my intention or purpose to ram ideas down your throat or to sell you on anything - not now, not ever. It is my sole purpose to raise these points in the hope of broadening the perspective of what is possible. Ultimately each and every one of us will develop our own style based on what we accept and reject out of what we experience - both in life and in pictures.

Cheers,

Edit: She's got the tifa sat snugly on her ginger bread.

[MCWB]

This is a bizaar moment in the confluence of humanoid sits in machine going anywhere or nowhere. Humanoid is alone in universe but recorded by blind voyer wielding high tech light capturing instrument of brutal precision. Recorded photon pattern is widely disseminated using language of o's and 1's. Non involved humanoids perceive pattern of original confluence and discuss merit or lack thereof in regards to artistic merit of originating substance and are rewarded by warm inner glow feeling. Get with it Peter!

Love it!

I'm going to add another vote to the "I love it" camp. The funny thing is, I have no idea why. I dislike almost every aspect of the image, yet when they come together as a whole, I like it! Bizarre, but certainly art!

[marcus]

Well done Leigh, but I have to admit I'm in the "I don't get it" catagory too. That's nothing to do with you or the image, probably more so my artistic ignorance.

It has interested me greatly to read the comments in relation to this image. So varied and and at times in so much depth that it hurts. I obviously have a lot to learn and will use this thread as a good reference point.

[stubbsy]

Stubbsy...ignore the technical quality and sense the emotional connection with the event. This is a bizaar moment in the confluence of humanoid sits in machine going anywhere or nowhere. Humanoid is alone in universe but recorded by blind voyer wielding high tech light capturing instrument of brutal precision. Recorded photon pattern is widely disseminated using language of o's and 1's. Non involved humanoids perceive pattern of original confluence and discuss merit or lack thereof in regards to artistic merit of originating substance and are rewarded by warm inner glow feeling. Get with it Peter!

My brain is hurting and there ain't no glow

[jethro]

this proves to me that being in the loop entitles one to win POTW!

[Nnnnsic]

Meh... I don't think a mod has won PotW yet Jethro so I doubt it.

And regardless, loop!? What loop?!

[Greg B]

this proves to me that being in the loop entitles one to win POTW!

Speaking as the person who made this week's selection jethro,
I would have to describe your observation as ill considered. And
a very fragile standard of proof.

It suggests that I made the selection based on something other
than the photograph, and while that is true to the extent that I
explained in my opening post, it is most certainly not true that the
decision was influenced because of who took the photograph.

And indeed, if you were to look over the past winners, you might note
that the selections have come from members across the board, and
there is no loop in evidence.

[gstark]

this proves to me that being in the loop entitles one to win POTW!

Jethro,

Could you please explain this remark?

[Aussie Dave]

this proves to me that being in the loop entitles one to win POTW!

Sorry Jethro, but I would have to strongly disagree with this comment. I was fortunate enough to have POTW a few weeks back, and although I am a regular here, I certainly would not consider myself to be in any "loop". Perhaps what you refer to, the Sydney-siders who meet regularly at Birdy's could be construde as a "loop" - for want of a better description maybe.....however I feel that the mods get it right most of the time, and often the POTW is well deserved.

I think we need to remember that if it was Greg's turn to choose POTW this week, and he chose Leigh's pic, then there must be some reason why it was chosen over alot of other great photos. If the individual decides it's not their cup of tea, so be it....but I don't think we need to make unjustified comments.

JMHO

[phillipb]

I completely agree with Aussie Dave.
Just look at last weeks winner, a new member from Belgium, can't get any further from a loop then that.

[birddog114]

Perhaps what you refer to, the Sydney-siders who meet regularly at Birdy's could be construde as a "loop" -

Hi,
I can clarify this:
The mini meet is aiming to the benfits of our members, regardless of:
Colour of skin, language spoken, sex, camera brands.

We have no "loop" at the mini meets, I and other attendees treated everyone equally, even old or new members, no difference.

If you can come to the mini meet, then you can join, meet, talk with other number of new friends, if someone doesn't like it, please don't come.
I same as other frequent attendees never pursue anyone on this board have to come here and do something for ourselves.

Fortunately, I have most of the gears and I chose to have the mini meet cos I want to share with other all I have in photography knowledges and let everyone self learning the way they're going with their hobby.

Back to a year ago, when this forum started, I didn't know anyone and I was the same as other, joined this forum and learn, share, be happy.
I'm not and never thinking of making any profits or commercial at any meets or mini meets.

I don't need to have a "loop" around here, I do have some good friends from this forum and we're all happy, that does not mean the "loop".

[gstark]

All,

First up, I would just like to understand what Jethro meant by his remark.

Let's give him some time to explain himself.

[Glen]

Jethro, you are kidding?? I am sure you would not have made that observation without doing your research. I chose the first POW, who happened to be a member from Canada, relatively new to us at the time. Last week I chose a brand new member from Belgium. Could you explain the loop these two are in? Due to work and family commitments I don't make many minimeets, so you see most of my communication here like everyone else. What loop?

There is only two possible explanations A) I have been having long weekends in Canada and Belgium or B) I have a wallet full of Euro and Can$. Neither are true. Jethro you are way out of line here and I am somwhat offended by your comments.

The POW is chosen by an individual admin or mod (to give variety) and is what appeals to him that week. There are no criteria or requirements. I doubt you will find one other individual who supports your theory, though if you do, please have them come forward and explain their thoughts so we can remove any real or perceived bias.