[lit-ideas] Re: Four photos of Sage
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 16:53:40 -0800
Ursula,
Since I have an eBay-purchased DSLR on its way via priority mail from a pawn
broker in Georgia, I am psyching myself up for its arrival -- spending a lot
of time on photographic subjects and objects, and I spent a lot of time
looking at your photos. Thanks.
My first thought was that you were more comfortable with the idea of
photography as art than I was. I'm thinking of your "New Orleans shades,"
"bananas," and "the Wages of" for example. In the latter you perhaps used
a filter of some sort. I looked at the filters available for the camera I
am getting. There is an amazing selection at
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200549011719&ssPageName=S
TRK:MEWAX:IT I haven't ordered any because something in me balks at
changing the subject I'm looking at. I'll grant that "The Wages of" is the
most striking of all your photos and the only one that seems as though you
changed something; so I can appreciate the effects, but still I am more
inclined toward a different approach. I may maneuver the girls into some
interesting spot and then walk to a position where I can get the photo I
want, but that is not the same as changing what I'm seeing -- or is it?
But on second thought I can see myself taking advantage of some of those
same things you saw. Did you intend "Market Shrine" as art or was it just
something interesting, perhaps a bit artistic in its own right, that you
wanted a record of? Had I passed by that Market Shrine I might have taken a
picture of it as well.
Lawrence
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Ursula Stange
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 10:04 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Four photos of Sage
That first one, Lawrence, is very beautiful. The aesthetic response it
elicits, I think, comes from a variety of features. First, the tension
between the drama and the dreaminess. Second, the intensity (but lacy
lightness) of the foregrounded tree being balanced by the distant, fuzzy
heaviness of the mountains. I'm sure there's also something about the
golden section and the rule of thirds. And, because the mountains are so
far away, the lefthand space almost works like blank space. And lets not
forget your beautiful dog... Thanks for putting them up.
Makes me want to put pictures up somewhere. Wait, I have pictures up
somewhere...
http://ursulastange.com/iris/index.php
Click on each picture to see the next (there's not too many).
On 01/12/2010 11:49 AM, Lawrence Helm wrote:
http://www.lawrencehelm.com/2010/12/sight-houndseeing.html
Can photographs be art? Perhaps the consensus is that they can. I have
never been convinced of that, but I know that something goes on in the
selection, the angle, lighting, arrangement. Perhaps it's a seeking after
beauty without precisely creating it as one would if one were painting --
and weren't being too photographic about it.
Lawrence
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