Pictorialism Images

[jp]

bullethole

Very nice image! The grays are imposing, and it's a strong composition.

Let's keep the rules fuzzy, eh? I hate rules

Great summary.

[goamules]

I went out 2 nights ago at sunset to try my pictorialism shot again. The sun set so fast I couldn't get the backlit sparkles I wanted, but here it is. Taylor Hobson Rapid View Portrait on wholeplate FP-4.

[mandoman7]

bullethole

I'd like to call foul at having my name associated with the swirly bokeh phenomena. Out of hundreds of pictures I've posted over the years, there are perhaps 3 tastefully (or not) done that use swirl as a device.

Pictorialism is all about using some other device besides the straight image it's built around. Let's keep the rules fuzzy, eh? I hate rules

An arresting composition, Jim. One gets drawn in.

[Ken Lee]

As stated earlier several times by several forum members, Pictorialism was synonymous with what today we call "fine art" photography. It was not necessarily blurry or romantic, but merely art for art's sake, an alternative to commercial/scientific photography.

Also, Pictorialism is a noun, not an adjective - so the title of the thread (whether the underlying premise is erroneous or not) should be Pictorial images.

.. just sayin'

Also, Bravo for Jim's photo. Another masterpiece !

[Tim Meisburger]

Jim, sorry for associating you with swirly bokeh, but I think Eddie did if first! I like all your work, but to me personally "Galli style" will always conjure elegant and expressive classic car portraits.

Ken, I disagree. Your and others definition of pictorialism is so expansive as to render the term meaningless, yet I think everyone here has a mental image of what defines a pictorialist image in the 21st century (and in the 19th and early 20th); dreamy, romantic, heroic, fantastical, mythological or allegorical, or having the structure and appearance of a painting. Surely the meaning of the word has evolved over time, as at one time the f64 group were pictorialists. (of course, I could be entirely wrong, as I am in no way an art expert--a better descriptor would be "low brow")

Regarding pictorialism or pictorialist, I agree its awkward. At the time I was thinking "Images in the style of the pictorialists", but it never has sounded quite right.

[Dave Wooten]

Nice one Scott. I wasn't aware of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.

[goamules]

There is plenty of period writing on what the Pictorialists believed. Simplistically, they were making "art" compared to "documenting architectural building processes" or doing "copy work". But it was much, much deeper than that.

[Leigh]

I do not know what pictorialism is, and after 87 posts in this thread I've read nothing to enlighten me.

- Leigh

[Mark Sawyer]

Well, it's like this, except for that, and then there's other stuff too...

[Leigh]

Hi Mark,

Yeah, that's what I got out of it, but I thought I was missing something.

Apparently not.

- Leigh