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Thread: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

  1. #11

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Fromm View Post
    Jimbo, if you don't enjoy what you're doing, find something else to do. There are many other ways to pass the time. If you enjoy it, keep on doing it and stop whining.
    Fortunately, there are some of us here that have no need to simplistically label his dilemma as "whining". I have always been under the impression that discussion Forums existed to encourage and support each other, as opposed to trashing each other with "You are a complete idiot if you do it that way" comments.

  2. #12

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    that's why I shoot people and not docks and weeds.. people are always different and interesting.. and you can talk to them while.. and that's interesting

    OTOH..my pix will end up in the landfill just like everyone elses

    I guess I'm kinda hoping that a few subjects will keep their pix around long enough to 'impress and shock' all the guys in the old folks home where they then reside

    hahahah - that's kinda worth it

  3. #13
    jp's Avatar
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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    Regarding the original post, looking to rephotograph scenes shot ad nauseum brings out some mutual cynicism to me because of what's unsaid.. They aren't will to look for beauty. They won't seek beauty. They want to schedule and organize their access to what they hope is beauty in advance of their visit with someone's help. Their eyes are closed and they don't know it.

    (To such a person's credit, perhaps their creativity is in building or improving the camera, not actually shooting film.)

    I was walking in the snow this morning and the way the wind had blown it and the light was low, I was in awe, like God had perfectly sculpted the flakes where they fell. The texture I could not photograph for keeping or sharing, but I could see it and was glad I was out making photos and enjoying nature.

    What other photographers have done is very important to me... Eliot Porter's Maine photos for example helped me see my home area in a way that resonated and showed me things about my surrounding no other photographers had done. I have no shame emulating his style or seeing, but make no attempt to find the same tripod holes or same rocks or trees.

    I think trees are not so different than people, except they are more flexible with their schedule. Vintage cars are as timeless as rocks, but I still photograph them and enjoy it. Related subjects like weather and sea are always changing, so that is a good impetus to photograph or at least be on the lookout.

    Putting photographs online to help people with their process or seeing is a useful aspect of art photography, probably more beneficial than selling work. Jim, more people will enjoy your website than whatever happens to your negatives.. We hear all the time about the bad stuff about sharing too much online. We don't hear the self-evident good side. Remember what happened to something as special as the Ark of the Convenent in the Indiana Jones movie? If something prestigious happens to our negatives, they might end up in a box near the ark, never to be seen again.

  4. #14

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    Quote Originally Posted by Hugo Zhang View Post

    Jim, maybe you should organize a get-together in Tonopah soon?

    Hugo
    I second that.. at the Clown Motel of course.. I'll bring a couple handles and some prints ..hell..maybe even try to drag a model out there

  5. #15

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    Photography is a form of visual art,
    just as playing the piano is a form of the audio arts,
    whittling is of the sculptural arts,
    and baking some brownies is of the culinary arts.
    We do these things because they enrich ...our... lives.
    It's personally rewarding if others enjoy our works too.
    But in the end, when we lay down to sleep,
    we are satisfied and content with of our art.

    Reinhold

  6. #16

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    Thanks all. Dan gets a pass. We are two old codgers who have a long standing mutual respect and his insults are always welcome and perhaps I understand them differently than some others.

    I never get mad, and with Dan, it's actually hard to get even. He's too damn smart. Maybe for his own good.

  7. #17
    Vaughn's Avatar
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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    I photograph the light -- always changing. I love how it can be used to describe a place and/or feeling (or person/s). The 'great' shots take time, skill and luck...I don't rush them (as if I could, ).
    "Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China

  8. #18

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    Are saying that you're tired of seeing the same combinations and permutations of pictures on the forum? You're perhaps looking for something new and exciting and people aren't delivering?

  9. #19

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    If you are not breaking any new ground, you are doing more of the same, and maybe not getting too excited about it...

    Try opening the door to shooting something you never dreamed of even attempting before... This will force you to get up to speed in a different zone, see in a new way, and solve/resolve new methods/approaches...

    Listen to "it" whisper carefully...

    This gets exciting!!!

    Steve K

  10. #20

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    Re: Where are the great shots? Am I a cynicist or a realist?

    Quote Originally Posted by LabRat View Post
    If you are not breaking any new ground, you are doing more of the same, and maybe not getting too excited about it...

    Try opening the door to shooting something you never dreamed of even attempting before... This will force you to get up to speed in a different zone, see in a new way, and solve/resolve new methods/approaches...

    Listen to "it" whisper carefully...

    This gets exciting!!!

    Steve K
    That's one of the things I loved about the old magazines, like "Darkroom Techniques". Every month, they would come out with a new approach or method -- actually, they would come out with several -- and I would try one or two. I would not always do it the way that they did it, but I always came away with too many fun ideas -- and not enough time. I still have old volumes going back decades, usually just for reference. But when I wade through them checking for a particular article, I always run across 10 or 20 with techniques I want to try -- at least once! Some sound pretty crazy!

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