What do you like... as a viewer?

elven

We've all seen photography that's knocked us for six. But when you see one of those amazing shots, and it stops you in your tracks and makes you say "woah!", what is it that usually gets to you about a picture? Is it visual, in terms of the shapes and colours, or is it to do with capturing a subject, or telling a story?

Examples are highly encouraged

C'mon, bit of thinking to get us warmed up for Friday...

Calina

Apologies in advance if this does not appear to make a lot of sense up front.

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There isn't an easy answer to this question. Lots of things eat me about photographs, and I like a lot of diverse photographers such as Ansel Adams, Robert Doisneau, Vincent Munier Peter Lik and Philippe Plisson. I've a tendency to lean towards photographs of the sea as a general rule, so I suppose it's a bit odd to see Adams and Doisneau in there.

I can't pick out any one feature. What affects me about say Doisneau, Lik and Adams would be the great clarity in their photographs. If I think about Adams and Lik in particular, i have this feeling of utter sharpness although I know of course it's not the case for all their shots.

With Philippe and Guillaume Plisson it's a little different. What drew me to the photographs of Plisson in the first place was the feeling that somehow he had managed to tame the might of the sea and capture it in a way that very few other photographers seem to be able to. Jean Guichard comes close but...not quite close enough.

Photographs are - technically speaking - two dimensional things. The photographs that tend to catch my attention are those that appear to me to have something a little indefinably more-ish about them, some sort of character. The more I think about the photographs I take, the more I look to put personality in them, particularly when it comes to photographs of people or animals. It's not always easy, so when you see some of the work of Peter Lik (I can think of one involving a deck chair on a coral cay somewhere in Queensland), and realise he does this with inanimate objects, you can either see it as depressing or inspiring. I go for inspiring most of the time.

I had the opportunity to compare shots with another kite photographer in Portugal last week. What struck me was he was a very good technical photographer - some of his shots were rigidly sharp - but somehow they lacked warmth. I can't describe it any better than that, it wasn't anything to do with colour casting or filters...just the photographs lacked that extra little punch. Someone looking in from the outside in comparing us felt that I looked at things from the artistic point of view and this other guy was a technical guy.

Maybe it's something as simple as that. All I know is that technical excellence isn't really enough...but some sort of character might be, even if the photograph is not technically perfect.

magicbastarder

i read the thread title as "what do you like... as a voyeur?"

ThOnda

It's hard to say. Sometimes it is purely the action or the subject in the pciture, like this:


sometimes it is graphical quality, like this:


By the way, what's going on on Friday?

elven

Magic, your freudian innuendos are entirely your own

Calina, I think I do know what you mean. I wasn't necessarily hoping to get people to sum up a partcular trait they appreciate in all good photos, more just a singular example. But it's pretty cool if you can step back a bit and identify a common theme, it can help you focus on what you want to work into your own stuff.

Th0nda... scary.

Friday is traditionally the day for philosophical ramblings round here

I find that I sometimes appreciate a story in a photo, the interaction of elements coming together to communicate some kind of message - usually they are bw street shots by elliott erwitt or the likes - but those ones don't tend to stick in my memory. I'm more inclined to form a lasting attachment to something that I find purely visually appealing, like this...

ThOnda

I was just thinking that there is "group" walk at the Dublin Cultural Night not only in Temple Bar.
Any recommendations for exhibitions and museums?

elven

You mean rambling, as in walking? I mean rambling as in talking

AnCatDubh

ThOnda wrote:

This image has haunted me since it was posted. I don't know is that good or bad but it certainly evokes emotion. Compelling yet disturbing. Hard to explain. I now wonder what do others see (probably what you were trying to ascertain at the beginning of this thread). For example in ThOnda's suggested image above - do young people view this different to older people, liberal v conservative, do men view this image different to women. Do others find this compelling?

ThOnda

The woman in the picture sees that from a different point of view, that's without a question :-)
Photographs are just images of reality, changed or modified by many technical ways and by photographer.
And what's going on in your mind when your sensors send some elctric impulses to you brain, that's a miracle, but different miracle in every and each brain. It is based on experience, similarity and your personal codes and limits.
Honestly, that's brilliant image, but very strange to me. It is hard to find way to understand that image or consume all information hidden in it.
By the way, here is the whole set: http://www.webpark.ru/comments.php?id=27561