davе
Feeling... cold!
Emei mountain, Sichuan, China. i started at the bottom feeling hot in a t shirt and pair of salapettes. arriving at the top next morning i had added a pair of longjohns an undershirt a jumper a jacket a scarf and some mittens and still felt cold. others it would appear were not so well equipped...!
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So tomorrow i'm off to the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition in the natural history museum in london. i quite like the comp as its one of the few exhibitions that i can look at the winners and understand how they're good and why they deserve to be displayed (even last year's winner). i occasionally go to other photo exhibitions when i'm in town but often i find myself lookin at a blurry black and white image of a piano for example wondering how much of photography is just luck and being able to 'sell' (by which i mean convincing others) a photo as good or if im just some pleb who couldn't tell a picture of a piano from a masterful commentary of the state of emotions as represented by blah blah blah you get the point.
so all that preamble was to set up a question. how do you guys decide whether you like a photo? i suspect i'm moving away from the majority opinion (=does it look good) in that i reckon it should be a technique i could learn by reading in a book or learning from an experienced teacher and not necessarily based on what my uneducated eyes currently consider good*. does anyone think books/teachers like this exist or am i just failing to acknowledge we cant all agree and i will inevitably and unavoidably find myself in the frustrated minority of seeing photos i consider to be crud lauded and vice versa with no objectivity either way? (and if the former what books do you recommend!)
(*i'm thinking along the lines of how art aficionados seem to be able to agree on what's good based on their studies, i'd be damned if i could figure out what's good in tracy emin's or other modern artists' works to be honest but am prepared to accept it's my lack of understanding and not because of a misguided art community.)
hmmmm, that all reads a bit long winded and pretentious. well if you don't fancy tackling that can of worms feel free to comment on the photo!
Feeling... cold!
Emei mountain, Sichuan, China. i started at the bottom feeling hot in a t shirt and pair of salapettes. arriving at the top next morning i had added a pair of longjohns an undershirt a jumper a jacket a scarf and some mittens and still felt cold. others it would appear were not so well equipped...!
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So tomorrow i'm off to the wildlife photographer of the year exhibition in the natural history museum in london. i quite like the comp as its one of the few exhibitions that i can look at the winners and understand how they're good and why they deserve to be displayed (even last year's winner). i occasionally go to other photo exhibitions when i'm in town but often i find myself lookin at a blurry black and white image of a piano for example wondering how much of photography is just luck and being able to 'sell' (by which i mean convincing others) a photo as good or if im just some pleb who couldn't tell a picture of a piano from a masterful commentary of the state of emotions as represented by blah blah blah you get the point.
so all that preamble was to set up a question. how do you guys decide whether you like a photo? i suspect i'm moving away from the majority opinion (=does it look good) in that i reckon it should be a technique i could learn by reading in a book or learning from an experienced teacher and not necessarily based on what my uneducated eyes currently consider good*. does anyone think books/teachers like this exist or am i just failing to acknowledge we cant all agree and i will inevitably and unavoidably find myself in the frustrated minority of seeing photos i consider to be crud lauded and vice versa with no objectivity either way? (and if the former what books do you recommend!)
(*i'm thinking along the lines of how art aficionados seem to be able to agree on what's good based on their studies, i'd be damned if i could figure out what's good in tracy emin's or other modern artists' works to be honest but am prepared to accept it's my lack of understanding and not because of a misguided art community.)
hmmmm, that all reads a bit long winded and pretentious. well if you don't fancy tackling that can of worms feel free to comment on the photo!