Are you, "Group f/64" or "Henri-Carter Bresson?"

On 6/18/2015 2:42 AM, wtrplnet wrote:
On 6/16/2015 11:54 PM, RichA wrote:
Sharp, technical and compositional excellence, or "expressionism" and
HANG technical competence? I'm the former. When I see an image that
has clear technical flaws, it grates on me. It's involuntary. Maybe
it's learned, maybe not.


Serious question deserves a serious answer.

I'm surely locked into the former. I have a 'formal' education from a
serious institution: Orange Coast College, which is a 'Junior College'
in California, but it benefited from a staff that had it's roots with
people who had worked with Ansel Adams and others of equal stature.
Photography at OCC was known to be a serious degree. At the time we were
equal to Brooks, Eastman or Art Center.

Technical expertise was the emphasis. I could detail it, but for
example, Zone System was a requirement, to the point where you had to
demonstrate competence in it by actually doing it and printing out the
results in 'long form'. It was a rigorous regime.

Membership in Friends of Photography was encouraged.

I'm still, after all these years, battling the inner need for exquisite
sharpness, controlled depth of field, along with shadow detail and no
loss of tone in the highlights.

I used to spend endless hours in the darkroom, and loved it. I now spend
endless hours with Lightroom and Photoshop, and love it.

I'm constantly in search of the 'perfect print' and I will never give up
that quest. Black/white, color, each have their place. I do both.

However, when I view the work of the true masters of the photographic
art I understand it's really less about the technical expertise than
about the art of 'seeing' what is in front of the lens.

I love what those with great technical expertise do, especially when
they have a great eye for the composition and 'statement' of the photo.

But what I yearn for is to have the eye of someone who can go anywhere
and capture a real statement of the human condition with a camera.

In that I guess I'd have to say I'm in the Henri Cartier-Bresson camp.
(Hint to Rich, get the spelling right)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Cartier-Bresson


Perhaps you should consider not worrying about the tecnical and
concentrate on form and composition:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/rowing%20in%20the%20park.jpg


not that the composition below is that great, but try with just an outline:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97242118/pelican%20race.jpg

--
PeterN