[SI] XXXI Critique

I found this assignment produced a group of visually appealing photos;
there is not a submitted image that I cannot appreciate at some level.
But I do believe that, by and large, the theme of the Mandate was not
adequately imparted. All the photos depict local scenery, but less
than half - to my way of seeing - depict local culture. Here are my
thoughts:


Jim Kramer

Nice photograph of scenery and architechture. I like the composition
and the exposure. This is a very good photograph, but I do not get a
sense of place from this image.


Al Denelsbeck

Nice image. The scenery is depicted well, and the leisurely pursuit
of the people there is documented. I'd have liked to seen a tighter
composition on the fishermen. I find the scenery to be secondary to
the activity. You've imparted the theme of the Mandate effectively.
Nice work!


Bowser

This image reminds me of Winogrand's famous college football
photograph - the one where you can see all 22 players in the same
frame. I think this image imparts a sense of culture very well. I'd
like to have seen a bit more of a Local identifier, even if by way of
seeing an Anytown Rec League or Anytown Elementary School t-shirt or
banner. You could probably crop out most of the grassy area in the
foreground. Nice work!


Alan Browne

Another image that is a wonderful photograph of scenery, bu does
little to impart local culture. I also find it bothersome that you
PS'd out a street sign, but I realize that is a very subjective and
very individual ethical issue to be decided by each photographer
according to his own choice. I do wonder, though, if the street sign
might have imparted some identifier of locality.


Doug Payne

This appears to be an Amish one-room schoolhouse some where in or
around Lancaster County, Pennsylvania or perhaps in the Midwest (USA).
You've captured both the Local and the Culture in this image; you've
fulfilled the Mandate well. Great job!


Rich Pos

There is a very strong nautical theme going on in this image, but I
think it serves as a local but not cultural identifier. This is a
beach area scene. Yesterday, I drove through several beach towns
along the Maryland and Delaware coastline. Each town had its own
sense of place, some being party towns while others were family
retreats. This image needs some sort of cultural identifier. The
technical elements of this photograph are quite strong. Nice image!


Ken Nadvornick

I am really exited about this image. The fields and mountains, even
the vehicles on the two-lane road, impart a wonderful sense of place.
The chapel and the Pause, Rest, Worship sign provide a cultural
reference. Also, your camera provides better EXIF data than mine!
Fantastic interpretation of the Mandate, and a technically strong
image. Great work!


Joseph Kewfi

Another good interpretation of the Mandate. This is some type of
small-town, outdoor market. I think the photo would be a bit stronger
if we could tell what type of item was being bartered. I think a
polarizing filter to cut the glare on the glass case would have been
of great value when making this image. Still, its very good work that
fulfills the Mandate nicely!


Vic Mason

This image provides a strong visual representation of an industrial
locale. While I think there may be a story about how this type of
facility affects area residents, there is nothing here to identify the
Culture of this place. Technically, the image is strong and the
composition dramatic. Interesting image!


Mike Henley

This is a very nice photograph of a very old neighborhood.
Unfortunately, it is not able to be determined where in the world this
old neighborhood may be found. All I can tell from this image is that
it was taken in an alley. There is not Local identifier and not
Culture identifier. However, as a photograph it is technically quite
strong and composed nicely!


Michael J Hoffman

There is nothing more Maryland than steamed crabs and cold beer. This
image was made at the Port Deposit crab feast, but you will find
similar goings-on on any summer weekend here in the Free State.
Technically, I used a slight hint of fill flash manually set on my
Canon 420EZ to get a reflection off the steam rising from the crabs.


Colm Gallagher

This is a nice wildlife photo, but I'm not sure is see the connection
between the image and the mandate. Christianity is obviously observed
wherever this image was made, but that iconic reference is too broad
to give the image a sense of specific locale.


The Dave

I like this image, but it tells me nothing about the location other
than what it looks like. What are the people here like; what
activitiies to they enjoy? Definitely a frameworthy image!


Bret Douglas

Interesting aerial photo. The sense of location among the Georgia
pines is strong, but what are you saying about the culture? Is there
a reason some graves are on one side of the church and some on the
other. I don't think segregation worked quite that way (black and
white burial grounds would have been more completely seperated). I'm
not getting the cultural connection. The photo is technically very
strong, as we might well expect from Bret and the Fabulous EOS 1V!


Matt Clara

A busy downtown Chicago night. This photograph is strong on every
level and hits on both aspects of the Mandate. Excellent!


Parv

I'n not sure where this is, but in this case I'm not sure it matters.
Vintage car show, Main St, Anytown, USA. It seems to fit the Mandate
well. Good job!

street shooter wrote:

Alan Browne

Another image that is a wonderful photograph of scenery, bu does
little to impart local culture. I also find it bothersome that you
PS'd out a street sign, but I realize that is a very subjective and
very individual ethical issue to be decided by each photographer
according to his own choice. I do wonder, though, if the street sign
might have imparted some identifier of locality.

Thanks.

I don't know if you read the "my shot" posting I put up regarding
this photo and attachment to local culture.

The roadsign (not streetsign) was a direction indicator to a
nearby highway. I photographed the same house from various
angles avoiding signs and wires, etc. The presented shot is one
of the most effective in presenting the house.

FWIW, here is the same shot w/ the roadsign.
http://www.aliasimages.com/images/16...eHouse0004.jpg

Cheers,
Alan
--
--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

On 26 Jun 2004 08:30:24 -0700, (street
shooter) wrote:

There is a very strong nautical theme going on in this image, but I
think it serves as a local but not cultural identifier. This is a
beach area scene. Yesterday, I drove through several beach towns
along the Maryland and Delaware coastline. Each town had its own
sense of place, some being party towns while others were family
retreats. This image needs some sort of cultural identifier. The
technical elements of this photograph are quite strong. Nice image!

Thanks Street Shooter. I agree that the shot doesn't portray a local
flavor. I considered a shot similar to this with a steel mill in the
background to present a more local theme to it but the shot never
materialized. This area is the playground of the rust belt.
Thanks for your comments.

Here is an archived shot that *may* be more appropriate??

http://www.pbase.com/image/26650873

RP©

I have to agree. The connection is tenuous at best. Must try harder next time :-)
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I enjoyed reading your comments on all the images.

--
Colm


"street shooter" wrote in message
om...

: Colm Gallagher
:
: This is a nice wildlife photo, but I'm not sure is see the connection
: between the image and the mandate. Christianity is obviously observed
: wherever this image was made, but that iconic reference is too broad
: to give the image a sense of specific locale.

From: (street shooter)



Bret Douglas

http://www.pbase.com/image/30444438

Interesting aerial photo. The sense of location among the Georgia
pines is strong, but what are you saying about the culture? Is there
a reason some graves are on one side of the church and some on the
other. I don't think segregation worked quite that way (black and
white burial grounds would have been more completely seperated). I'm
not getting the cultural connection. The photo is technically very
strong, as we might well expect from Bret and the Fabulous EOS 1V!


Funny that you assumed that the photo had racial connotations, especially in
light of the fact that I took it out of a small plane over central Illinois.
Does that change the meaning at all for you?

"street shooter" wrote:

Ken Nadvornick

I am really exited about this image. The fields and mountains, even
the vehicles on the two-lane road, impart a wonderful sense of place.
The chapel and the Pause, Rest, Worship sign provide a cultural
reference. Also, your camera provides better EXIF data than mine!
Fantastic interpretation of the Mandate, and a technically strong
image. Great work!

Hi Michael,

Many thanks for another good review from you.

The main problem for me in making this photograph was compositional. The
chapel sits alone in a field alongside the highway and adjacent to the
Skykomish River. It is somewhat remote and the problem eventually became to
convey that sense of remoteness.

The conventional approach might be to relegate the chapel to an
insignificantly sized shape in the distance, overwhelmed by its surrounding
environment. I did not want to do this, however, as I needed the structure
to be depicted large enough to be recognizable for what it was.

In keeping with the SI philosophy of learning, I remembered the observations
another reviewer, Alan Browne, had made regarding my "Held Together"
submission. (This was the photo of side-by-side gravestones in the foggy
cemetery.) He wrote,

"The shot might be considered over centered and under cropped. But
a closer up view would have presented a perspective separating the
two headstones, defeating the mandate."

I agreed with that and decided to try the opposite approach with this
composition. By placing a relatively close-up image of the chapel on the
far left side and balancing it with the roadsign (required for context) and
the highway on the far right side -- both outside the traditional vertical
"thirds" lines -- it left in the middle a large empty space consisting of
the empty parking lot and huge field behind. This, I felt, served to convey
that sense of remoteness I was looking for without the need to
compositionally "shrink" the chapel structure.

After locating the tripod on top of my truck's camper shell to gain a more
balanced near/far perspective (and allow me to keep the vertical power poles
vertical since I'd be presumably skinned alive for using a view camera in
the SI), I then added a #25A deep red filter. This was done not necessarily
to darken the blue sky (its normal Ansel Adams usage), but rather to
recreate the overall sense of harshness I was feeling while sitting there in
the 86 deg F (30 deg C) hot sun.

The +3-stop exposure compensation required for the filter allowed for a
shutter speed just slow enough -- and with adequate DOF -- to nicely blur
the motion of the vehicles on the highway. Then I simply waited for one to
locate itself directly above the sign.

Thanks again for reviewing the photos in this mandate. I look forward to
seeing more of your submissions as well.

Ken

P.S. Yep, pretty good EXIF firmware in those Nikon F2s, eh?? grin

(Annika1980) wrote in message ...
From: (street shooter)



Bret Douglas

http://www.pbase.com/image/30444438

Interesting aerial photo. The sense of location among the Georgia
pines is strong, but what are you saying about the culture? Is there
a reason some graves are on one side of the church and some on the
other. I don't think segregation worked quite that way (black and
white burial grounds would have been more completely seperated). I'm
not getting the cultural connection. The photo is technically very
strong, as we might well expect from Bret and the Fabulous EOS 1V!


Funny that you assumed that the photo had racial connotations, especially in
light of the fact that I took it out of a small plane over central Illinois.
Does that change the meaning at all for you?

It wasn't an assumption, so much as a question. At first, on the
thumbnail, I though it was some sort of golf course club house. I
took a guess that you photographed this image in the South, and the
South has a well-documented history of racial disparity. I thought
this might have been some kind of transitional metaphor that lay
somewhere between segregation and integration; I was wrong. I still
don't get the connection to the Mandate, but I think its a great
photograph!

Michael

Rich Pos wrote in message . ..
On 26 Jun 2004 08:30:24 -0700, (street
shooter) wrote:

There is a very strong nautical theme going on in this image, but I
think it serves as a local but not cultural identifier. This is a
beach area scene. Yesterday, I drove through several beach towns
along the Maryland and Delaware coastline. Each town had its own
sense of place, some being party towns while others were family
retreats. This image needs some sort of cultural identifier. The
technical elements of this photograph are quite strong. Nice image!

Thanks Street Shooter. I agree that the shot doesn't portray a local
flavor. I considered a shot similar to this with a steel mill in the
background to present a more local theme to it but the shot never
materialized. This area is the playground of the rust belt.
Thanks for your comments.

Here is an archived shot that *may* be more appropriate??

http://www.pbase.com/image/26650873

RP©

FWIW, I like the image in the link better for the Mandate; I like the
image you submitted better for its technical and aesthetic merits
exclusive of the theme.

Michael

From: (street shooter)

I
took a guess that you photographed this image in the South, and the
South has a well-documented history of racial disparity.

That may have been true in the past, but now the situation is reversed. The
South is much more integrated and folks down here just try to get along. It
seems that whenever I hear of some racial incident these days, it's always in
the North. White cops beating black guys in Cincinnati or some black guy in
Boston or New York who strayed where he "didn't belong" and caused a race riot.

That was why I found your stereotypical Yankee comments so humorous.
Thnaks for your comments.

From: (Annika1980)
Date: 27/06/2004 15:40 GMT Daylight Time
Message-id:

From: (street shooter)

I
took a guess that you photographed this image in the South, and the
South has a well-documented history of racial disparity.

That may have been true in the past, but now the situation is reversed. The
South is much more integrated and folks down here just try to get along. It
seems that whenever I hear of some racial incident these days, it's always in
the North. White cops beating black guys in Cincinnati or some black guy in
Boston or New York who strayed where he "didn't belong" and caused a race
riot.

That was why I found your stereotypical Yankee comments so humorous.
Thnaks for your comments.


I totally agree with Anika1980, 100%. My ex was from GA, US and we travelled to
Europe together. She always seemed to find something of a feeling-at-home
around Black people eventhough she was very White, almost as if black people
originated from the Southern US rather than Africa. It is my experience that
she related to them far more affectionately (almost as a kinship, she always
seemed happy to encounter them, you know, I would say that it seemed as if
Black people were unmistakably Southern US) and candidly than the
fashionably-politically-correct Americans I've known, many of whom seemed
willing to jump at you with a racist charge at a moment notice but had no
Blacks in their network of friends (and yes, i have known quite a few of them
well enough to look thoroughly at their network of friends; talk about degrees
of separation!).

It really is my experience that political correctness (as a regimentalized
attitude rather than a linguistic technique) has, generally speaking, become a
vehicle of intellectual convenience for people who want to pamper themselves in
the ignorance of policing others with a trigger-willingness that'll do anything
but examine their own social contradictions. It really has become a way to
totally eradicate minorities and their issues out of conversation and entirely
out of mind.






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