Too Many Effects

I like this image. I particularly like the vignetting at the edges and the split tone color effect. If I had the beta of Lightroom 3 at the time I processed this image, I probably would have added a lot of grain. I like cheesy effects. Sometimes I make myself sick.

The real issue here is how much becomes too much? At what point am I tarting up an image with effects to hide its mediocrity? When everything I shot was on slide film, I treated the processed transparency as the final image. When I scanned the image, the only adjustments I would make were to get the digital version as close as possible to the original slide. But when I shoot digitally, I know I will take the image through a “digital development” stage and so I feel freer to meddle.

But if the effects used in the development stage is part of the original visualization then it is simply the use of a valid tool. Where the problem arrises is when effects are used to add appeal to an inferior, poorly realized image. But then again, if the final image is compelling isn't that all that matters? If one is able to modify a poor image and make it effective, then the fact that some secondary creative work occurred after the shutter closed does not invalidate the cumulative value of the work.

I don't have any easy answers to this question. At times I feel that a minimum of post-processing is the only ethical way to make an image. At other times, I'll happily modify to the extent that the software allows.

What the heck is art, anyway?

This kind of work, the stuff we call art, is a way of communicating experience to one another. There are things that cannot be expressed in words and so we must turn to other means of affecting someone. A text book or an instructional manual can only explain so much. If we want to take another person through an experience, guide them through a piece of life, we must devise a means of communication that bypasses reason and logic and instead puts us directly into the path of a train of emotion and reaction.

I have never approved of artist statements. I think that when an artist says “My work is about...” it dilutes the effect of the art. Art should stand on it's own or fall. It should never be buttressed by a demand that it be interpreted in a particular way. The interpretation is always unique to the individual viewer or reader or listener. And while there is a time and a place for analysis, usually in the spaces between viewings, the real value of art is that it can jolt us into a new moment in life; it gives us a chance to briefly live in another person's body.

Art is, for the artist, a way to access what is normally hidden within themselves. I look at other photographer's work and wish I could do something like that. I go off and I try to copy some effect only to find my copy has been shaped more by the way I see the world than by the original. It is as if I am handicapped to see the world only with my own eyes.

I look at the photographs I make and there is something deeply satisfying in the better ones. Clearly my photographs will not be to everyone's tastes. Some may be affected, others may find nothing in them that makes sense. For myself, I find upon looking at them that it is as if the world, for a moment, alines itself and everything can be understood. It is as if the chaotic noise of the world slips into a simple and calming melody; that the framed image pushes away all the broken, jumbled lines and shapes leaving only a simple, self supporting form.

Perhaps it is because I am frequently overwhelmed by the noise and chaos of the world, that these photographs provide a sort of escape, a moment of calm that I can retreat to. They may be other things as well. Once the photograph becomes a fixed image, the affect it might have on a person becomes their own experience. I have mine and any other viewer has theirs. I hope they are valuable to another person, but mostly I take these photographs to excavate my own experiences and hopefully find something of value.

Stairway to L.A. Water and Power

This image is a re-shoot of an earlier image that I shot with a Nikon D70.  It's the sort of image that I feel works better in a larger print so I was dis-satisfied with the smaller frame of the Nikon.  This image was shot with a Canon 5D.  I corrected the perspective so that the vertical lines were more or less parallel.

Fences

Apartment Building and Disney Hall

I don't really have much to say about this image.  It's a picture of an apartment building and Disney Hall plus some sky thrown in for good measure.

 

Reflections

Every morning sunlight reflecting off of the bluish California Plaza buildings hits the ATT building in downtown Los Angeles and creates interesting patterns.  The last time I was photographing this building years ago,  a guard came out and questioned what I thought I was doing.  Eventually she was informed that there was nothing wrong with this so long as I did not trespass on ATT's property.

Yesterday I spent some time photographing the same effect and was eventually chased off the California Plaza property by a polite, but pushy security supervisor and his burly henchman.  He handed me a note suggesting that while they were aware that I had a right to take photographs, if I spent too much time doing so, they would report me to the police.

When I was much younger I had heard that in Russia there was a cultural attitude of being suspicious of one's neighbors and reporting them to authorities with little provocation.  At the time it seemed rather strange and unbelievable, but it seems we have moved much closer to that attitude here in the U.S.  Now people seem to think suspicion and distrust are virtues; that anyone who does not conform quite likely is up to no good.

I suppose there will always be people who think it is more important to follow the rules than it is to show people something interesting and beautiful.

Anyway, I thought this looked neat.

A Picture of a Tree

A boring picture

This is a boring picture. I don't know why it appeals to me so much.

Los Angeles Hall of Records

Two images of the Los Angeles Hall of Records. What I like about these is the threatening and oppressive quality of the architecture. Both were shot with a 24mm Tilt-Shift lens allowing me to control the perspective. The digital files were processed in Adobe Lightroom V. 3 beta. This allowed me to add a grain look which is not visible here due to the small file sizes.

 

Car Wash

I got a new lens...

Initial Thoughts

The title of this blog is an admonition to myself to do one of the things I most enjoy; thinking. This is a forum for me to spout off about whatever is currently orbiting my squishy little brain. It will primarily address issues of creativity and the work that the creative process requires.

Wanting to express an idea clearly, I am forced to tidy up the junkyard of my thoughts, sort what ideas interconnect and throw away the mental rubble that only serves to distract me from the functioning mechanism of a concept. It may be useful at times to passively juggle ideas, but without the discipline of setting thoughts down clearly and communicating effectively, I risk feeling like I have clearly understood an idea when I have only seen its blurred edges as through a frosted glass. Forcing myself to clarify my thoughts to a point that the ideas are distinct and the arguments clear and cogent will help me to put those thoughts to practical use. For while thinking can be a pleasurable exercise, I am happiest when ideas can be turned to some real world application.

My interests tend to wander around the following areas; photography, documentary and narrative film making, graphics (motion and otherwise), science (particularly physics and biology) writing and philosophy. There may be plenty more categories where those came from, but I'd say that's enough for two or three blogs already so perhaps I should limit it for now.

As I am currently nursing the rebound of a bad cold or flu that has hung on for over two weeks now, I'll keep this first entry short. Between now and then, I'll do a bit of work to write an article that someone might actually find valuable. While the primary goal of this blog is to force me to clarify my thoughts, I hope that I can also contribute to the ideas and knowledge that we all must work with to accomplish anything of value in this life.