2008-10-19 // 23:48:33
g.
this is truly beautiful...

(and i enjoyed the conversation below)

^ thanks g. by the way, this is how I used my only given shot :) There is much to be discussed about the state of contemporary Arts these days, espacially photography's place within it.

2008-09-21 // 00:18:02
benrains
I don't think you should feel sad about someone else disagreeing with you, but if you want to try and change their minds then you should! (For me, I don't bother out of combination of laziness and perhaps becoming too jaded over the years. :-)

And of course you're right. A great deal of artistic photography has nothing to do with the idea of the decisive moment or of snapshots. Much of it is about very carefully constructed visualizations which can take hours or even days to plan and execute. One of the greatest appeals of photography to me is that you can approach it from either end of the timescale--the split second or the time consuming construction--and everything in between.

2008-09-17 // 03:52:45
benrains
I don't bother. I'd rather expend effort on other things (as life is very short.) Besides, everyone is entitled to their own incorrect opinions. :-)

Mostly I think it's that some people believe there's nothing to photography beyond pressing a button to trip the shutter. And certainly, in a lot of the older more established forms of art, there's nothing like the Cartier-Bresson's notion of the "decisive moment" which involves a peculiar sort of combination of luck, technical skill, the keenest perceptive abilities to anticipate a shot–seconds, or fractions of a second–in advance, and the creative ability to frame it well in that brief space of time.

But then Henri Cartier-Bresson himself didn't consider his photography to be art. Maybe the painters are right after all?

^ I am still working on a decent reply... But I can't help but think of contemporary artists like Crewdson, Wall or even Yasumasa Morimura, and find nothing in their practice that relates to the decisive moment. Yet it is still photography, but mostly it fits in the Arts. I have a theory, maybe out of bitterness, that people who think of photography as "snap shots" would tell you their favorite artist is Monet, or Da Vinci... So I don't bother either, but then I get sad :(

2008-09-14 // 14:25:52
benrains
One of the peculiar things about view camera photography I've noticed is that many of the painters I know–even ones who tend to dismiss the artist merits of photography–seem to have some level of fascination with view cameras. Either they enjoy using them for photography, or I find them captivated in looking at images on the ground glass. I figure it's because view camera photography lends itself to being a bit more of a contemplative process, like painting and drawing are.

^ the movements correct subjects to a point of almost surrealness. its quite compelling to look at a large format image. ah I hope you fight for artists who use the photographic medium when they try to take the merits away :)

2008-09-14 // 01:19:06
benrains
Oh hey... you have my attention. View camera photography is a whole different sort of beast.

And yes, the autumn is coming. The thing I notice first is the change in light... the cold usually doesn't arrive here until late October.

^ I have noticed the light changing in august. The cold is unpredictable though. Sometimes it'll be cold by the end of september, and sometimes it'll still be warmish in december. But the 4x5 is the most exciting thing I've used since I've learned how to draw. .

2008-09-14 // 00:56:02
CYRILLE PANCHOT
+++++

^ !!!

2008-09-13 // 22:43:17
dsaccidental
mmmm congrats

v+F

^ mmm thanks :)

2008-09-13 // 20:21:16
yungal
very nice shot and great colours!v+f

^ :) thanks

2008-09-13 // 17:48:51
automatik
lovely angle, and the tones are cool

^ thank you, I'd think that a green cast ruins an image...but it adds to this one :)