02-22-12 – Noir: Embrace Your Dark Side

Forums Forums Farktography General Chat This week’s contest 02-22-12 – Noir: Embrace Your Dark Side

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 141 total)
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  • #2572
    Elsinore
    Keymaster

    Photo’s evocative of the darker elements of human nature, crime, rage, jealousy, fear, cynicism, anything from the scary part of your psyche. Embrace the Dark Side and together we shall rule the galaxy…errr…Fark.

    Another quality theme by ennuipoet!

    #44461
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    Already! Crap, I’ve got to get to work! (Not asking for it to be bumped, just freaking out because I’ve got to actually DO them now!)

    #44458
    Barracuda
    Participant

    I’ve got the ideas, just hope I can pull them off.

    //disclaimer: all entries of mine will likely be posed and do not reflect my current state of mind.

    #44459
    Farktographer
    Participant

    Thinking of stealing rav‘s use of narrowed lighting for some portraits…

    #44462
    ravnostic
    Participant

    Jump on into it, Farktographer! That’s why we share! I have some other ideas, though…

    #44463
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    Anyone looking for a quick hit of inspiration for this theme can look to the great crime/street photographer weegee. As I said when suggesting the theme, this does not have to be black and white, so indulge yourself in lurid colors!

    Still here, BTW, had a friend offer to help me out. It’s good to have friends.

    #44464
    Barracuda
    Participant

    Not much for street photography and don’t know many people willing to model, so here’s a general idea of the direction I’m going:

    Work in progress #1

    #44465
    staplermofo
    Participant

    I don’t know how to phrase this without sounding like an idiot, so take a minute and let the “staplermofo’s an idiot” waves wash over you. Meditate, distance, rejoin.
    Good.

    If my memory of 90s raves serves, these kids are probably drug addicted, intermittently homeless, etc. They’re having fun, they’re brightly colored; it’s only dark if you put it in context.

    Like, does it need to convey darkness such that I could hop in my time machine, grab some guys from 1900 and 2100, show it to them and have them agree “that’s dark.”?

    #44466
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    I don’t know how to phrase this without sounding like an idiot, so take a minute and let the “staplermofo’s an idiot” waves wash over you. Meditate, distance, rejoin.
    Good.

    If my memory of 90s raves serves, these kids are probably drug addicted, intermittently homeless, etc. They’re having fun, they’re brightly colored; it’s only dark if you put it in context.

    Like, does it need to convey darkness such that I could hop in my time machine, grab some guys from 1900 and 2100, show it to them and have them agree “that’s dark.”?

    I like open themes, and I like to see what people’s perceptions on the darker side of human nature involve. The bad part of us isn’t limited to grey scale visions and bleak visages, let your psyche run amok.

    #44467
    orionid
    Participant

    I think the biggest thing here is viewer perception. For example: What depression looks like. Even knowing the full context of this shot, it’s hard to see “depression” or anything dark for that matter. This shot was a month after Pangolyn’s suicide, three days after my grandmother died of ALS, and when I was well into my path of not being able to sleep, recurring nightmares when I could sleep, not eating, barely showering (more like a masochistic ritual of scalding myself), and contemplating taking my own life several times a week. Even knowing that, the photograph still shows nothing more than some goofy guy having a great time at a pool. Will that collect votes in this theme? Probably not.

    Now, at the other end, I took this photo on a whim and received immediate feedback on how uncomfortable it made a lot of viewers feel. It doesn’t matter that I was in a great mood, listening to Freddy Mercury, and enjoying the high of learning new tricks on my camera. It just feels dark, violent, and causes an emotional stir in the viewer. I think this one would perform significantly better than the first in this theme (well, aside from the whole whim of the fark voting masses, anyway).

    Edit to add: But like Ennuipoet said, if you can pull off a well-lit, brightly colored “dark image” then more power to you. It’ll probably do well just because it stands out from the rest. On that note, anyone willing to shoot up some heroin for me while I take macro shots of the needle penetration and priming?

    #44468
    lokisbong
    Participant

    I am having problems getting anything I consider “dark” or any of the other descriptive things for this contest. I have been trying but Nothing seems to me like it will fit. And they were mostly not great photos anyway with bad focus and crappy lighting. Gonna try more after while but as of yet I have nothing for this unless I go with Lego people. and even then they seem more funny than dark to me.

    #44469
    Yugoboy
    Participant

    If I can get any shots for this other than of police at work or the cemetery I’ll be surprised.

    As much as I like this theme, I think I’ll like other people’s results more than my own. I’m currently IN a “scary part of my psyche” phase IRL, but I’m not feeling like I know what to shoot for this. The only thing I can think of is phobias, and i don’t have any good shots of spiders since moving to my DSLR… just haven’t come across those massive ones like we saw in South Carolina a couple years ago.

    rambling… sorry…

    #44470
    Yugoboy
    Participant

    Given that this theme is kicking my ass, I’m wondering if it’s kosher to go with the word “noir” and make a photo with a “noir”-ish feel.

    I’ve got some alleys from Italy that, if converted to B/W and grained up a bit would probably be very noir-ish. I could also spend some time Monday or Tuesday poking around the city near me for some alleys or buildings with art deco entrances, or something.

    Just some questions top open this up a bit (I’m not normally one for waiting until the last minute to shoot something, but this one’s got me all bumfuzzled).

    #44471
    ennuipoet
    Participant

    http://freeversephotography.com/freeversephotoblog/?attachment_id=3167

    Yugo: This was the shot that originally inspired me to submit this theme, so absolutely dark, and depressing places are an excellent fit for this theme. I broadened the idea to open it up, largely inspired by some of orionid‘s work (http://www.flickr.com/photos/orionid/4168388832/in/set-72157622864788437).

    For folks whose mental state doesn’t lean toward the dark and morose, environmental shots like dark alleys, scary rooms, the brooding closet doors, creepy old cars, strangers, men offering candy, dangerous women, liquor, guns, war vets and Newt Gingrich all are quite acceptable in this theme.

    #44472
    gambitsgirl
    Participant

    Are my photos of Chucky Cheese appropriate for this theme? 😯

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 141 total)
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