[ennuipoet]

I’m kind of a rules are more like guidelines person, (which made me VERY popular in the military with my superiors! )

I know how this goes quite well. Someday, they’ll give up and adapt to me.

Let me know how that works out, after ten years of trying I gave up!

[ennuipoet]

I’ve noticed that the voters, fickle as they may be, tend to vote down things that don’t adhere to the theme, so I’m okay with letting them sort it out at this point.

I certainly noticed that in the case of my bloody rose, the vote totals are quite low while my other entries are doing pleasingly well. I did take shots off the idea that were completely in theme:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ennuipoet/5374403850/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ennuipoet/5374403848/

I felt they weren’t as compelling. Of course, had I used one of those I might have been proven wrong. No matter what, I shall strive to hew closer to the rules, if for no other reason than not being the sort wot causes unrest to Elsinore! 😆

[ennuipoet]

I’m very torn on this. Looking through the thread there are some other shots I missed when scanning through that obviously have more color than grayscale tones. Mopsy: Do you have an opinion?
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Looking at the Top Ten all them fit the spirit of the theme, but each of them have colors beyond black/white and the pop. Most of them are muted, subdued, but present. I’m kind of a rules are more like guidelines person, (which made me VERY popular in the military with my superiors! ) so I like to nudge the theme. Personally, I believe the wider interpretation leads to better photography but that is a personal thing not a stance on the issue.

[ennuipoet]

I keep going back to your Winter Walk orionid…I think it may a perfect photo, composition, content, exposure…damn…that is a nice shot.

Elsinore: I see your point about the lack to true monochrome in blood and roses. I think it is consistent with other entries in the thread, but I am content if you want to pull the shot. I’m of the mind to not worry much of a muchness 🙂

[ennuipoet]

I shoot dominant eye, right both camera and when it was applicable firearms.

[ennuipoet]

The only one that really concerns me is Ennuipoet‘s “I close my eyes and I see blood and roses”. That one has the rose and the blood color popped against white, so it’s really two different colors–red and green–and two different objects. the rose/its stem and the blood.

I toyed with that in several different ways not liking any of the crops or composure without the stem. I’ve got B’s of macro close rose and faux blood drops if it falls to far outside of the parameters. Let me know and I will replace it. It’s not doing so well in the voting that it will matter.

To tell the truth I went liberal with the theme trying to make it fit a vision in my head, a meta-theme within a theme! 🙄

[ennuipoet]

Oh, and here’s a bit of free advice for all the guys out there: When you run out to the store and come home with a dozen roses (they didn’t sell singles) and your wife asks, “Are those for me?”, the correct answer is “Yes, dear, absolutely” and NOT “No, I needed them for a photo contest.” 😳

/She was actually really understanding about it.
//Although I strongly suspect it would be in my best interests to follow up soon with some just for her. 😉

I came in the door over the weekend with roses and the whole house stopped silent, until I said: “photo project” and normality was restored.

Also, this week there are no Archive Shots in the mix, everything was shot for this contest. Due to this, large amount of gray has started color popping in my hairline.

[ennuipoet]

I know that when I am photog mode I am not good company. Most of my friends recognize the glazed expression, hands reaching for the camera bag as I wander off to photograph something they didn’t even notice. I’ve actually made a rule that if I intend something to be a photo outing I don’t ask friends to go along. They are not going to have a good time and I am not going to take good pics.

[ennuipoet]

The irony is, when we’re out using the vintage cameras, no one seems to object at all and we get remarks like “cool man” and “wow that looks old” etc – especially from kids.

So I guess the lesson is, if you’re a pedophile/terrorist, shoot old film (??) :/

I know, I shoot 90% of my street stuff on either my Petri 7 rangefinder or the Yashica. Of course, I’ve got a ton of film piling up to be developed when I find the time, but that is part of the fun and surpise!

olavf: I really have to find a lady photo partner so I downgrade the “creepy old man factor”. Plus, you know, it would be nice to find someone who shares my passions to feel passionate about 🙂

[ennuipoet]

Hmmm…. So I just need to chop swap a ccd into a rolleiflex.

Good god man, don’t even JOKE about that! Scientist have been trying for years to do just what you’ve suggested and NONE OF THEM HAVE BEEN HEARD FROM SINCE!!!! (Jarring Chord)

[ennuipoet]

The whole anti-photographer movement actually began in the mid-90’s or so (IIRC) when the Internet made the exchange of child porn so simple. A spurt of news stories broke and people began marking photogs as potential predators. Then 9/11 and the security crack down, now we are potential predators and terrorists. Couple that with the egregious behavior of the paparazzi and you have the formula for an anti-photography blow back.

I also quite sure than an unassuming woman carrying a TLR (she shot Roliflex primarily) can be far more discreet than a big guy with huge lens on his digital SLR. I’ve taken to shooting my street work at public performances and parades where people are far less self conscious over the camera. A photographer at these events is natural and people ignore me. I am free to parse the crowd looking for good street shots without coming across like a predator. It is a (bad) compromise but one that I am forced to make.

[ennuipoet]

Wow. The power of black and white. Wow.

//”Billy Graham is a cracker” gave me a chuckle.

There is a reason people still work in B&W and why it remains the choice for Fine Art Photography. IMHO B&W removes all distraction from the image and compels the viewer to concentrate on content. Also B&W as a medium for Street Photography just seems…”right” though I can’t really say why I think that.

This is the photography I wish I was shooting, the kind of raw emotion in Vivian’s work raises photography to a level of visual poetry. All the more, to me, because she never published any of it on her own.

[ennuipoet]

I’ve been following this story for a month or two, since finding a link to the Blog posting her photos. Her photographs…it’s hard to find the right word to sum them up, I dither between stark and stunning. No one knows much about Vivian, what kind of person she was, what her motivations for photography were. The consensus is that she would be mortified at the attention her work is receiving. 🙂

It also brings to light something important that a lot of photographers don’t think about. What happens to your photos after you are gone? I’ve been trying to make a decision over this for a while now. I’ve made provisions for my intellectual property to pass to a friend of mine rather than my family because my friend would know what is and isn’t worth preserving. The problem is my friend is a writer and knows nothing about photography. Now I need to make new provisions for a growing image library. Vivian’s work is an excellent example why. She never thought her work would be worth anything, so she did nothing. Now (and I am not hucking rocks at the guy who is publishing her work, he’s doing an amazing thing) a stranger is profiting from her life’s work.

If you have a will or arrangements, make sure you include your intellectual property folks. Otherwise you never know where it will end up. Most of us have more than a shoebox full of snapshots and Vivian proves we never know when they might have value.

[ennuipoet]

Very cool and very surreal. I am a huge fan of photography that captures the normal and portrays it in a wildly different way!

[ennuipoet]

Vote for my own? Oh hell yeah! My grandfather always told me toot my own horn, because no one else would. He also told me that Bolivians were stealing the weasel from our garden…so, his advice might be suspect.

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