Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Makes No Sense



I like the image above. It doesn't make any sense. It has too many things going against it - the blurred back of the machinist, the odd dangly thing at the top, there's a pop bottle there and a shiny new looking helmet against what otherwise looks, well; shop worn. I kept telling myself it was grounds for the waste basket, but I didn't want to throw it away. I'm sure it's not a good photograph, and possibly no one else is going to see anything in it - but something made me take the picture despite all the things going against it and I show it to you to generate a discussion about liking images despite logic telling us the image shouldn't work.

Any thoughts?

8 comments:

Bobby Brooks Photography said...

It's got great color, along with the shiny helmet. Good contrasts in textures, including the blurred machinist, and shapes, some soft and blurred, others hard edged and well defined. I like it too.

Debra Trean said...

I like it because of the color and it is different it has a certain busy feel to it.

Anonymous said...

George, I think your description of the photo may help explain why you're unsure of it's worthiness. Much of what you enthusiastically described: the pop bottle, the new helmet, the worn shop wall, just don't seem to come through very well, at least at the size on my screen, and to be honest I am not sure they would come through if the image were larger.

It's the all-to-common dilemma of a photographer's memory of the experience vs. the quality of the image. We all have it. Every one.

I don't remember this guys name, but I once read about a photographer who would freeze undeveloped film for years before processing so that he would be able to view the resulting images without the burden of his experiences biasing his views.

Actually, considering that example, I wonder if it's not more of a problem now that digital gives us such instant feedback?

George Barr said...

This was my eleventh trip back and I'd been aware of that backstop to the bench for a long time, and on this visit was intrigued with the helmet reflections so perhaps Chuck is right, perhaps the Emperor has no clothes.

George

Anonymous said...

Great, now feel bad.

George Barr said...

No, just cold.

George

Mike Mundy said...

Another issue, if you're concerned about it, is "how does this fit into the 'body of my work?'"
I've never bothered with the "body of work" notion, but some do.

Josh Gentry said...

You do get to treasure some photos because of your related experience, you just can't expect other people to treasure them.