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Below are the three most recent Here's a Thought . . . commentaries
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HT2336 - Photography and Media |
The digital divide has created a dichotomy I've never heard discussed. That dichotomy is a generational one, I think. Those of us from the previous generation found photography mostly in books, and occasionally in original prints. Today, most of us see images digitally and even more rarely in original prints. (Fewer galleries, etc.) I wonder how much of this is the result of phenomenal image fidelity in books and digital displays? |
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HT2337 - File Management and Your Memory |
I would have never guessed that a huge barrier to my creativity would be as simple as finding the image I remember taking in the haystack that is my Lightroom catalog. It's worse than finding a needle in that haystack, it's searching for one specific needle in a haystack of needles. The best advice I've heard about this challenge is to assess how your own memory works and build your organization to fit your brain. |
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3
HT2338 - Preserved by the Few |
Time moves on and what was once popular becomes almost forgotten. Try today to find a big band music radio station. History is preserved by a few, and a tenuous thread it is that links us to the past. As a contemporary photographer, I feel an obligation, a compulsion, a duty to keep the work of our predecessors alive, at least in my heart. |
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HT2339 - The Age of Enlargement |
The advent of enlarged prints from negatives or glass plates dates back to the earliest days of photography. Nonetheless, enlargements weren't a regular feature of fine art photography until the early decades of the 20th century. Even into the 1940s contact printing that produced prints the same size as the negative ruled the roost. Today, we take enlargements for granted, but there is something to be said for the tradition of smaller prints. |
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HT2340 - Note the Audience Reaction |
From time to time we all have a chance to show our work. Praise is nice to receive, but it's even more valuable pay attention to the reactions you get from the work. Each viewer will tell you something if you just pay attention to their body language as well as their comments. |
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HT2341 - Screen Versus Print |
I'm an old print guy from way back. I love the physicality of prints. I love the experience of handling a print up close, the texture of the paper, the smell of ink. That said, I often find I prefer the dynamic range and vibrance of my images on screen. The mistake I routinely make is trying to make my prints look what I see on my screen. |
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HT2342 - The Illusion of Detail |
As I sit here looking across the backyard at the edge of the wild, I know that if I walked closer and closer, pulled out my magnifying glass or microscope, that with every step along the way I would reveal more and smaller detail. In a photograph, however, if we get too close and magnify too much our image dissolves into ink dots or grains of silver. In photography there is no detail, there's only the illusion of detail. |
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HT2343 - Signature Tools |
Signing your work is important. It communicates far more than the author of the work. Your signature denotes completion of the work as well as approval of its craft and content. Therefore, it's worth thinking a bit about how you sign your work and with what tools you use in signing it. |
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HT2344 - The Edge of the Image |
Every rule in art has exceptions. For example, never use the rule of thirds because it's formulaic; use the rule of thirds because it's the strongest way of composing. On several occasions, I've mentioned the importance of eliminating those little pokies that are often distractions at the very edge of the image. Sometimes, however, using the edge to cut an object asunder is a great way to expand the frame through the viewer's imagination.
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HT2345 - Print Metadata |
Digital photographs, we all know, have metadata that tells us a bit of the behind-the-scenes story of the image. Such information is useful for a variety of reasons including provenance and copyright specifics. As creators, such backstories can play an important role in our personal histories. But what about our prints? |
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HT2346 - Tiny Print, Giant Mat |
In one of my visits to the Art Institute of Chicago, I saw a display of photography that consisted of 35mm contact prints matted and framed to 16x20". These tiny prints were impressive and memorable precisely because they so successfully invited close inspection. The convention is to surround the image with white border, but how much is the right amount? |
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HT2347 - The Element of Surprise |
All drama involves a reveal of one kind or another. Audiences expect it and love it. The same can be true for photography. Why else would so many people get close to a photograph and look for hidden details? |
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HT2348 - Photography Is a Personal Thing |
One of the most interesting photography books I've seen in a long time is by gallery owner Peter Fetterman and is titled The Power of Photography. Part of the reason this book is so special is that it is so personal. Federman reviews 120 images from his collection and tells us about it, not from its historic point of view but rather from his personal point of view. It reminds me that every picture is a story, every picture has a story, and every story is a personal one. |
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HT2349 - Photography Under Glass |
I mentioned the other day that I had visited the Fenimore Museum near Cooperstown, New York. One thing that struck me as I wandering through the museum was that there was only one medium that was protected under glass — photographs. Also on display were paintings, sketches, etchings, prints of many varieties of media, but only the photographs were framed under glass. Is there a reason for this, or is it simply convention? This, in fact, was the topic of my very first Here's a Thought commentary back on March 1, 2019. |
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HT2350 - Execution and Content |
When I look at artwork, it often involves two different types of response. I can admire a work of art because of its amazing execution, or I may admire a work of art for its emotive content. Execution involves a wonderment about how the artist did it. Content involves a dialog about why they did it. I've learned that I can't process both of these ways of thinking simultaneously. |
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