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Fine Art Critique Part 3

Okay um I want to like it but it's there are some problems with this photograph first of all, I want to commend the maker I love the idea and love where you're going I really love where they're going I think this the where they actually have the model I think is really interesting I love the clothing that she has on I find that this is like so close to being completely crazy beautiful because all of that kind of that rugged, you know, those twigs and everything kind of work with the model what's bothering me is the pose because it doesn't seem to fit it she just kind of like is sitting there and I don't feel that it works with the whole field of this um she just looks a little bit like she's bored she doesn't I'm not feeling the expression and I'm not feeling this arm specifically that it's right in this spot I would rather have seen the maker continue with this weird crazy, you know, abstract kind of I feel like this is too like it's sort of kind of portrait e but it's not it's not su...

pposed to be a portrait yeah, and I don't I don't think the sky the blue sky adds to it or helps it along so a different crop maybe being up a little higher so that the sky goes away and crop off the some of the left side there because it's a bright spot to someone keep going back to the corner, wondering, what's what's going to come flying in? Um it's the subject is aloof, but not quite there. They're not, and we don't want them to engage with us, so it za great start if like saying I want to really like this, you couldn't see myself doing something along these lines. Yeah, I would if I were the maker of this picture, I'll tell you right now, I would give you an a plus for effort because I love the way that you stylized it, the clothing and the horn things on the head and the location is on point it's really good. I like the idea of where you're going, but I just feel that I need I think part of what's also bothering me is that it's cropped so tight, and I feel that it needs to be a bit more needs a looser crop higher camera angle, I think would be good at getting that that scott, as you mentioned, too, but still really interesting, and I'd love to see you explore this concept a little bit more. This sort of reminds me of some of jury you'll zeman's the toning of it in the like, um, it's the pose poses working for me the face is down in the in the shadow but it's you know we don't want to connect with her um she's out in this field we can sort of see through her there's these interesting textures going along with top and the right side I assume that's a moon that's in there but it's it's ob long I don't know I'm thinking I want to see that a little rounder but that could be just me to try to be too literal sometimes you're so literal john good you're so literal I do find this very intriguing and I like the fact she's looking down I think this is one of those photographs I think that the more that you look at it, the more that you find it interesting I actually think this is quite interesting and I love the treatment I think that the treatment, the texture on the image that they over late is right on point I love the tone ality on this subject and especially you know when you do like brown tones or black and white tones like that man alive especially if you're doing it in today's with today's technology it sometimes can look a bit flat and a bit shiny at pearly almost can't even if that's the right word there's some on the print you get these metallic sheen says sometimes we're dependent on the inks and papers now you know one out there can see this but on here it's black and white on the other monitor tsotsi pia yeah and I'm kind of drawn more to the cbo version of it here to see if she's actually been a her name is christina santiago and she has been so nervous about getting nauseous I don't know what kinds of things so that s okay yeah good in that tell her the way that she treated this picture is beautiful and it's really in keeping with the mood I really really like the idea I'd love to her to do a siri's of these images I'd love to see her do somewhere that there's movement and some play in that dress I think this could be I think she's onto a really neat concept with this and sometimes all you need is one picture to kind of like dirt pull you into a direction and I really, really, really like where she's going with this I see this is being midnight nip yeah I could see dancers tio field is she saying that she has a serious of this little girl and I know that there is a special story to this image she said the little girl is autistic and the dress is sixty years old it was from her grandmother's prom dress so I'm not sure what the story is a sparse her siri's but she does saying that she's got a serious with this girl that's. Awesome. You know, one of the things, by the way, you know, that really made me think of something that you know sometimes when we're photographing just normal portrait's of people. If we incorporate some illustrated imagery, this is a great way to do that on people. If there are people who have special needs because there are times when we like I have a number of clients who have children that have special needs, you can't put them in the normal mold. You would not, you know, it's not gonna happen. And I really applaud the maker the way that she interpreted this little girl, I'll tell you right now that from a child with special needs of she's autistic wow, that is amazing. I mean that what a wonderful dignify dignity she gave this young lady. And what a beautiful image to give her family. Because it's not like hi, mom, how are you to me? It says so much about now that I know that this child is honest separation address to begin our generation. Really nice. Beautifully, beautifully done. This is so weird. Yeah, there's just waves through it, you can't tell if it's body painted or was done, it's done in post processing, but we have these eyes that just stare out into another direction at the pop right out of this, but this one, I do like the light color at the top in the horizon line up there, and then it leads, leads into the figure below, and the hair is flowing out, and with the arms flowing out, I don't mind, or even the arms getting cut off here, because it they're just lines, they're not arms, that just elements of an abstract here, where, you know, it's a it's about the lines and shapes, not so much about what the pictures off, you know, it's, a it's, a picture that could be on its own instead of being of something. Yeah, I really love the artistry of this image. I would like to see those arms, though I think that because the movement to me of the photograph goes from kind of a left to right, kind of, I feel like the movement kind of moves in this direction. And so because of that, I would love to see the follow through on just that. I think the gracefulness of those arms, I think, could be just so beautiful in keeping with the way the legs or done that the way that she's got her I think that's her legs yeah curled up their different legs up to the chest yeah, I can't do that but see this to me is so unique I think just so completely unique this to me says whoever you are you have a signature you have an absolute signature what that it's such a unique thing for a person to have is to have such a unique voice when we see there's so much of the photographic community it strives to be the supervisor or strives to be you know, the dog I mean the you know, whoever john whoever we are that in the beginning I think a lot of photographers try to be just like someone so or to create images that are, you know, just like that other person. But then what I encourage you to do is to take those things that you learn from those other individuals and then do it until you get comfortable with that technique and then put your own spit on and that's how we all grow as artisan. This maker deadly has a unique perspective. Yeah, I mean, it has a feel of a painting to I'm sort of seeing was it munches scream type of things and that that that feel to it just that the way the horizon line is so soft and just blended into the sky and it's see bits of a lot of different painters in the in there. And I think that's a good thing for photographers and maybe go to art museum goingto, while I look at some some master paintings, you know, it's one thing looking at a man in a book. But then if you can get to a big museum that has big pieces on the walls, I mean, it could be a very eye opening also, you know, do it for all of you that are out there doing these kinds of critiques. I know creative life is going to be doing these more often. Tell you this is something I would absolutely never miss it. You know, I think this is such an important lesson for us. I know what the deputy pike competition in march at the convention, they will have a competition that starts three days before the convention saturday or she's two days before saturday and sunday. I never would miss that. I think that is so important to see the rial photographs as well and see the way that they're treated the way that the maker, you know, the matting that they used the way that they treated that photograph because it is just such a powerful motivator to me it's pretty amazing to watch I did that for the first time this year and there you're going and you're judging this stuff too for first second third place and the like so it's just to see how photographers react to it and how they fight with each other even you know that I want that thing too you know someone knocks down some points and so will also fight to bring those points back up and it's gonna be really interesting toe to watch the whole the whole play out of how this stuff works yeah it's just just great this photograph gives me chills there's so many things I love I'm all over the place on it I mean I'm not kidding I go from uh to wow I am not kidding you I'm living my emotions are all over the place john yeah I mean there's so many things that can see it here I can almost see faces made by the the gaps in the trees in the background or the leaves the ivy on the wall whatever that is I don't know right away don't necessarily see the figures in there but when I do see the figures I'm looking for a little more symmetry of them right now it feels off balance anyone I want to get to the figures but I love that atonality I don't know it's again it's a little bit of a c p a tone thing that poses are good it's just that I want the one on the right side to come up a little bit or have a little more black behind her there just it's not a not a symmetric enough to work is asymmetrical. If it looks like it was meant to be somewhere else. Yeah, I agree that's actually, I think what what bugs me and I love love love this. So if you're the maker out there, you keep doing this because I'm telling you right now, you're really this is so interesting. I'm nuts about the tone ality I love it looks like it's, it's, infrared, and I think that that that that along with that bright black, is that sharp black is just absolute gorgeous, but I think what it is that bothers me, too is that the two bodies at the bottom are lined up to a little bit to eating and even even and it looks a little bit less interesting. I find each one of them interesting on their own, but I can't I'm not sure if I'm liking all three of them the way they are, but I really love this idea, and I think this this collection, this kind of concept create a story in this and create a series of images in this and I'm here to tell you you are gonna have something that is going to be a masterpiece for these just beautiful questions we do have a question so this comes from pro photographer I also have my own addendum to the question he asks, what is your definition of fine art photography? And I just wanted to say I thank you so much because fine art photography to me is so very subjective but I think what you guys have done in this critique is you've taken the elements that you know are generally make good and bad photographs and not not been too critical on whether it's art or not so it was all through the corners go back to the supreme court question what is pornography? I don't know until I see it, you know it's a tough one a portrait could fall into the fine are category on industrial image I mean, I don't know if there's hard and fast description of what's fine art it's it's how it was executed, where you've gone with it, how far you you've taken it and just, you know, we could take some some horrible industrial thing and and make it look like a beautiful piece that can hang on a wall e don't know I don't it's very subjective I mean how many of us if we had the motor lisa hanging in our home when we consider that fine art yeah and I'm sure that at the time it was nothing more than a portrait you know? So I don't know that that's something that we can it's not something that probably someone outside determines I can't determine that might might pieces fine art but if you could you know what I will say about that fine art though is that I know there's that the higher up the food chain that I go when it comes to the kind of when I create images for clients that my wealthier clients that they do not consider a normal a portrait of somebody looking in the camera fine art they would never hang a wool merchant like that in their home they're not going to do it they will hang a as a piece of artwork in their home something that looks more editorial something where there where it's less predictable that it doesn't look like you know like like a normal traditional portrait they won't hang that in their home but if they're hanging like rembrandts and mayonnaise and stuff like that there's no way they're gonna hang like somebody in a blue background in their house this is not going to happen so I do find that the higher I go up on the food chain them or that they want images that reflect lifestyle not static imagery in other words if there were something of a portrait of somebody you know their child running down the hallway it's not you may not even see that child space but they know that that's their little girl maybe the front doors open or something they might consider that a piece of fine art this image that we see on the screen right here that could be a portrait to someone because if it's it's maybe it's an interpretive portrait of that young lady I think to myself what makes a portrait during the second world war winston churchill was the famous poor charge when he pulled the exactly the cigar out of his hand exactly what the famous portrait of winston churchill and yet that was not really you know it's not a typical portrait so I think the same could be said what makes a portrait yeah I mean richard avedon I mean he always says that he photographed the the external person not the internal he was just getting what was there I mean he was his shot of the duke and duchess of windsor he could get any reaction out of them he knew they love dogs so we made up a story that he's the taxicab use in hit a dog on the way to the photo shoot as their faces dropped that's the picture he took you know he's just interested and how he wanted to see it where when I do portrait, I'm usually trying to find something that's in the person it's just it's, just different styles and different ways of doing it. And I know for myself that to me, my perfect portrait of myself would not be looking in the camera shot. It would be something that interpreted who I wass it may. It may not even have my body, and it may be just be moving fast where you don't even see me. That to me would be my portrait. That to me would be my signature. Does that make any sense? Yeah, I mean there's, a big photo fest in dubai each year, and they have a competition there. Some of the photographers and one of two years ago, that competition was a quick self portrait, and everyone did something of themselves that gregory heisler took a picture of his pork pie hat and I think his round glasses as a still life, and that was his, his self torture. He wasn't anywhere, and it yet he was in it.