Lamp Base (Central Park)
I’m curious, as someone who has worked almost exclusively in b&w; it seems as if there are just so many ways of interpreting an image, while still keeping it somewhat real looking. You can especially see this with these last two images where the blacks are giving the images a feeling of weight; but they could be done very differently and still appear to the viewer as - oh - that’s what it looked like.
I’ve been signing my name to the web images because I’ve come to see them as more craft, more painterly, than documentary. In other words - here’s my interpretation - done at this time - of a lamp base in Central Park. How it was framed, what angle was used, what lighting, and then all the post-processing choices which are now more than ever.
Ah, the point. For those who are into color photography - do you feel the same way? Do you feel that what you saw through the (viewfinder, LCD, back) is just a beginning, and that you can go many ways without losing the sense of “reality.” I am curious about that because I believe that one reason I keep returning to b&w is that I can be the trickiest here and still get away with what appears to me as a naturalistic look.
Comments
Pingback from Jason D. Moore Photography » Blog Archive » P&P Weekly: #67
Time: March 12, 2008, 7:22 am
[…] Dave of New York Photography - “Lamp Base (Central Park)“ […]
Comment from Kerry
Time: March 14, 2008, 7:36 am
Such a simple question.
Perhaps the eye, the mind, is the beginning—-
The viewfinder and the film or memory chip are but tools used in a process to eventually share our interpretations on paper or on the web versus on canvas, papyrus, a cliff face, or a wall in a cave or subway.
Always the difference between the historian and the artist…. One records an exact event, a precise moment in time. One represents the feelings and emotions engendered by that moment.
Memories, feelings and emotions change. Perhaps as we change, our perspective changes – or maybe we need our memories to change so we can move on.
Then too, should our visual representations change?
To the historian, no, for without exactitude and reality, mistakes fade and good becomes great without challenge.
To the artist, yes, for we need perspective to forgive and to find beauty overshadowed by the harshness of reality.
If that sounds like a chorus from Ebony and Ivory, I apologize!
I’ve just stumbled across your site and enjoy your photography along with the musings, stories and adventures. Thanks!
Comment from D. Brent Miller
Time: March 10, 2008, 7:52 pm
I have converted only a few digital images to B&W. So, when I’m shooting digital, I tend to see it in color. When I’m shooting B&W film, I see the image in black and white–especially when shooting with the Hasselblad. Yes, I can shift two of my digital cameras to B&W mode, but not my EOS 1D MkII, which does most of my digital work. I do very little cropping–practically none. What I see through the view finder is the image, and I work at creating that image through the view finder.
Just like in the darkroom–digital or film–the image is just the beginning of a tweak to make it look as I saw it. I don’t “photoshop” a fine art or documentary image other than those standard tweaks such as contrast and brightness. Unfortunately, I have seen publishers destroy “my image,” because of their editorial perogative for their illustration.–DBrent