Photography as communication

[blansky]

Good comment.

I guess it's all part of the right brain , left brain quandry. We are trying to quantify the unquantifiable. The human being's need to put everything in a slot so he feels safe and comfortable.

Art is at it's best is probably uncomfortable, because it makes us think or react or at least evokes some sort of response.

The next question, is art that makes us feel comfortable, as good a piece of art as that which disturbs us.

I certainly don't have the answer.

Michael McBlane

 

[Robert Kennedy]

Treu. Art is visceral not logical. And it bugs me when it is overanalyzed.

 

[David Hall]

Thanks for the comment, Jdef.

If you don't mind...what's your filing system for negs and proofs? How do you keep track, what do you keep them in, and how do you keep things archival?

Always interested in how others do things.

dgh

 

[SteveGangi]

I use looseleaf binders, shoe boxes and brown paper bags. A pile for everything, and everything in its pile

 

[Robert Kennedy]

The easy way is this -

Buy two LARGE (3" is good) 3 ring binders for each format you shoot. One for chromes, one for negs. Make sure each format has a unique color (for example my 35mm binders are red). Mark one "SLIDES" and one "NEGS". You could even seperate it down to color or B/W if you have a lot of negs.

 

[glbeas]

I used to use the binders but didn't like how things got squashed and slide out. The pages the negs were in had slots at the top for a little hager bar so I got a pile of them and hang them in some file cabinets like hanging files. Access is very easy and my numbering system is based on the year and roll number so I at least can track down a picture if I remember when I shot it. I have four drawers full of hanging pages now and growing.

 

[Mark in SD]

First, I don't make my living with my photography so not every picture needs to say anything.

That being said, I do try to take "good" pictures as well as "snapshots". What the pictures are trying to say really depends on what it is. I try to capture whatever the mood is. If it is kids sports, I try to capture the action, excitement, drama. If it is nature, I'm usually going for peacefulness. It really depends on what the subject is.

 

[Eric Rose]

Beyond the computerized database I keep which is another whole topic, I keep my negs and chromes in binders. For negs I have them all in those spiffy neg pages and then I put a contact sheet right after it. On the contact sheet for MF and LF I put any printing instruction on the back of the neg pic for future reference.

 

[David Hall]

I ask because I have recently converted from "sheet films in a shoebox" to a nice archived system with computer database. But I have hundreds of thousands of rolls in binders from years past, and I just have no idea how to orgainze them. It's different than when you first start out because anything complicated will take me forever to do.

I guess this should be its own thread, but I appreciate all comments.

dgh

 

[Aggie]

..

 

[Juan Valdenebro]

O.K., I have a question for all of you. Since this forum is composed of great intellectual depth, I will be interested in the answers that you advance.

In your view, what does your photography serve to communicate, to whom do you wish to communicate, what visual objects do you utilize to communicate your message, and what is the benefit of the message that you propose to communicate?

I will begin in saying that, to me, my photography is a means whereby I can communicate the view that I have of life, to all who are willing to observe, I use readily available natural scenes in a symbolic way, and the benefit that I most strive to accomplish is to benefit others in expanding their view beyond what is commonly accepted as life.

Thanks to all who participate, I will learn a lot from you.

All that's very well said, Donald!
That's real photography and real art.