Of course, only a True Critic can respond here. It's so simple. Cotty's diver has a helmet with a pattern on it called Lavender Mist #1, and is about to plunge into Le Reservior, fed by River Dart, in order to hide from the Constable, who's helmet (can you see the self-referential helmet issue here?) he'd swiped during a Boat Race in 1912.
All pictures in the links rate no more than 2.6 (scale of ten). My analysis, however, is a 9.7.
Pass da beer, Cotty. Grin. This is the _last_ time I play critic.
-Lon
Cotty wrote:
I think most people hate telling others on the list that they don't like their photos, for whatever reason, technical or otherwise. So they don't say anything. I don't know about others, but I was more or less raised with the old saying that if you can't say something nice, keep it to yourself. Not that I can always FOLLOW that advice, as you all know, but it seems to me a photograph is such a personal effort, one hates to be less than complimentary about it. "Oh, yeah! That's really nice! [YUK!]"
It's a hard thing to do, to be less than complimentary about a fellow photog's output!
I don't know if that's what stops anyone else from speaking out, but that's why *I* don't post criticisms...
I'm broadly with you on this Frank. I never criticise anyone's work (well, except maybe Jackson Pollock but then again it just looks like paint sprayed willy nilly on a canvas - in joke between me and the Mrs...) and why not? Because in my book, a photograph or a painting or a sculpture is art and is presented to be viewed. It can cause comment and debate and argument, but to actually criticise - even postive criticism - never!
Sure, the artist can ask for it, and there is a never-ending supply of folk willing to offer it - and heaven knows that some of them are amply qualified to give it, but to me it is s non-sequitur. It has no meaning. All it apparently does is invite the critics to point out their own artistic beliefs and their own merit systems. Fine, if the artist requests it, and the critic gives it, then they can all be happy and feel they have achieved something, and maybe they have.
I simply say that I don't offer criticism. I say when I like something, and I don't when I don't. Personal taste is nothing to do with whether or not a piece of work is any *good* as I don't believe a piece of work - any piece of work - can be judged as good or bad. You simply cannot 'grade' art. If I put a Constable and a Turner in front of you, which one do you prefer, and why?
Constable:
<http://www.excelsiordirect.com/haywain.htm>
Turner:
<http://www.j-m-w-turner.co.uk/artist/turner-totnes.htm>
The Constable looks more like a photographical representation of the scene, so does that make it any better than the Turner?
Now I introduce the Picasso:
<http://home.xnet.com/~stanko/res.htm>
Better or worse?
Finally the Pollock. (Now we're really dredging the bottom ;-)
<http://abstractart.20m.com/Jackson_Pollock.html>
The truth is, none is better or worse than any other. The only real thing you can do about it is decide which one you like and which one you don't. It's the same with photography. Each piece of work should be viewed and appreciated on its own merits and to varying degrees.
Take a look at this guy:
<http://www.macads.co.uk/snaps/portraits/images/pic3.html>
A colleague who looked at it said, "That's nice - but what a shame his eye is in shadow so you can't see it..." I chuckled to myself. If I had wanted him to see that eye, he would have seen it.
I'm currently experimenting with some soft images - things that are out of focus that one would normally expect to be in focus. A sharp dress but a soft face. I find it interesting and it evokes in me a particular feeling that the traditionally sharp shot of the same thing does not. It's all been done before - there's nothing new in photography ;-) I'll post results when I'm ready.
Didn't mean for this to turn into a masterclass on art appreciation. Just my two coppers.
Cheers, Cotty
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