Reply interspersed. On 12/31/2012 7:59 AM, Larry Colen wrote:
I am very definitely my own worst critic, and by worst I don't mean harshest, I mean least competent. For that reason, I'd really benefit from feedback on selecting my best shots, not only which ones, but why.
Aren't we all??? I have learned over time that it pays to return and review and finally re-edit my work. Sometimes it really surprised me how I could choose one photograph or overlook another...
Part of the discrepancy between this set, and my PESOs http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellarsee/sets/72157632077606072/ comes from the fact that I might post a PESO for reasons other than I think that it is a great photo. I may think that it is an interesting photo, it was challenging to take, it may document some event in my life, or I may simply think that it is amusing.
I don't have well defined criteria for anything really. I would post a PESO if it would strike me as worth posting. Why - I couldn't say. Well, in general I'd try to post an image that is sound both in terms of technical quality and composition, however I might do otherwise.
The selection of the monthly faves is more from my wanting to save that photo to look at later. The main reason for putting a shot in the monthly faves is because, at the moment, I really like that shot, or other people comment very favorably about it. I started the monthly faves to make selecting three to submit for the annual that much easier, but realized that with my terrible editing skills, it is a much better place to point people to my photos than my flickr account in general.
Hehe, that's cheating :-). A good way of cheating, but nonetheless - you make other people make your choices for you :-). Seriously however, I do enjoy looking at your collections, though somehow I never thought I was supposed to vote or something... Sadly, I don't have much time for anything these days and hence my social photographic (those that relate to photography and involve being social) activities are far less than I would want them to be.
A lot of the selection into the annual faves probably has to do with the mood I'm in when I go through the monthly faves to select the annual faves. Looking through my faves from this past year, I was actually somewhat disappointed, I didn't have a lot to choose from, and didn't see much that was particularly good technically, while still original or creative.
I might humbly suggest you do so while listening to music. You might find such an experience fascinating...
"An imperfect ten" was probably my most creative photo this year: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellarsee/8068490566/in/set-72157631471892470 Since it incorporated using the astrotracer, as well as shining a green laser through a lens in a special mount so that I could use it for calligraphy, but when I was making a print of it for my sensei, I realized how technically flawed it is. The problem with doing things that are cutting edge technically, is that they aren't going to be technically perfect, or even very good, without a lot of work and development.
I don't know... I mean - it is a cool photo but in my view it is more technically challenging or gadget-wise advanced than anything... It is not to say that it is a bad photo - it is very good, but I think you and I define "creative" differently.
As much as the astrotracer really helps, star photos still seem to need photostacking, which I haven't learned yet, and would probably greatly benefit from darker skies than I have convenient access to. Unfortunately, the friend's house that I shot it at, because it was one of the best locations for astrocalligraphy, caught fire a few weeks ago, and he has had to move out.
There you go, sir - a new word has been born... Astrocalligraphy - that's both very much Far Eastern philosophic (calligraphy) and very much twenty first century modern...
I think that you should come here and we should do some serious shooting... Boris -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
