Comments for Red Skies at Night

Comment on A 1937 Remix by sally cole-whiffen

sally cole-whiffen — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 01:55:02 +0000

eric, what a pleasant surprise! she IS beautiful, isn’t she!
thanks.

sally

Comment on Print Swap by sally cole-whiffen

sally cole-whiffen — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 00:16:34 +0000

Hmmm….I may not be a photographer of rank, but I am a grandmother and would be willing to swap photos with you.
sally

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by Eric Jeschke

Eric Jeschke — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:54:10 +0000

Ah, Markus. Now you have laid your finger on the reason I am so intrigued by this way of picture making…

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by Markus

Markus — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:16:02 +0000

‘in “made images” the emotions evoke visual stimuli…’ is a strong concept, and a universe at least as large and rich as the “found images” realm. And if you think of Uelsman’s images, probably way bigger. The only bounds are within the personal imagination. (Note to self: sounds tempting!)

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by John - Visual Notebook

John - Visual Notebook — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:41:05 +0000

I have this perception of passion that in this case may be a bit extreme – I used to cycle with what I define as passion, that is, “eat, breathe, ride”. With photography it’s a little different, but I think about it most times when I’m not doing it, and when I am doing it I’m usually very focused, regardless of the subject. Maybe that makes me passionate about photography and measured about the subjects I’m shooting. Regardless, I feel good doing it and I enjoy post-processing in the old digital darkroom as well. Thanks for your thoughts.

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by Eric Jeschke

Eric Jeschke — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:26:04 +0000

Markus, I love “found image” photography myself. It is what I know best, also. One could spend a whole lifetime doing nothing but that–it is a rich vein to mine. But I have seen other photographers who work this different way, from visualizing the photo within and then manufacturing it. I wondered whether I could do that too, because I find the idea fascinating. Of course there are stimuli influencing the “picture within”, but I think they are more hazy, nebulous influences than the visual stimuli for found images. Put another way, in found images, the visual stimuli evoke emotions–in “made images” the emotions evoke visual stimuli. Something like that.

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by Eric Jeschke

Eric Jeschke — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 04:19:48 +0000

John,
I use the term “passionate” kind of loosely–I think other terms like “care deeply about”, “love”, “hate”, etc. will also work. Basically, some kind of strong emotion that will resonate in the final image. It is about the transfer of this emotion to the work. If that is not present in the beginning, it is hard to fake it and imbue the photograph with the same vibe.

It sounds like you have some things that you like photographing, are those strong enough emotions for you to influence your photograph, or does it feel like a detached thing when you take or look at the image? Good to hear of your plans to work with people–go for it!

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by Markus

Markus — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 21:43:41 +0000

Subject matter, lighting and not to forget the title got my brains going, Eric – in that sense the image is already successful.

Your approach sounds wise, but I am still struggling with how to relate it to my own photographic endeavours. It seems that I am very much in love with “found” images at the moment, images where I as viewer suddenly recognize how the parts have come together to form an image. For me it’s still very much the fascination of finding and seeing. With your take on gear I agree very much: the technical part should be unobtrusive, the handling of what you use should be easy and done almost subconsciously in order to allow you to follow the vision – but as there is the technical process between seeing and the image on paper or screen, vision an realisation have to set up a positive relationship with the gear. When I manage to get those in unison, I can see what I can frame and capture what I envision.

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by John - Visual Notebook

John - Visual Notebook — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:01:13 +0000

I’m still trying to figure out what I’m passionate about when it comes to subjects. I like all sorts of subjects – old cars, buildings, scenics and yesterday I went out and photographed trains at a train museum. I like those subjects, but I honestly can’t say I’m passionate about them. To be completely flaky, I think my passion lies in photographing people, yet I don’t photograph people because I’m intimidated by the thought of trying to direct them and work with them. One of my plans for the year, (and here it is nearly the end of February!) is to work more with people, and either discover that’s the passion, or not.

Nice write-up and photo, Eric.

Comment on Tools that Get in the Way of Making Great Photographs by Eric Jeschke

Eric Jeschke — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:54:37 +0000

A follow up comment on my own post:
I have been involved in putting on a photography competition and show every year called the Hawaii Photo Expo. I have seen this central concept play out over and over again: an entry in the “student” category that is technically weak, but still an excellent photo because the photographer was passionate about the subject vs. a technically perfect photo in the “masters” category, which is totally uninspiring because the photographer simply “moved on” to another subject after capturing it.