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Hi all.
Thought i would start a discussion off on photos that have spoken to you. What i mean by this is photos that for whatever reason just reach out and make you think wow, not ones that have actually spoken to you at 3am on a monday as your wiping away your tears after finishing a bottle of whiskey after a rubbish night out.
For me when starting getting intrested in photography this image jumped out and spoke to me
bill brandt
The light on those cobbles is amazing.
So what spoke to you, brilliant landscape, fine art nude or amazing macro. Lets have a gander
My father, who was a photographer, always said that if you couldn't hear the waves breaking or smell that flower or hear that train in the shot etc. etc., the photo could be improved somewhere.
This crosses my mind every time I look at a shot.
Quote: My father, who was a photographer, always said that if you couldn't hear the waves breaking or smell that flower or hear that train in the shot etc. etc., the photo could be improved somewhere.
This crosses my mind every time I look at a shot.
My own view is only slightly different from that, Laurel. For me, the best photographs are those that stimulate my imagination. That can be imagining sensory inputs like the sounds and smells you mention or imagining emotional factors like horror or love.
Quote: My father, who was a photographer, always said that if you couldn't hear the waves breaking or smell that flower or hear that train in the shot etc. etc., the photo could be improved somewhere.
Never a more truer quote!!
anything by julia margaret cameron and the immortal o winston link
One of my all-time favourites is Eugene Smith's "walk to paradise garden" which is a back view of his children walking. It was taken in the 1940s when childhood was a time of innocence.
Quote: One of my all-time favourites is Eugene Smith's "walk to paradise garden" which is a back view of his children walking. It was taken in the 1940s when childhood was a time of innocence.
And created a storm of protest apparently. It seemed that it couldn't be a good photograph as it didn't show the subject's faces.
Quote:
For me when starting getting intrested in photography this image jumped out and spoke to me
bill brandt
The light on those cobbles is amazing.
Can you imagine the comments you'd get if you posted that image online nowadays? Too dark, highlights burnt out, converging verticals ...
For me it was Munckasi's (sorry, my spelling sense has deserted me just when I need it! ) image of young African boys in the surf. I saw some Bill Brandt images in the Tate Liverpool a year or two ago - a thousand times better than seeing them online!
Quote: Can you imagine the comments you'd get if you posted that image online nowadays? Too dark, highlights burnt out, converging verticals ...
With my sensible hat on;
And therein , I think, lies the problem with the modern interpretation and construction of images. The fetish for perfection and compliance with the rules of engagement and critical review. The "acceptance".
Its a flawed approach, stifles innovation, and leaves no room for creative manoeuvre perhaps.
An image that "speaks" needs its emotional attachment from the viewer (the taker is already sold) whatever that emotion is.But it needs durability. That sense of placement, the "draw" , a reason to stay engaged and to feel part of or detached from the scene but nevertheless intrigued...
With my non-sensible hat on;
Could you bunch of click hoes refrain from your one a day compulsive patty back uploads , take a week or 52 off and actually think about what makes an image "speak" or do de facebook mantra !
Right then, glad I got that off my chest 
Spooky. Hours before I came on here just now I was thinking of favourite photographers and O Winston Link immediately sprung to mind. No sh*t! Just because his images were perfect, he had to organise everything to the 'nth degree and only had one chance to get the shot. Never ceases to amaze me.
Apart from that, in my heart I have to go with Robert Frank. Just the master at hang-out photography. Broke all the rules, shot and ruined his negs, and produced meaningful stuff. Oh to have been on the road with that man.
But if I have to pick one image today I choose this one by Bruce Davidson. A black woman on the bus during the freedom marches in 1967.
That is a great image slowsong.
Im a fan of robert frank as well. Im sure the image of a young girl smoking is one of his. I always liked the one of the cowboy lighting up as well. Would dig a link out but just started at work, hopefully later.
I love the term "click hoes" Eviscera. Super profile by the way.
Rubbish. Doesn't adhere to the rule of thirds and the main subject not focused properly. Much too dark...using HDR he could have got lots of detail in the bus too.
I have several photographers that have work that 'speaks' to me, including Sebastiao Salgado and Frank Hurley, but the one I think consistently hits the mark is Don McCullin. So much of his work is brilliant and haunting, and his landscapes and still lifes carry that same feeling, but the more i look, the more i see in his work. He has so many iconic images, but the one of Ibo, the emaciated albino boy captures everything about famine and suffering in one frame.
Ps the first paragraph wasn't serious....
Nick
Quote: Photos that have spoken to you
Very few and far between, if any description is needed, its almost certain to fail.
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