A local chain restaurant recently did a major remodeling job. They have always displayed large photographs taken locally on the walls of the restaurant. After the remodeling was finished it was a week or so before new images started appearing. The first ones were five canvas mounted photos. Here is one that I still can't believe the photographer submitted or the restaurant accepted. I know art is subjective but. . .
Well, you tell me what you think.
Whether you like it or not, the photographer has made his statement, been chosen and possibly made some money so it must have tickled someone's funny bone - or perhaps the photographer is the son / daughter of the restaurant franchisee!
My opinion? It would look great inside my waste paper bin.
@lindasees - It is in the City of Hermitage and that is what the chain did.
I guess I should look at it this way, there is still hope that somewhere in the world someone might see my photos, like them and buy some! :-)
@amandal - That happened to me last year. A friend of mine is very active in a local fair and she keeps persuading me to enter photos in the art exhibits. Last year, after the fact, I learned that the judge for photography was a painter known for her watercolors. One of the photos I entered was my favorite of the five I entered. It got Honorable Mention. When I saw the winning submission I was very disappointed. If I see that someone else's photo deserves to win I am strong enough to admit that mine wasn't the best. My friend apologized after that all of mine didn't do better than they did. I guess all we can do is smile and keep trying.
Art is definitely subjective. While I think this is overdone, I can *almost* see why the restaurant would choose it (okay, so that's a stretch). I think it's a bit abstract and maybe the were looking for something outside the norm. Industrial looking.
@danette - Your guess is as good as mine. The first time we walked in and saw them the waitress, "food server" saw the befuddled look on our faces and said, "I see that you noticed the photographs. What do you think?" After we told her our thoughts she said, "All of us are wondering why they chose these."
This is purely conjecture (because who can really figure out judges? Their thought process is as elusive as those of the "Magic Monkeys") but I'd say it was chosen because of the city sign (highlight the charity's belief in the town) and looking at the composition, although it's not strong, this person is trying to make a boring sign look a little interesting (unfortunately or sadly by not following the rule of thirds. It sort of falls flat for me.
It's not my taste, either, but as others have said, art is subjective. I always find it interesting that my favorite shots are not the ones that are popular on my project and some of my more mundane ones (in my opinion, of course) make the popular and trending pages. I would be curious to hear what the photographer has to say about this image. Maybe he was trying to say something and the message is not coming across as he thought it would (to the viewer, that is -- I guess he gets it because otherwise it wouldn't be on display).
To each their own, but I don't think it's that bad. I would've tweaked the composition a bit and maybe not edited it to within an inch of its' life, but my knee-jerk reaction was, "why the fuss? there's nothing terribly wrong with this". YMMV.
@hamora - I have found that to be true for myself as well. The photos I submit and really like occasionally aren't as well accepted as others. Makes me wonder if I need to retrain my thinking and viewing my subjects? While inclusion of the phone lines were disturbing to me they over cooked their HDR processing to where ghosting around the edges is evident that isn't as quite as apparent in this shot. All five have the same look.
@skipt07 I have had a similar experience with a photo comp I entered this year. While my shot did not deserve to win, the winning entry did not appeal to me at all. Then another participant, who had previously been on the judging panel, reminded me that the comp was run by the local council and they'd favour photos they could use for their brochures. I wonder if something similar happened with the shot yoypu posted...
@skipt07 There's something about that ghosting that appeals to me, actually -- it makes it look kind of surreal.
I don't think you need to retrain anything. I think people look at your photos (and everyone's) with preconceived notions and when what you shoot doesn't meet their predefined definition of what a good photo should look like or what a good subject is, then it just doesn't appeal to them. I can live with that, though sometimes I think it would be nice if there were just one person who could see things like I do, not just to praise my pictures, but also to critique them, because just as people don't pay much attention to some of my favorite images, they also don't seem to pick up on the things that bother me in other pictures I post.
That said, I really like it here because when someone asks a question or starts a discussion, everyone is so willing to answer/participate and that's what makes it a fun community, not necessarily the praise or critique of individual photos.
I look at it this way: A photographer made the image, processed it in the manner they felt aligned with their vision for the image as a work of art. Someone viewed the image and appreciated that art, significantly enough to purchase and display it.
Meanwhile, for all we know, a photographer has won an award with one of his photographs and it's still sitting for sale in some shop because while it's "the best" according to a panel of judges, no one else appreciates it enough to actually buy it.
Now which of the two photographs is "better"? It all depends upon perspective... :D
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Thank you all for your input. It looks like things have died down so as a final post, I just wanted to say that the reason I decided to post this photo was primarily to see how wide of a range of opinions I'd get back as far as thumbs up or thumbs down. To me this image is like fingernails on a blackboard because it goes against everything I have come to accept as "artistic" photography. Am I a purist? Maybe I am, but I try to keep an open mind. After reading your comments I have gone back to look at this image to see if I could see it as you did. One of the first things I learned as a newbie, and I don't recall who said or wrote it, was something to the effect, " As you compose your subject don't forget the background." I know there are many rules for photography and as some say, "Rules are meant to be broken." There have been people in all the arts that have come along, broke the rules and started new trends. That takes a good artistic mind, willing to go where no man has gone before and more artistic talent than I possess. Who knows, maybe there will be a new wave called "clutter" that will overtake photography?
@skipt07 I believe you need to know what the "rules"are (probably better and more accurately to refer to what we are talking about as "guiding principles") before you break them. And then have some understanding as to why it was necessary to break them. For 99.99% of us appealing simply to "artistic instinct" is just a sloppy excuse for not admitting we don't know what our tradition is in general, and for what we are doing, or not doing, in particular. :)
I think it was probably chosen more for its subject matter than anything else. Although that said, I find that people who usually like over cooked HDR images generally either are not those who are into photography or those who just discovered HDR
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My opinion? It would look great inside my waste paper bin.
I guess I should look at it this way, there is still hope that somewhere in the world someone might see my photos, like them and buy some! :-)
I don't think you need to retrain anything. I think people look at your photos (and everyone's) with preconceived notions and when what you shoot doesn't meet their predefined definition of what a good photo should look like or what a good subject is, then it just doesn't appeal to them. I can live with that, though sometimes I think it would be nice if there were just one person who could see things like I do, not just to praise my pictures, but also to critique them, because just as people don't pay much attention to some of my favorite images, they also don't seem to pick up on the things that bother me in other pictures I post.
That said, I really like it here because when someone asks a question or starts a discussion, everyone is so willing to answer/participate and that's what makes it a fun community, not necessarily the praise or critique of individual photos.
Meanwhile, for all we know, a photographer has won an award with one of his photographs and it's still sitting for sale in some shop because while it's "the best" according to a panel of judges, no one else appreciates it enough to actually buy it.
Now which of the two photographs is "better"? It all depends upon perspective... :D
Thank you all for your input. It looks like things have died down so as a final post, I just wanted to say that the reason I decided to post this photo was primarily to see how wide of a range of opinions I'd get back as far as thumbs up or thumbs down. To me this image is like fingernails on a blackboard because it goes against everything I have come to accept as "artistic" photography. Am I a purist? Maybe I am, but I try to keep an open mind. After reading your comments I have gone back to look at this image to see if I could see it as you did. One of the first things I learned as a newbie, and I don't recall who said or wrote it, was something to the effect, " As you compose your subject don't forget the background." I know there are many rules for photography and as some say, "Rules are meant to be broken." There have been people in all the arts that have come along, broke the rules and started new trends. That takes a good artistic mind, willing to go where no man has gone before and more artistic talent than I possess. Who knows, maybe there will be a new wave called "clutter" that will overtake photography?