A picture is a secret about a secret, the more it tells you the less you know. Diane Arbus
Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera. Yousuf Karsh
You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved. Ansel Adams
And from our old friend: Creativity is our birthright. It is an integral part of being human, as basic as walking, talking and thinking. John Daido Loori
Then there is this comment on photography by Baudelaire in 1859: It is useless and tedious to represent what exits because nothing that exists satisfies me…I prefer the monsters of my fantasy to what is positively trivial.
This Baudelaire statement had a huge influence on poets and artists for decades after his death. It occurs to me that it may be the beginning of the philosophical discussion about photography not being an art form. But in my mind, this is a ‘trivial’ discussion! It is like the useless discussion art v. craft. Any thoughts on this?
Photography is. And it seems now everyone is a photographer. Our cell phones have very fine cameras and because we can take unlimited pictures, not wait for the dark room processing, we all can find at least one in a dozen images that are exceptional. We have amazing images everywhere to show for this digital revolution. There are many very fine photographers here at Treeleaf. I’ve seen your images and many of them on the art circle posts as well as on Instagram. I suspect many videographers are here as well. Please, now is your time again to share your talents.
Just some examples...here’s a friend’s website, Holly is well known for her work painting photo images: https://hollyrobertsstudio.com/ Another from a friend who takes extraordinary pictures: http://maryzaremba.net/botanicals%202.html
Please post your photos, videos, photo art projects. With the shutdown many artists have found time to focus (pun intended) on their art making. Maybe you have used this strange, scary, unique time to make art using your cameras.
Kirk has a Zen photography thread going on the art circle forum. Check that out here… https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...en-photography
Photo arts offer so many directions and ways to express our creativity.
Please share.
Meitou's prompt. She is a wonderful photographer; I defer to her to be the expert.
Hello everyone, and welcome to this latest in the series Expressing Creativity.
After Anne's wonderful post, a prompt is hardly needed, so I shall keep it simple and suggest that you only follow this prompt if you are stuck for ideas on how to express yourselves via photography. I personally believe we all bring something creative to the camera lens, even if we aren't conscious of doing so, just through the process of looking, seeing and pressing the button.
What I would like to suggest is that you consider and reflect on the first three quotes above, and using JDL's statement in the fourth quote, explore those ideas with your camera, whether it's a digital camera or a phone, makes no difference here. This prompt is about creativity; feel free to work with your photos using whatever means you like, filters, layers, image distortions etc. You might like to set boundaries, you might like to capture whatever appears and appeals, you might prefer black and white, you might not – that's fine, it's all good!
Trust your instincts, stay authentic, don't compare your work with that of other people and/or feel intimidated, don't worry about 'rules', anything goes here.
Experiment, and above all, have fun.
Gassho
Anne and Meitou
we both sat today
Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera. Yousuf Karsh
You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved. Ansel Adams
And from our old friend: Creativity is our birthright. It is an integral part of being human, as basic as walking, talking and thinking. John Daido Loori
Then there is this comment on photography by Baudelaire in 1859: It is useless and tedious to represent what exits because nothing that exists satisfies me…I prefer the monsters of my fantasy to what is positively trivial.
This Baudelaire statement had a huge influence on poets and artists for decades after his death. It occurs to me that it may be the beginning of the philosophical discussion about photography not being an art form. But in my mind, this is a ‘trivial’ discussion! It is like the useless discussion art v. craft. Any thoughts on this?
Photography is. And it seems now everyone is a photographer. Our cell phones have very fine cameras and because we can take unlimited pictures, not wait for the dark room processing, we all can find at least one in a dozen images that are exceptional. We have amazing images everywhere to show for this digital revolution. There are many very fine photographers here at Treeleaf. I’ve seen your images and many of them on the art circle posts as well as on Instagram. I suspect many videographers are here as well. Please, now is your time again to share your talents.
Just some examples...here’s a friend’s website, Holly is well known for her work painting photo images: https://hollyrobertsstudio.com/ Another from a friend who takes extraordinary pictures: http://maryzaremba.net/botanicals%202.html
Please post your photos, videos, photo art projects. With the shutdown many artists have found time to focus (pun intended) on their art making. Maybe you have used this strange, scary, unique time to make art using your cameras.
Kirk has a Zen photography thread going on the art circle forum. Check that out here… https://www.treeleaf.org/forums/show...en-photography
Photo arts offer so many directions and ways to express our creativity.
Please share.
Meitou's prompt. She is a wonderful photographer; I defer to her to be the expert.
Hello everyone, and welcome to this latest in the series Expressing Creativity.
After Anne's wonderful post, a prompt is hardly needed, so I shall keep it simple and suggest that you only follow this prompt if you are stuck for ideas on how to express yourselves via photography. I personally believe we all bring something creative to the camera lens, even if we aren't conscious of doing so, just through the process of looking, seeing and pressing the button.
What I would like to suggest is that you consider and reflect on the first three quotes above, and using JDL's statement in the fourth quote, explore those ideas with your camera, whether it's a digital camera or a phone, makes no difference here. This prompt is about creativity; feel free to work with your photos using whatever means you like, filters, layers, image distortions etc. You might like to set boundaries, you might like to capture whatever appears and appeals, you might prefer black and white, you might not – that's fine, it's all good!
Trust your instincts, stay authentic, don't compare your work with that of other people and/or feel intimidated, don't worry about 'rules', anything goes here.
Experiment, and above all, have fun.
Gassho
Anne and Meitou
we both sat today
. The touched up selfie is awesome and the Lioness looks very wise. Great photos as always.
Comment