PhotoTalk

[MadArchitect]

Now that we have a new forum for discussing the arts and entertainment (still smells like plastic), I thought I'd make a suggestion that occurred to me while replying to the Jenn Ackermann thread. We already talk about the things that we read, why not also talk about the things we see? Photography is one of those artforms that allows us both to make immediate judgements and to reconsider or suspend our judgements until we've had time to mull over what we've seen. So I say that we take advantage of this forum to post links to photography we find interesting, and then compare responses to what we've seen.

[irishrose]

I don't attentively follow or study photography, so I probably won't be much of a presence on this thread. However, I had before noticed a photography exhibit at the Met this fall, [url=http://www.metmuseum.org/special/impres ... s_more.asp]Impressed by Light: British Photographs from Paper Negatives, 1840

[Chris OConnor]

I like the idea, Mad. Someone posted some photos a while back. There is an artist that paints on streets and sidewalks where you would swear the image is 3D and you could literally jump down into the painting. Probably was misterpessimistic that turned us on to that artist. I'd love to see more of his work and talk about it.

[MadArchitect]

Rose, aside from having read a book or two, I haven't studied much photography either. I'm more interested in people's lay opinion's anyway -- how a particular photo spoke to them, rather than what they have to say about it's technique.

And I was talking about using the forum for talking about photography, not just this thread. I'm hoping there'll be enough interest that discussion will spill over into multiple threads.

[MadArchitect]

I took a second to glance over the photos in the exhibit you linked to, Rose. Do you have any favorites in the group?

[irishrose]

Well, as I assumed I would probably get to the exhibit between now and the end of the year, I didn't really look through what was posted. That also had to do with the fact that I have to enlarge each one individually; I'm an incredibly impatient person. If I find a moment of inner-peace, I'll look through them and let you know.

Any work strike you as particularly interesting?

[irishrose]

BTW, Mad, I meant to write this before. Though I don't think any of the posted works are Fenton's, he is listed as a contributing artist to the exhibit.

[MadArchitect]

Boy By Open Door is interesting, in part because it reminds me of some of the paintings of the Flemish masters.

I like the shapes and the contrasts of light in Anstey's Cove, Torquay.

There's also something very painterly about Principal Doorway of the Carthusian Monastery, Burgos -- maybe just the monk's posture and the way his hand is poised? This may actually be my favorite of the pieces displayed on the site, although I'm not entirely sure what about it appeals to me.

And I like Tower Struck by Lightning, Saint-Ouen Bay, not least of all because it reminds me of "The Tower" in Tarot decks, which is usually shown in the midst of a lightning strike. The photograph actually looks a bit surreal, with the tower wall just tapering off into nothing. Presumably, the lightning blasted it in half. It's such a bizarre natural phenomenon, lightning. Between this and the iconography of the Tarot, I'm starting to wonder if medieval towers weren't often struck by lightning.

[LanDroid]

One of my favorite photo sites is called Flickr Leech. It searches the massive d-base of photos on Flickr for shots that are labelled "interesting" by viewers. Once a day it compiles several hundred thumbnails onto one page that you can peruse. Click on the thumbnail to see a larger image, learn about the photographer, etc. Check it out, it's fun, but you need broadband...

http://www.flickrleech.net/

[irishrosem]

I twice scheduled and cancelled trips to New York in December to see this photography exhibition. So alas, despite my best efforts, I never got to the MET to see the show before it closed at the end of the year. But, that now seems rather fortunate; because, over the holidays, I learned of an unprecedented collection of Seurat's drawings being exhibited at the MoMA. So this weekend, on the show's last weekend, I finally made it to NY, and got to see what was quite an enjoyable show. I'm sure I liked it much more than I would have the photography exhibit, which was really more just a curiosity to me.

I've tried to find some of my favorite drawings to link here, but most weren't available. From my search I found others from the show that I also like very much. I most appreciated Seurat's figures, particularly some of his hunched figures, a couple of which are below. The drawing of the artist's mother was definitely one of my favorites. It's quite amazing what he was able to accomplish with a conte crayon, in most cases, some charcoal and a bit of chalk.

http://www.prairienet.org/~jwebb66/seurat.jpg

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/200 ... large1.jpg

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/ca ... 026201.jpg

http://bp3.blogger.com/_gQMU4y2m46M/RwF ... at_boy.jpg

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/media_ ... 205110.jpg

http://www.si.umich.edu/CHICO/Emerson/lady.gif

http://artgallery.yale.edu/pages/collec ... 145/08.jpg