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Some boring pictures

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Autumn colours = boring pictures.
Kids = boring pictures.
(well, that's the reaction you sometimes get on forums).
Now you have been warned.


#1
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#2
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#3
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(Also, a test of a new 24-105 F4L)
 
I do not agree that these are boring. Are they pieces that you created to sell to others, I doubt it, but they are moments of your family that you treasure and kind enough to share with us.

I see a daughter driving her bike and glowing with happiness and freedom.

I see her riding quickly down the road while the older girl behind is amazed at how well she rides for such a small tyke. "You go girl! "

and I see her with her mom, who seems to be saying "time to come in now, we eat soon" and she responding.. AH!!! MOM!!! It's so much fun and I'm not hungry.. I swear!"

No, these photos are not boring, they tell me about you and your family and how precious you consider them to include them in the photos you share with us.

Thanks for that,
Maggie
 

fahim mohammed

Well-known member
No, never boring. Wonderful, as Maggie has rightly pointed out.
Simple images. Images to look back on with pride. Images of future in the making.

Our future, collective future of man.

Thank you for sharing these intimate moments with us.
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*
Boring indeed not!
I could talk for a week on these.
The kid wouldn't get lost in a cyclone with the fluoro colours and why do they make helmets look so dorky? This is so typical of what we all do when the kids take on something dangerous. Wait until the Bush bike is revving up in the driveway or the HArley is carrying he off into the sunset with the shirtless stud on board. Treasuring the joys of childhood is momentary. Prepare yourself for what is to come - and leave home before it happens!
Good ones, Jarmo
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Hi all! First of all, a bit of apology is in order. I was feeling a bit off last night and did no justice to my family by trying to be funny. They deserve better and so do you all!

Thank you Maggie, Fahim and Tom! Yes, pieces like these are very precious. I don't particularly enjoy looking at other people's pictures of their children but still keep on posting pics of mine.... some controversy there, I know. As photographs, my pictures don't stand out from the masses of family memento snaps. But I have an explanation for this: kids stay young for a very short time only. It would be such a waste to spend the little time I have with them in getting obsessed about shooting technically flawless pictures only. You all know what happens when you take the camera and tell your kids to look good. I've tried to work with my kids in a studio a couple of times. Both times ended in a near disaster. That's when I decided that documenting them in real life is what I want to do. Formal portraits are for someone else to shoot.

Tom, I couldn't agree more about the gear we our kids wear. I consider it a pay-back for the sleepless night they put us through!
 

Michael Nagel

Well-known member
You might call them boring right now, but you will treasure these pictures in a not so distant future.

Good ones!

Best regards,
Michael
 

StuartRae

New member
You might call them boring right now, but you will treasure these pictures in a not so distant future.

Jarmo, Michael is so right! Your kids will never look like this again, so gather memories while you can. If all else fails you can use them as blackmail when they get to age 14.

I have no problem with people posting pictures of their kids; since I became a grandfather I've developed a new appreciation of young children. I recently posted a few photos of my grandson riding his first bike. No replies, but I don't mind - I did it for him :)

Regards,

Stuart
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Autumn colours = boring pictures.
Kids = boring pictures.

Well, not in my book! Autumn brings gold and sienna, crunchy leaves under foot, malingering leaves determined to make it through the winter exposed to the cold winds, ice and snow. Autumn also allows us to think more of home cooking and sharing meals together around a fire.

...and kids? You got be be bonkers to think of them as boring! They make us joyful and immortal. The challenge us occasionally with wisdom, in their innocence, values we forget. As Fahim points out, they're our future and give us hope as our vigor diminishes. Yes, they might be "boring" to single folks in a dating bar or to law students studying for an exam, but to parents and grandparents, they're the center of the bloody universe!


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So, Jarmo,

Your kids are ours too! I recognize the differences from my own family, of course, but the excitement is the same. Keep going and then select your ongoing "12 best" and you will surprise yourself how this set will be avidly received in many more fora!

Asher
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Well, not in my book! Autumn brings gold and sienna, crunchy leaves under foot, malingering leaves determined to make it through the winter exposed to the cold winds, ice and snow. Autumn also allows us to think more of home cooking and sharing meals together around a fire.

Cheers, Asher! I actually agree with you. Maybe it is just that I've seen too many discussions on too many forums where people go into some sort of trance when showing their disgust towards pretty pictures of pretty scenes... this is the reason why I prefer OPF. Although small, there's so much room for everyone here!

Thank you for your nice words! Very accurate, as usual.
 

George Hazelton

New member
Wonderful photos! No apologies, please. I've discovered that having two granddaughters to shoot has revitalized my photography.

I'd suggest to all that casual snaps are part of our cultural heritage. They give us a window into the past, even if of strangers. We can see how people dressed, how a familar street corner looked 50 years or more in the past.

As a retired librarian I fear that the move to digital will mean that our descendants will have very few family photos. How many digital shooters print out their shots, or move the images from the computer to a somewhat more reliable storage medium? Not many, I'll bet.

I'm sure that most of us on this forum rely on careful storage of negatives and slides, and redundant backup strategies - well, don't you? If you don't, just remember that a hard drive WILL FAIL. The only question is when. I had two drives in a RAID 1 array fail within minutes of each other. Many of the images were on a cloud backup system, but BackBlaze, the one I use, hadn't finished the backup, so many images are gone forever. None of the data recovery programs have worked, and I can't afford the commercial services.

Thus endeth the service for today. Sorry for preaching, but after my little disaster I try to spread the gospel of backups.
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Wonderful photos! No apologies, please. I've discovered that having two granddaughters to shoot has revitalized my photography.

I'd suggest to all that casual snaps are part of our cultural heritage. They give us a window into the past, even if of strangers. We can see how people dressed, how a familar street corner looked 50 years or more in the past.

As a retired librarian I fear that the move to digital will mean that our descendants will have very few family photos. How many digital shooters print out their shots, or move the images from the computer to a somewhat more reliable storage medium? Not many, I'll bet.

I'm sure that most of us on this forum rely on careful storage of negatives and slides, and redundant backup strategies - well, don't you? If you don't, just remember that a hard drive WILL FAIL. The only question is when. I had two drives in a RAID 1 array fail within minutes of each other. Many of the images were on a cloud backup system, but BackBlaze, the one I use, hadn't finished the backup, so many images are gone forever. None of the data recovery programs have worked, and I can't afford the commercial services.

Thus endeth the service for today. Sorry for preaching, but after my little disaster I try to spread the gospel of backups.

Thank you George, both for taking a look and commenting! I think you made some very important points there. We've seen cases when ordinary family snaps indeed become a part of our common human heritage. Or not only become a part but in fact help form such a heritage. I know, and this is my last apology, that this thread was poorly named and introduced. But it sprouted some interesting discussion. Now, that my own favorite hobby seems to driven towards documenting my family life I've developed more understanding to people publicly exhibiting their private life. I didn't think like this in the past. Strange how having offspring can change you, isn't it?

Thank you for the service, as well! You're too right, one never can be too careful. For backup, I use an external usb disc, which is not sufficient, I know. I also use a local hosting service (http://jjuntunen.kuvat.fi/kuvat/). But I, also, do "yearbooks". They look nice, are easy to pick up from the bookshelf to show to guests and are more lasting than bytes on the net.
 

Bob Rogers

New member
I really like the first one. It brings back the joy of childhood and makes me want to bet my bicycle fixed so I can ride it!
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Interesting that this thread got resurrected. I too agree that these images aren't boring. In fact they are full of life and colour. I love that you incorporated motion in the shot of the girl riding the bike down the street (image 2).

-----
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Thank you Bob and Robert. I'm pleased that these pictures were rediscovered. I don't remember anymore why I decided to call these pictures boring. There was a strange period of "piffle or no piffle" going on at the forum at the time, I think it was connected with that.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Autumn colours = boring pictures.
Kids = boring pictures.
(well, that's the reaction you sometimes get on forums).
Now you have been warned. (Also, a test of a new 24-105 F4L)


#1
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#2
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#3
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they are piece of Art


Talal,

Of course, we were discussing at the time the need or not for introduction to photographs. Piffle! was the reply to those who insist pictures must always speak for themselves..... and I agree. sometimes it's a generous and even necessary act for the photographer to tell us what on earth led them to take such a picture. Here, these family snaps are wonderful. Together, they can indeed transcend the commonplace, if they were to be printed 2 ft large and placed as a series.

After the picture is taken as you wish to see it, if it works for others too and it's package right, yes it's art!

Asher
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
I'll start with the easy one: thank you so much Talal!

Can't imagine why you think these are boring, particularly 1 & 3. Good decisive moments.
Well, this isn't any more difficult to address, as Asher did the job for me. Indeed, there was the piffle era at the OPF but looking back to that time now I think I chose the unfortunate name for this set after getting tired of some folk's reaction to family pictures in general on other forums. You've all seen it, haven't you? Post a picture of a happy kid moment and get scorned at. Post a picture of your favourite hamster and you're a hero.

Doug, thank you so much for visiting the pictures, I'm glad you liked them!
 

Jarmo Juntunen

Well-known member
Here, these family snaps are wonderful. Together, they can indeed transcend the commonplace, if they were to be printed 2 ft large and placed as a series.

After the picture is taken as you wish to see it, if it works for others too and it's package right, yes it's art!

Asher

True. But then again I don't understand the concept of art. And I'm not afraid to say it. Did the Marx Brothers do art? I doubt it. Are they considered art today? Absolutely. Do my pictures (or Cem's or Maggie's or Tom's or Doug's or yours' etc etc) touch people's hearts? Sometimes they do. Most of the time my pictures manage to touch my heart and that alone is a good enough reason for them to exist. Do my pictures have technical flaws? Absolutely. Do I get paid to take them? No. So the only person I have to answer to is myself. And here's the thing I love about photography: it gives me the chance to take a peek into how people in places distant or close live. And sometimes give them the same opportunity by sharing some private moments of my one.
 
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