Cedric MASSOULIER
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"Dots" - Cedric Massoulier
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Dots
- Thread starter Cedric MASSOULIER
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"Dots" - Cedric Massoulier
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
"Dots" - Cedric Massoulier
Cedric,
Sacré bleu! I could swear an oath that i had already responded to this picture. I remember finding it hard to interpret. There are more than dots and it's hard to stuff this image into the limited parameter package of this title. Help us along with a little explanation.
Allow me to offer this minimalist derivative:
"Dots" - Cedric Massoulier
Cropped and edited in B&W ADK
Does this still contain your notion of "Dots"?
Asher
Last edited:
Cedric MASSOULIER
New member
Hi Asher,
You're right : i didn't really get a clear subject, this picture remaines confused...
Your proposal is interesting, oriented on geometry. It was not may initial idea but i have now to find what was this idea
Regards,
Cedric.
You're right : i didn't really get a clear subject, this picture remaines confused...
Your proposal is interesting, oriented on geometry. It was not may initial idea but i have now to find what was this idea
Regards,
Cedric.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Bout de papier!
Cedric,
I'm so glad that we can return to this picture. Some assert that a picture should speak for itself. Actually most images do require some cultural or educational context. I find bouts de papier, telephone numbers that for sure were so important once and I wonder why?
Asher
Hi Asher,
You're right : i didn't really get a clear subject, this picture remaines confused...
Your proposal is interesting, oriented on geometry. It was not my initial idea but i have now to find what was this idea
Cedric,
I'm so glad that we can return to this picture. Some assert that a picture should speak for itself. Actually most images do require some cultural or educational context. I find bouts de papier, telephone numbers that for sure were so important once and I wonder why?
Asher
Edward Bussa
Member
Asher,
I like your crop, it gets quickly to what I was drawn to when I first viewed the image.
Perhaps you could enlighten me/us as to YOUR "process"? Where did you start, what turns did you take along the way... thought process for me, the technical details seem fairly straightforward (desaturate, mess with contrast).
I like your crop, it gets quickly to what I was drawn to when I first viewed the image.
Perhaps you could enlighten me/us as to YOUR "process"? Where did you start, what turns did you take along the way... thought process for me, the technical details seem fairly straightforward (desaturate, mess with contrast).
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Ed,
Cedric's picture immediately had me confused. I cam back to it so many times hoping for a flow of comment that would enlighten me, as Cedric's work is often a social commentary.
"Dots" - Cedric Massoulier
Finally, I realized that I would have to work harder and risk being utterly wrong and even usurping the artist's intent by challenging the presentation of what I imagined Cedric meant by his title, "Dots".
So this was my result:
"Dots" - Cedric Massoulier
Cropped and edited in B&W ADK
I considered "What could be the elements that were so remarkable that they caught Cedric's attention?" It boiled down to the lights. I thought of the pots below, but these are of disparate sizes and require so much attention and eye-movement to be gathered into our brains. Knowing that photography is an art of exclusion to focus on our choices, then it became obvious that the lower part of the frame does not contribute to a feeling of "Dots" that the mind registered at the time of the shot. Likely, Cedric himself is so taken with the line of lights piercing the dusk that he readily ignores the busy voices calling from the lower frame. However, we are not so primed. We have not been to that place. We do not feel the evening air on our face or hear the crickets and then look up to the overhead cloud covering the sky. We are simply going to react to what is presented.
So for me, having decided that the lower frame is foreign to the image, we're left with the detail of windows and leaves, once again demanding attention. Darkening the image and bringing out the cloud detail, (decreasing "Vibrance" in CS4), gives us two main forms, a soft cloud form and the geometric shape of the house. Now we have two dynamic forces balancing one another. Interestingly, by shedding the lower part of the picture, we now have a more restful and contemplative horizontal form.
Now we can put that one light at the junction of thirds to anchor the upper part of the line of "Dots". This means a tad of a crop on the left, but we can do that with no loss, so it's right. Then, putting the lower end of that line n the right lower corner completes the composition.
Voila! It's done!
Asher
Edward Bussa
Member
After reading your explanation, I come away thinking your process is disciplined. You talk of "disparate sizes", "eye-movement", "two main forms", "geometric shape", "dynamic forces in balance", "contemplative horizontal form" and using "the junction of thirds" to "anchor" the composition.
Wow. Loaded with formalized thoughts. Thinking of my own process for a moment and comparing to yours, mine would be kind of like stumbling around in a dark room trying to find a light switch... I should bring a flashlight next time! I find myself thinking maybe I should take an art class or read a book on the basics of art and then I realize that I am partially de-motivated to do so because I fear how it might change or conform my work! Silly human... I LIKE stumbling around in the dark?!!?! So, I find your commentary helpful.
Back to the picture itself, your emotional tag about feeling the wind and hearing the crickets really draws me into the scene. Now I see the light Cederic was chasing may have been severely fleeting. Perhaps there was a glimmer of social commentary at the time of the shot, but based on the title of "Dots" I imagine the moment as a bit more existential... I am curious to hear Cederic's thoughts once he has had a chance to sort through the image again.
Wow. Loaded with formalized thoughts. Thinking of my own process for a moment and comparing to yours, mine would be kind of like stumbling around in a dark room trying to find a light switch... I should bring a flashlight next time! I find myself thinking maybe I should take an art class or read a book on the basics of art and then I realize that I am partially de-motivated to do so because I fear how it might change or conform my work! Silly human... I LIKE stumbling around in the dark?!!?! So, I find your commentary helpful.
Back to the picture itself, your emotional tag about feeling the wind and hearing the crickets really draws me into the scene. Now I see the light Cederic was chasing may have been severely fleeting. Perhaps there was a glimmer of social commentary at the time of the shot, but based on the title of "Dots" I imagine the moment as a bit more existential... I am curious to hear Cederic's thoughts once he has had a chance to sort through the image again.
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Edward Bussa
Member
I wouldn't say I'm "intimidated". Definitely impressed. I try to stay open to learning and improving, no matter how accomplished I'd like to think I am...
Unfortunately, they don't usually have those for the roving photography exhibits at I've been to in Chicago. However there are several more permanent collections I should make a point of seeing - I know those have curator tours...
Finally I don't get the grease pen thing... I can't picture myself actually doing that - I'll keep that in my back pocket when I feel like I'm in a rut...?
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
What more need be said. You are in the place my friend. I'm sure that there's one well described exhibit every month that will thrill you! Now with snow, what a better place to escape to! A gallery with a set of headphones for just 4-5 pictures!
For me, at least, I find it helpful to take the best of the bunch of pictures in a shoot/series I'm working on and draw on a B&W print on plain paper. This gives the freedom to sketch in features that need to be worked on or new ideas for composition. So one if forced to pause somewhere in a series of pictures and "mark your own homework" as if you were the art teacher herself! You can give yourself and A++ or cross out characters or add a question mark to some gesture or pose. This forces you to really take on your pictures critically and go beyond liking or disliking. Because it's on real plain paper, there's not the inhibition you'd find as when one marks a perfect print. That feels bad!
but now let's get back to Cedric's picture!
Asher
Cedric MASSOULIER
New member
Hum, i think i have to work harder...
Asher Kelman
OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hum, i think i have to work harder...
Cedric,
Ha! Ha!
Joking apart, it would be a mistake to bother too much on what I need to do for my own work. Just Ed was musing about methods of work and I just shared my ways for certain projects. This might be an aid to helping folk who need an extra edge in making pictures.
Don't anyone allow any of that to take you off course!
Asher