Pebbles

Thoughts/Critique welcome

Hi Shawn...

Welcome from me to OPF.

The human mind, I am told, dislikes unordered things. It tries to search for patterns. Something it

can relate to in its db. Something to do with laws of thermodynamics.

Art, at least most of it that passes for it nowadays, is often presented to make one think. Make

what one can of it; the artist meanwhile laughs his/her way to the bank.

I like to see discernible patterns. Something my mind can grasp on to. Not too much to tax it.

My mind is a very lazy one. Has hated work. Thinking is alien to it. A concept, it belives, invented

to create discord..where peace reigns.

So it has asked me to convey its appreciation for your design. Anything else said, would mean it

has to get involved in arguments..and think.

Regards.

p.s. I am asked to add that your presentation is within a thinking person's province. and outside

its sphere of expertise.

Hi,

A simple shot, reminiscent of a landscape perhaps, with the stain appearing pointing up to the sky, as if it represents a tree. The pebbles demand far less of our attention. I could stop here and say, "nice" but I'd like to take a different path from Fahim, for now, and explore further.

I like the idea but wish the stain pattern was visualized completely. Such interesting abstract formations, such as clouds, are often most enjoyable seen whole. But that's no rule that anyone has to slavishly follow. You could have left it, "Untitled" and then, "Pebbles" could work easier for me. However, with the title "Pebbles", I wonder why the stain is the most dominant feature, by far. I'd have thought that a close up of the pebbles, even with a transition to the stained area might be worth considering. The second most important feature here is the composition of the fine dried leaves which I also like a lot.

I'd love to see the rest of the interesting whitish stain and its interplay with the dry leaves. That has character.

Asher

Thank you both for your thoughts, and I think you both really 'get' what I am after here.

Typical compositional hierarchies are interested in using these relationships the emphasize subjects. I tend to find the relationships much more interesting.

So a lot of what I do is dealing with relationships and interactions - the interplay between different subjects, textures, forms or colors, rather than the objective elements.

I also think it's interesting that people tend to be uncomfortable when there isn't any one object which dominates the frame. I like the sense of lacking control.

Shawn Kearney said:

Thank you both for your thoughts, and I think you both really 'get' what I am after here.

Typical compositional hierarchies are interested in using these relationships the emphasize subjects. I tend to find the relationships much more interesting.

So a lot of what I do is dealing with relationships and interactions - the interplay between different subjects, textures, forms or colors, rather than the objective elements.

I also think it's interesting that people tend to be uncomfortable when there isn't any one object which dominates the frame. I like the sense of lacking control.

Click to expand...

Hi Shawn,

It's perfectly fine to have more of an interest in relationships than individual identities. However there can be no relationship without identity. Still, with a title of the thread, "Pebbles", you set the top rank to be pebbles. Maybe, it could have been called "Relationships" or "Adjacent" or such to signify your artistic intent?

Asher

Shawn Kearney said:

Typical compositional hierarchies are interested in using these relationships the emphasize subjects. I tend to find the relationships much more interesting.

So a lot of what I do is dealing with relationships and interactions - the interplay between different subjects, textures, forms or colors, rather than the objective elements.

Click to expand...

Shawn,

please explain the above a bit more - i think I may understand what you are saying - but need it outlined a bit more.

also hello - welcome.

I noticed on flicker you give a small statement of intent about your work, this is usefull when people read it (i never really bother but i end more threads than i start)

are there any more works in 'pebble' or is it just a to make a ripple.

- the image works for me - I may have looked at the paint white and raise it a bit more.. nice post.

It's kind of hard for me to explain. I feel like my brain just works differently from most peoples brains.

For me my images are about the circumstances which things exist together in and how they relate with one another. I try hard to not make any one element dominant, with the traditional ideas of "leading lines" or "center of interest" or "primary and secondary forms". I'm more interested in how things exist in relation to one another. I'm very fascinated by the idea of 'ecology' and apply that idea to photography, even in non-living forms.

This image may fit in either these two sets:

Context and Relationship

Constraint and Structure