Expression in Photography Series by Charlotte Thompson

[Charlotte Thompson]

thank you Rachel
sometimes taking risks can be a good thing

Charlotte

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Expression in photography. My approach.

expression, color enhanced photography- a new series of head shots-nikon d40 af-s micro nikkor105mm

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

after chalking each others faces on the Summer patio-

 

[Asher Kelman]

This thread is part of a journey on a goal to new work. So it belongs here. This way we can consolidate this broad category you work in and people can follow as your expression of your imagination works and progresses.

So comment in the moved thread, here.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Charlotte,

As you know, I'm always intrigued by your art work. It ranges from mundane to fabulous and you post them mixed together. So can we segregate the pictures so that only like things are put together?

Help us by posting one picture (or even several really, really related pictures) at a time and introduce it and please, please give your own guide to what you have intended and expressed. Gradually, we'll learn your own esthetics. The 4 pictures you have shown all have color changes. However I'm disorientated since I see different styles and no common esthetic that I can relate too.

I do like the first two pictures. They both depart from what's expected. Still they don't appear to belong together at all. The first is complex, constructed from disparate elements. That alone is worthy of explanation and then our response. It would be fascinating for me to know your own thoughts. Then we can also have our own, as I have said, "We bring our own booze to your party!"

However, when we see the second noticeable picture, it terminates thought on the first. It's like meeting two different people! You start a conversation with one fascinating person and then the second attractive person takes your arm and pulls you to the dance floor. We need to spend time with our first conversation. We need to linger and do it justice. Otherwise it's just a peep show of no consequence.

The last two pictures are nice, but hardly related to the first.

So can we now deal with one picture at a time so we can be educated and get to really know your ways of expression? We could start with the first together with the other version you made and posted previously. You do have a unique approach. Let's look at that expression. That's where the fun is!

Asher

 

[Maris Rusis]

Colour "enhanced" is a challenging description. Certainly "colour changed" is valid but the question remains; is the change an enhancement or a detriment?

Colour, of itself, is a difficult medium in which to convey meaning, metaphor, or connotation. Beyond the standard "red" is warm, "blue" is cold conventions what message do colours carry? Photoshop can generate a landscape with cyan or magenta skies, blue trees, orange grass but I cannot think how to interpret such a thing. In black and white photography a black sky signifies "drama" and a white sky signifies "heat, light", that's easy; but false colours everywhere, too hard!

It could be that playing with colours could be like playing music. Music is complex, non random, "information" packed, often mood influencing, but no one can consistently unpack its meaning.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Genius in art can allow an artist to assemble esthetic signals. However, the artist should be able to guide us. We can be safely lead through a blinding snowstorm. Alone we get lost.

So, Charlotte, can we look at this one first?

© 2008 Doug Anderson

We want to walk with you so you have to tell us what this means.

Asher

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Asher

the first shot is akin to the last(which was not touched from the photo at all)

I had thought to name the first enhanced color shot " Moulin Rouge"
Lautrec drawings and paintings-colors which I have always admired- so in a way it is my effort through this medium to do so-
the expression are not only of color but of the spirit captured in the shot which in children is so very honest as you know-one of my favorite expressions is through a childs vision
the reds and blue-warm and cool are pronounced from the chalk paintings we did one evening on both our faces I enhanced the first with the before Moulin Rouge" idea - the last shot as I have said was not touched and also a chalk painting done on each other-I wanted to show both which were taken within less than a second-

Quote Asher*
However, when we see the second noticeable picture, it terminates thought on the first. It's like meeting two different people! You start a conversation with one fascinating person and then the second attractive person takes your arm and pulls you to the dance floor. We need to spend time with our first conversation. We need to linger and do it justice. Otherwise it's just a peep show of no consequence.


And you know it's funny I am just that person who enjoys one different thing to another"
it shows in my work-you have hit upon my very personality- but it was this intention to show many expressions" albeit personalities-
so thank you for your excellent response and I will come back to see what say you
if I have not answered all of your questions
Charlotte


Maris

enhanced color" for me the color is there as original photo I merely enhance" that color
Change is another idea of course
I appreciate all color and it plays a huge part in art-music to me has color- its very natural passion brings it forth-

 

[Asher Kelman]

So your technique, Charlotte, is to use a distinct color and then exaggerate it and then take an eye or lips, enlarge and overlay.

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Asher

not exactly my friend
what I did not do here at all was overlay -only enhance color-
I do not use one distinct color-I blend to find the right combination as pleasing to my eye
not all photos can be done this way- because of the light or lack of it- and of course the shot must be imperative in nature-it must show a kind of "je nes ce qui"
then I deal with it in My Approach"

Charlotte

 

[Asher Kelman]

and why the enlarge eyes etc?

Asher

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Asher

the eyes are large by birth-I did nothing to enlarge them "God given" my friend
beautiful beyond belief aren't they-

Charlotte

 

[Asher Kelman]

Yes, Charlotte,

But in a previous version you did add enlarged lips and nose and maybe eyes too. Were they of the child or and adult like you?

Asher

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Asher

they may have looked enlarged because of an overlay background-however I have never enlarged eyes lips etc.
I dont change the body part sizes, just color enhance or do the overlays-
the photos I shoot are the subjects as they are plus my added either color or when I do overlays
it seems you see a 3 dimension effect here that was not artificially produced my me-I just don't do that kind of art-

Charlotte

 

[Jim Galli]

Charlotte, take this for what it's worth.

Years ago I walked into Galen Rowell's gallery in Bishop, California. First reaction, breathless wow, these are the most gorgeous pictures I've seen in quite a while. 45 minutes later, I'm thinking to myself "hell, I know where the saturation slider is in photoshop too". My question: Is your wild color effect going to make the long haul. Would you want it on your wall day in day out for 15 years?

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Jim

what a great question! for that I may say I hope so for the art itself is a part of me and there are some parts I love more than others as we all do naturally-
my color is more than sliding a saturation point in photoshop- it is about balance in colors and dealing with original light in the original photo untouched- its about knowing IMO what works what doesn't-
what I do is a sort of color consideration that equals the ultimate expression of the newly born shot-
if it were so easy as just to slide saturation then I would be in Heaven, Easy Street
but I adore what I do and how I do it
and think that alot of my work I would be happy to see at 100 years of age
I am learning more -evolve with each experiment I come up with-some may work-some may not
"art is the act of seduction" Charlotte Thompson
thanks for coming by-much enjoyed

 

[Asher Kelman]

Charlotte, take this for what it's worth.

Years ago I walked into Galen Rowell's gallery in Bishop, California. First reaction, breathless wow, these are the most gorgeous pictures I've seen in quite a while. 45 minutes later, I'm thinking to myself "hell, I know where the saturation slider is in photoshop too". My question: Is your wild color effect going to make the long haul. Would you want it on your wall day in day out for 15 years?

I have the same questions as you, Jim.

Here's why. When I see technically excellent landscape that's simply splendid, we have everything classical to admire: the ideal landscape, form and technical wonder.

Here, with Charlottes work, intent seems utterly different from that used in classical art. Then, the artist has sufficient skill to use tools and deliver a form of beauty that was mostly pre-imagined. Here, the work is the result of an intent to use an image to make art by unpredictably altering the realistic limitations of color and lighting and of a unity of things, so we cannot see the original subject as if we were there. Far less technical skill is required and almost no apprenticeship or even knowledge of the great works preceding us. That's what makes it so easy to be dismissive.

With forms like Charlotte shows here, there's no security. The artist might claim genius, spontaneity and originality. But is it art? You ask will it last? "I ask does it live now?” even before your question!

Jim

what a great question! for that I may say I hope so for the art itself is a part of me and there are some parts I love more than others as we all do naturally-
my color is more than sliding a saturation point in photoshop- it is about balance in colors and dealing with original light in the original photo untouched- its about knowing IMO what works what doesn't-
what I do is a sort of color consideration that equals the ultimate expression of the newly born shot-
if it were so easy as just to slide saturation then I would be in Heaven, Easy Street
but I adore what I do and how I do it

I am learning more -evolve with each experiment I come up with-some may work-some may not
"art is the act of seduction"

Charlotte,

One of the reasons why I did not reject your picture originally is that I had reactions akin that Jim described when he was confronted years ago, with gorgeous pictures in Rowell's* Gallery in Bishop California. I was also confused and uncertain.

Was it indeed art and expression of the mind or just fiddling with sliders" as some did argue? I felt I should sit on the fence and observe. There's a danger in doing that since familiarity does not always breed contempt but also acceptance and re-evaluation beyond the contempt.

I must disclose that one major part of my own art is indeed dependent on exploitation of endless exploration of possibilities in Photoshop. I hate the word photo-manipulation, because of the sinister connotation of manipulation, however, that is an easy way to get the idea across with the least fanfare. So I'm quite familiar with the process.

The idea is of experimenting with sliders and overlays to get effects that evolve. When some effect is exciting it's kept. Then one might or might not go further.

However, where is the expression? Since there was no idea in the brain that had been formulated, how can the "art" be an execution of what the artist intended. There is in fact, little in the artist's imagination that is anything close to what would finally appear. It's more like: lets pour yellow paint over the child and over-expose the picture. We know something yellow would appear, for sure! One might have an idea that it would be original. That's an easy assumption. Then one can select which ones are the most unique and call that art and declare it worthwhile. However, unlike the painter or sculpture of classic art, there is no matching of intent to final art form. Worse, the changes lack in predictable and willful change. It seems to have more in common with found art on a walk in the woods. One know that old wood, odd stones, special leaves or even a skull will be there. One just has to find and assemble them as a collage.

That art is very different from the photographic genius of Ansel Adams or the other great masters. They observed, selected, excluded, position, left, returned until the light was right. They used intelligence, experience and knowledge (as well as genius) to embed esthetic coding into a scene. Then they worked thescene back, albeit, with their own artistic fingerprints fingerprints. They might well choose to deliver it "better" than seen in nature! That we accept. Here, however, you are showing it not better but distorted in color, form and instances. Your work, (and some of mine, I must admit includes), in not just designing but just finding an odd or wonderful effect in delivering your picture, will be questioned. After all, is in the end merely a non-serious gimmick? Isn't it an empty pretty vessel holding no real beauty?

Besides that, "getting there" will be trivialized as lacking the real effort and technical qualities of admired photography.

My response is as follows. It's indeed possible to create worthwhile art by departing from realistic photographic representation. Still, it needs time and revisiting for me to finally know what it is that's being delivered. (I apply the same questions to my own work for the last 5 years.) Is it a lucky mess or a result directed by the brains genius and talent.

Ultimately the work can only be judged by what happens to the observer.

Asher


*Tragically, in 2002, Galen Rowell and his wife, Barbara, died in a small plane which crashed approaching Bishop in 2002.Source.

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

quote Asher-

Ultimately the work can only be judged by what happens to the observer.

Asher- a good def. of art and artists- "art and the observer"


my
work is me- I do! understand the nonconformity I have here-I do
but in my poetry it rends so far out of the box-
it is who I am
I do NOT wish to change any person in their beliefs of photography but only let them see what I do
and whatever "real admired photograhpy is I have no idea
because that seems a "in the box statement"

if art is to continue -like life in all forms
we need not be so discriminatory-


Charlotte

 

[Asher Kelman]

I do NOT wish to change any person in their beliefs of photography but only let them see what I do

Why would we even imagine that! Art is not (generally) meant to teach anything!

and whatever "real admired photograhpy is I have no idea
because that seems a "in the box statement"

Hi Charlotte,

Concerning "real admired photography", there was no term "real" in the original. That does make an important difference.

That art is very different from the photographic genius of Ansel Adams or the other great masters. They observed, selected, excluded, position, left, returned until the light was right. They used intelligence, experience and knowledge (as well as genius) to embed esthetic coding into a scene. Then they worked thescene back, albeit, with their own artistic fingerprints fingerprints. They might well choose to deliver it "better" than seen in nature! That we accept. Here, however, you are showing it not better but distorted in color, form and instances. Your work, (and some of mine, I must admit includes), in not just designing but just finding an odd or wonderful effect in delivering your picture, will be questioned. After all, is in the end merely a non-serious gimmick? Isn't it an empty pretty vessel holding no real beauty?

Besides that, "getting there" will be trivialized as lacking the real effort and technical qualities of admired photography.

My response is as follows. It's indeed possible to create worthwhile art by departing from realistic photographic representation. Still, it needs time and revisiting for me to finally know what it is that's being delivered. (I apply the same questions to my own work for the last 5 years.) Is it a lucky mess or a result directed by the brains genius and talent.

Ultimately the work can only be judged by what happens to the observer.

Rather I referred to "the real effort and technical qualities" that the masters of photography put into their work. "Masters", you might ask? My response is that they had the genius and physical technique to apply together in harmony to direct exactly what they intended to be engraved in the final work of art.

Still, I'm not belittling your photographic approach with layers and photoshop exaggerations and the like. After all, I do the same and maybe far more aggressively. I'm just declaring the obvious. Work is compared to what we already admire.

Asher

 

[Jim Galli]

Charlotte, I think you're on a good track here perhaps. I of course am the original curmudgeon. Or am I. I love what I love just as you do. At my home among the staid black and white prints in my den resides one of Huntington Witherills "Photo Synthesis" pieces. At his site click on the color 'photo synthesis' block. On about page 6 I am the proud owner of a signed copy of Gerbera Daisies #1. It's an astonishingly beautiful photograph. My only complaint is that at gunpoint and given a choice my lovely bride would forego all of my B&W pieces and keep this one. They are wonderful to look at and well within the range of this discussion.

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Asher

art for me does teach so very much
I think sometimes in the typing we tend to misunderstand what the other is saying-no you are not trying to belittle my work I am not saying such at all-I only meant whatever "real admired photography is" every person will admire this persons work or another persons to me its all the same-everything changes-

Jim

yes I understand very well about the traditional photography and admire those that execute such as I do from time to time- it seems though I a being pushed in another direction by something far larger than I am-thank you for the link I have saved it and will study later

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Parker

this child is a natural beauty-he most always gives expression naturally-

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

The very breathtaking Claudia

Anne Rice has always inspired my art- for me-this is Louis's Claudia-

His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child

 

[Asher Kelman]

Charlotte,

I'm not comfortable with seeing children as evil. However, if that what you were trying to convey, it works! I prefer beauty!

Asher

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Asher

yes it works and thank you- I never saw Claudia as evil only as interesting in Rice's novel
fascinating actually
so I apply my own idea in a visual for such a child

"Evil is always possible. Goodness is a difficulty." Anne Rice-

it is great fiction and in that story these vampires "are living according to their nature"


Charlotte-

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

The Veil

My interpetation of woman and girl- as we are veiled in our female selves-that we are both woman and girl- I think the poem I wrote explains the 2 overlays-


The Veil

deguiser-
ruin of night
lifted woman, what she is
blended homecoming
threads of stockings
a stroll of death
a kiss of lightning
storm-

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Skate Board Dude

This boy loves U of T and skateboarding so I did 2 posters for him- all of this was taken in his room and I did the overlay for him- whatcha think?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Charlotte,

The first is entertaining. To make a sense, I need to know if there's a purpose. With no introduction I cannot bring the rulers out of my pocket that might apply! So help me with an introduction,

Asher

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Asher-

exactly what I did was two posters for this child in his bedroom- I went in and took a character shot of all what was going on that night with the child
and simply made a transparency overlay for his room-poster size- the parents love it!
the boy absolutely adored them
simple as that-

Charlotte-

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

Dangerous

where we became and what we shall become, and what we are-