What do you see?

[Tom Dinning]

It’s not always what you’re looking at.
Nor is it what you photograph.
Yet still, not what is described in the image.
This is as close to fame as I can get.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I have always liked such observer images. These allow one to ask even more questions than the art on the wall invites. But here we have limited discourse even of the art on the wall. So we have to bring our own questions!

Asher

 

[Jerome Marot]

Technically, all I see here are lit pixels on a computer screen. Is that the answer you were looking for?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Tom Dinning: “Painting Attracts Crowd”
(ADK ad hoc title for photo”)​

What I see, although blurry, is an apparent gallery setting, (composition, the dark hat, the full beard, and the prominent color on the subject's clothing), matching features of the "Portrait of Poly" visible in the image a Monet painting of 1866 shown below.

The context of a museum setting makes it very plausible that it is the original painting or a copy on display

Claude Monet: “Portrait of Poly, Fishermsn at Belle Île”
​

This image appears to be a reproduction of the painting titled "Portrait of Poly, the Fisherman from Belle-Île" or "Poly, Fisherman at Belle-Île" by Claude Monet, dating from 1886. You can even faintly read "Claude Monet Belle-Ile 86" in the upper right corner of the painting in the file.

That’s what see!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

There’s an abundance of “Hand-Painted, Museum Quality” copies of this painting!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Tom,

When we sum it all up and return to your question, “What do you see?”, here’s my take.

I now think understand whether might well be the zenith of the Monet’s intent: the eyes of the worker looks at his audience and now they all look back on him.

This demonstrates he created an endless dialog that has outlived him and will outlive us all!

Asher

 

[Tom Dinning]

Of the fifty or so who viewed this image here, a few share their thoughts; the ones they want me and others to know.
This expresses the character and intent of the viewer, not the artist: certainly not me.
Our mind is of such complexity yet at any moment we can narrow it down to revealing little or nothing.
Just a few words from a few.
The only value I have at this moment of this image is just that; the words of others.
I hold my own thoughts at bay. They are worthless to you as yours might be to those who read.
Monet is dead. He has no knowing of what anyone might think. Poly is of interest to the viewers only in their own context.

 

[Asher Kelman]

But the image lives on in

Of the fifty or so who viewed this image here, a few share their thoughts; the ones they want me and others to know.
This expresses the character and intent of the viewer, not the artist: certainly not me. ….

Much true, Tom!

But the image itself has acquired a life and steadfast friends who care to visit and return. It has a voice that speaks again and again new stories!

These are the artists “Ambassadors” to the future!

Asher

 

[Tom Dinning]

Mmm.
Such a romantic perspective, Ash.
As is usual from you.
Since the image has no say in what you or I think, I’ll adhere to that which I can grasp.
The mental experiences I have when viewing any image is for me to carry for a short time; never into the future but during the present.
I might dream of the past but not recreate it.
The present isn’t recorded in as much as line, shadow and colour; none of it remotely close to the truth or fact of the matter.
I take great pleasure in attaching words and stories from my thoughts to all my images (and others’) knowing full well they are mine and only relate to my experiences.
For me, this is the pleasure of taking and looking at photos.
That is what we share.
More so now than ever.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Mmm.
Such a romantic perspective, Ash.
As is usual from you.
Since the image has no say in what you or I think, I’ll adhere to that which I can grasp.
The mental experiences I have when viewing any image is for me to carry for a short time; never into the future but during the present.
I might dream of the past but not recreate it.
The present isn’t recorded in as much as line, shadow and colour; none of it remotely close to the truth or fact of the matter.
I take great pleasure in attaching words and stories from my thoughts to all my images (and others’) knowing full well they are mine and only relate to my experiences.
For me, this is the pleasure of taking and looking at photos.
That is what we share.
More so now than ever.View attachment 13831

But if it didn’t move you, Tom, likely as not you wouldn’t share!

Asher