• Please use real names.

    Greetings to all who have registered to OPF and those guests taking a look around. Please use real names. Registrations with fictitious names will not be processed. REAL NAMES ONLY will be processed

    Firstname Lastname

    Register

    We are a courteous and supportive community. No need to hide behind an alia. If you have a genuine need for privacy/secrecy then let me know!
  • Welcome to the new site. Here's a thread about the update where you can post your feedback, ask questions or spot those nasty bugs!

My World: What Our Photography Might Be About!

Tim Rucci

Member
Food for thought....

I immerse myself in photography to escape from life's more divisive and abrasive topics, such as politics.

The one thing certain today is if you take a stand vocally on one extreme or the other, you'll likely piss off about 50% of the people you associate with.

No matter which side you're on, nobody is going to convince anyone on the other side to come over to their point of view.

I think it might be good to keep that in mind when we post on a photography forum. Why are we even talking about politics here anyway?

I wonder if that's why this place has so little participation, compared to the good ole days....

Just a thought
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Food for thought....

I immerse myself in photography to escape from life's more divisive and abrasive topics, such as politics.

The one thing certain today is if you take a stand vocally on one extreme or the other, you'll likely piss off about 50% of the people you associate with.

No matter which side you're on, nobody is going to convince anyone on the other side to come over to their point of view.

I think it might be good to keep that in mind when we post on a photography forum. Why are we even talking about politics here anyway?

I wonder if that's why this place has so little participation, compared to the good ole days....

Just a thought
Tim,

Yes, there could be losses, but we still talk to thr folk that disagree with s.

Given that a pandemic that hits older folk with a variety of very common conditions with a high risk of death, I thought we would buck the trend and risk everything but allow discussion, since our lives are on the line.

Also our way of life.

But a fellow like you is even more of a treasure to us as you are as I am, still actively immersed in photography.

When I see the progress Jim Olson has made in capturing BIF with feedback here, I feel it’s very much worthwhile.

As we get past the COVID distraction, we’ll be far less likely to have political discussions. Right now, it’s like surviving the Luftwafffe Blitz in London, when we met many strangers at a time in bomb shelters and in the morning picking through debris for odd worthwhile “finds”!

Rightnow, I would welcome any ideas you might havecto help us on the road to recovery!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Tim,

My steering of this “ship“ is obviously imperfect but I try to account for real issues that face us like planet damage, this pandemic and disruption of life at this moment in our lives.

I photograph every day. My models no longer come and my lights all have the same settings as of February of this year!

But I am now planning to restart with outdoor shoots and a new indoor HEPA filter air exchange unit I built.

The solution is in the new pictures we post!

The more pictures we share, the more we focus on our love for image-making as opposed to politics.

Asher
 

Tom dinning

Registrant*


I think you may have misunderstood what I was referring to when I wrote that. My reasoning was that in the US, roughly half of the population support the current president, while the other half do not.
That was the basis for my assertion that vocally supporting one side generally pisses off supporters of the other side. Nothing more; nothing less.

Also, I do not believe I only associate with extremists (so don't be worried). I'm not sure if you folks are extremists or not, and you certainly are not the only people I associate with (wink). But that said, I have avoided expressing a
political stance one way or the other because as earlier stated, I visit this place and immerse myself in photography in part to escape from politics. But I was surprised when looking around at the different forums that there appears to be
more political topics than photography discussion here.

To put this all in context, my objective was to suggest we focus on photography if that is in fact, the real purpose of the "Open Photogrpahy Forum".
Knowing that people will obviously always have political disgreements, why drag that divisiveness into a photography forum?
When people get sick of constantly hearing politics and leave that behind and escape to a photography forum, they are not likely to stay if they find more of the same.

Hi Tim.

I’m one of the oldies here, currently in hibernation.
I do get what you say about the political bent shown here on OPF. A great deal of it isn’t factual so it has little relevance. Ts just people venting their opinions, often supported by statistics chosen according to their support for one side or another.

There are other strong influences here that others might find curious and distracting. There are few women as a starter. Those that show their face are dedicated aficionados who, to my recall, have never participated in political debate here, yet I’m sure they have opinions as well.

I often find myself expressing my valuable opinions on the manner in which women are ‘exposed’ here by some photographers in the name of art.

What I find quite fascinating is that I can bring about the best and worst of remonstration when I reflect on scantily clad women in my usual manner whereas I might cast aspersions on any Policelink figure and it goes almost unnoticed.

Such is the way of all people. Such, also, is the way of photography.

Allow me to be a little lyrical in my response.
Hopefully it will explain my position on photography and demonstrate that absolutely anything can be discussed in the light of a single photograph. Even politics.

Might I suggest you write about what you know and value. The rest will see your enthusiasm and respond accordingly.

OPF has a hard core of writers. Small in number and varied in talent, knowledge and opinion. It’s a worthwhile place to spend some time.


The Photograph
F7ED8FD6-4E76-41B6-BC29-C4FC6FC1E2A9.jpeg

I am
The sum of all things.

An experience
To be had.
A gesture,
In return, a contemplative motion.
A token of intellectual exchange
Casually accepted
To be read and reflected
We meet again
Next week perhaps
The coffee is good here.

The photograph, in its entirety, is nothing, more or less, than an image.
It’s value and worth is extrinsic. The coincidence of time and place, the geometry of visual perspective, the form and context of the structures and objects in place, the internal narrative of the photographer, and finally, the essence derived by the viewer are all part of the experience.
The photograph is the conduit for reality to become imaginative.

The photograph is taken as the sum of all things that have taken place up to that point. Then we pause for a moment to reflect on its significance. The photograph is worthless without its connectivity.

F7ED8FD6-4E76-41B6-BC29-C4FC6FC1E2A9.jpeg
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Tom,

The items that either bother or excite you: “scantily dressed women”, that I get. I am inspired by them! My wife grades and approves them for looks and character.

But they are so costly, might not turn up and anyway require MUA, stylists and chaperones!

Chairs however, are neither tardy, need food nor any consideration.

But what on earth are “policelinks”?

Some club where you share bravado stories or can get a sheriff’s badge? or perhspsa reference to police shortwave radio? Some folk here are fanatics in that sort of stuff!

Asher
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Tim,

We immerse in photography for as many reasons as one can name a topic to be discussed, something to be admired or that fascinates, repulses or stirs us in some way.

For me it’s appreciation of beauty, life and holding up a lantern to ourselves.

Tom Dinning, (perhaps has similar motivations) but is, (from what he shows us and writes), more isolated, dismissive and cynical,

..... and so mocks the celebratory delusions in art, but contributes the finest from his unique window.

Right now, with folk unemployed and lining up for miles for food handouts, to ignore that reality would be a many times more foolish than claiming “Our work is art!”

Still your reminder as to what we are, photographers with a passion, is appreciated. We needed it!

Asher
 
Top