Early Snow
Sourwood Lane, McLemore Cove
Walker County, Georgia
Friend and fellow photo-blogger Dennis Mook, who blogs as The Wandering Lensman at thewanderinglensman.com has been on a roll lately with some really good posts.
On November 19th, he wrote about wabi-sabi, a Japanese term that means the appreciation of "beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete in nature." But when he looks at today's landscape photography, he no longer sees a representation of nature or nature's imperfections: he sees photographs that are dramatic, over-edited, and over-saturated; hyper-real and hyper-perfect.
On November 27th, he posted a photograph that was so quietly beautiful that I was compelled to write in his comments section "This photograph is quietly, modestly, perfectly beautiful. I would hang it on my wall anytime. It is a perfect counterpoint to the "spectacular," overprocessed photographs you wrote about on Nov. 17. . . it will have far more "staying power" on your wall than a so-called "spectacular" landscape. It will give the eye delight and rest every time you walk into the room."
From
my very earliest days in photography my aim has been to capture a moment of
stillness in each photograph. My name for my portfolio of "art"
photographs is "Images of Tranquility." My photographs are mostly
quiet, and I hope, quietly beautiful. I don't do spectacular. I just see what I see and try to show it.
Ricky's Trees
Daugherty Gap Road, McLemore Cove
Walker County, Georgia
My post-processing is pretty simple: I have an old version of Photoshop -- CS2 -- that does most of what I want to do. Just an exposure adjustment in Curves, if needed, and light burning and dodging with the Brush tool, plus a simple adjustment in Unsharp Masking that enhances mid-tone contrast without affecting highlights or shadows, and I'm done. I want my photographs to look like the scenes as I saw them, not hyped-up renditions that never existed in reality.
Rooted in the Past
South Dicks Creek Road, Armuchee Valley
Walker County, Georgia
I realize this will not make me popular with some photographers, and maybe not with the art-photo buying public. So be it. I am thankfully, too old to care.
Blog Note: I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at alifeinphotography.blogspot.com. I'm trying to build up my readership, so if you're reading this on Facebook and like what I write, would you please consider sharing my posts?
(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)
Soli Gloria Deo
To the glory of God alone
"From my very earliest days in photography my aim has been to capture a moment of stillness in each photograph."
ReplyDeleteAnd so you do, Dad.
Thank you, Son.
ReplyDeleteI have a Flickr account and now and then I go through Explore. Most of the photos are of the "all sliders up on bust" variety. They are very flashy and look impressive until you see through the digital enhancements. Then you can see that most of them are actually quite boring and 'samey'. I have nothing against digital photography and adjustments, but I find that my X-T4 produces nice looking photos right out of the camera. If I did a good job before pressing the shutter button, of course . . . .
ReplyDeleteImpact is for a moment, but content is forever, Marcus.
ReplyDelete