SEEING THE WORLD ANEW: that’s the point of the Tuesday afternoon photography class I’ve been taking at the Tribeca Y, taught by Palmer Davis (who also teaches at the ICP).
Palmer’s assignments are creatively challenging and intellectually stimulating. They make you look differently at the familiar. I feel I’m casting the cobwebs from my jaded eyes.
The latest assignment is “Abstraction,” taking things out of context so it’s all about form rather than meaning. I found I could accomplish that by shooting in close-up, and create images that look like modern paintings.
Pity about the lack of focus in the one above. But I still like it. It’s a lamppost in Carroll Gardens. As Palmer put it, “Abstraction opens up the possibilities of picture-making.”
If you missed my animal portraits and slices of Brooklyn for previous assignments, you can go here and here.
Cara, I love your photographs. I love you, too! Perhaps you’ve found your next calling in Photography!
Here’s a tip for you which I learned from Julius Shulman: these are not “shots”, they are photographs. The are thoughtfully chosen compositions, art, creations, images, photographs, photos, whatever other word you choose to use…. but never are they “shots”. They might have been taken on the fly quickly to capture a moment or deliberately planned and fine-tuned for perfection, but they’re never something as cheap as a shot. Shots are for doctors and gunmen. Photos are for photographers.
Keep it up! I’d love to spend some time with you next time I’m near Brooklyn to take some photos along the same walk and compare what we saw!
Thanks, Joe. That’s a funny quote from Julius Shulman. I don’t feel like a real photographer yet (although i almost did one day recently when I had two different borrowed cameras around my neck), but I’ll try to start talking like one. Yes, definitely we’ll take some photos together!
LOOKING GOOD!!! APPEARS YOU ARE HAVING A JOYFUL EXPERIENCE…