urban ku # 138 ~ same-o-same-o?
Saturday, November 24, 2007 at 11:21AM 
Nearby graveyard • click to embiggenYesterday, in a rare expression of photographic simpatico, Paul Maxim wrote; "I love the image of the old cemetery. Unlike much of your work, it contains no chaos and no complexity. It's a simple and thought provoking image ... A question, though: Do you consider this photograph to be "outside" of your normal style?"
The picture in question is the left most one in today's entry. Paul's question is a good and timely one for me - I had been thinking of whether or not to post this triptych here on The Landscapist precisely because it is a bit of a departure from my 'standard'. My 'standard' ku, that is.
For the record, I don't think it/they differ so much in 'vision' as it/they do in technique. My standard ku is a (primarily) wide-angle lens, a 11-22mm f2.8/3.5 Zuiko, driven oeuvre. These pictures were made using a telephoto, a 50-200mm f2.8/3.5 Zuiko (for the techno-curious of you, those lenses on a 4/3rds camera are 22-44mm and 100-400mm 35mm equivalents). As such, there is a very narrow DOF evident in the pictures - something that is not so noticeable, even when it does exist, in most of my standard ku.
And exist it does. Just check out ku # 493-95. Pictures that were made on the same day as today's post. Two of the three ku # 493-95 pictures were made with the 50-200mm lens and have a very similar DOF to the graveyard pictures. It's just not as noticeable because the objects of my gaze, in and of themselves, are full of chaos and complexity.
I think that what prompted Paul to ask the question is the same thing that prompted me to question whether to post them here or not - the object(s) of my gaze itself - the tombstones. In and of themselves, they contain little or 'no chaos and no complexity'. Unlike my predilection for natural world complexity and chaos, the are simple manmade forms. The fact that they are so monochromatic and grey also helps differentiate them from my standard ku as well.
Utlimately though, I think that my standard ku vision remains wholely intact - an intimate glimpse at the everyday world that surrounds us.
At least that's how I see it. I would, however, be very interested to read differing opinions.
Reader Comments (4)
Why be pinned down to a standard look or technique? The content is different, but these images are still ku-ey (ku-ish? ku-esque?) to me.
Cheers,
Joe
Your usual nature images are like poetry to me, each a very complex and intricate poem. This new triptych is also poetry, but simpler, almost haiku. I find that it says a lot while saying very little.
What interests me most is the impact the out of focus grave stones/mountains/mist/trees in the distance all have on the subject...if I'm not mistaken, a zoom lens like the one you describe pulls in the background and makes it seem a bit more intimate/prominent...which really sets the mood here. I did notice that in "frenzy" also, but it didn't jolt me the way the graveyard did, maybe because there was still some natural "complexity/chaos" happening.
The images as presented make the scene feel toyish or diaramaish. I personally don't like the feeling I get from these. I prefer your ku images much more.