signs # 13 / noir covers / photo noir #7-8 ~ just thinkin'
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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..
>>>> Comments, commentary and lively discussions, re: my writings or any topic germane to the medium and its apparatus, are vigorously encouraged.
BODIES OF WORK ~ PICTURE GALLERIES
BODIES OF WORK ~ BOOK LINKS
In Situ ~ la, la, how the life goes on • Life without the APA • Doors • Kitchen Sink • Rain • 2014 • Year in Review • Place To Sit • ART ~ conveys / transports / reflects • Decay & Disgust • Single Women • Picture Windows • Tangles ~ fields of visual energy (10 picture preview) • The Light + BW mini-gallery • Kitchen Life (gallery) • The Forks ~ there's no place like home (gallery)
That written, I may make a BW Noir as a counterpoint to the color version.
On another subject, re: photo noir, I am wondering if a picture that intends to evoke the feelings associated with film noir requires the actual visual presence of a person. Or, is the suggestion of pessimism / danger, sans person, that intimates that the viewer of a noir picture is him/herself in danger enough? The conclusion I am coming to is that it can work either way.
As always, I am open to reading different opinions other than mine on the subject.Now that preliminary conversions are at hand, I have been contemplating the notion of color vs BW. The 2 noir pictures in this entry are presented in both color and BW because they represent the challenge of deciding between the color / BW formats inasmuch as, in the case of these particular pictures, I feel that both color and BW work equally well. Not every noir picture works both ways, so I have some deciding to do.
Then of course, the big deciding is editing down the collection to 5-7 pictures for submission to the gallery / juror for consideration.Film noir is distinguished by a unique aesthetic of low-key, contrasty light, strong shadows, unexpected camera angles, bleak pessimism, and a lurking sense of danger ... As Roger Ebert describes the style: “Locations that reek of the night, of shadows, of alleys, of the back doors of fancy places, of apartment buildings with a high turnover rate, of taxi drivers and bartenders who have seen it all.”
Consequently, the challenge for me in making my submission selections for potential exhibition inclusion is to look anew at my pictures which "reek of night" and decide which ones could be viewed to meet the criteria of "bleak pessimism, and a lurking sense of danger".
As in the case of my Celebration of Trees submissions, my first-blush feeling is that, for this exhibition, BW is the order of the day. Although, the jury is still deliberating that feeling.
That written, of one thing I am certain - most, if not all, of the pictures I might select for submission will need adjustments in order to emphasis the "bleak pessimism, and a lurking sense of danger" effect that defines film / photo noir. Unless, of course, as I did for the Alternative Cameras: Pinhole to Plastic exhibition, I venture forth, cameras at the ready, to make noir pictures which are created specifically for this exhibition.
An aside: Has anyone out there been tempted to visit the PhotoPlace Gallery website and check out their call for entries with the intention of submitting a picture or 5 for consideration for one or more exhibitions?In any event, yesterday, was the submission deadline for the In Celebration of Trees exhibition. My submissions are displayed in this entry. And, as you can see, they are all B&W pictures. While I had many color pictures of trees which would have been very suitable submissions, I found that some were very well suited to B&W conversion as I mentioned in a previous entry. So, B&W it is.
While submitting my ICoT pictures, I came across a call for entries for the next exhibition, Photo Noir. I immediately thought that I had a few pictures which might be suitable for that exhibition so I went into my picture library and, lo and behold, I had 42 pictures that most certainly qualify as photo noir.
Once again, I have "discovered" a hidden body of work within the 6,800+ finished / finals pictures in my photo library. Makes me wonder what I will "discover" next.
*I believe anyone can access the proof here. FYI, there are currently 79 exhibition catalogs which can be viewed in their entirety. Just click on the View More link at the bottom right of the Author's Bookstore (which is just below the catalog preview.Mark Hobson - Physically, Emotionally and Intellectually Engaged Since 1947