Morven Photo: Words

I have documented several times my difficulty photographing people and posting them on my blog - though with the counselling and therapy I am receiving on-line, this is gradually getting easier for me.

This made me wonder whether others had taboo subjects - obviously illegal and pornographic are out, but I wonder if you have a difficulty with something that others seem to be posting routinely. This could be because of technique, opportunity, confidence or any other reason.

Sorry not to have posted the past couple of days, but as I said I had to make a business trip to Vienna and Paris. Frustratingly, though my camera was at hand, there was never time to take photographs - I took a couple of stairwells inside the hotel.

Unfortunately this happens a lot to me, I have been to numerous wonderful places in the world, sometimes with a camera and smetimes not, but have little in the way of photographic evidence to show for it.

Some cities I have been in but not photographed include Vienna, Budapest, Delhi - as I think about it now, there are in fact rather a lot. I need to ensure I build more time into my schedules for photography. There have also been some great tourist sites such as Niagra Falls (I did get a few images on a disposable camera), the seat of Ottoman Power in Istanbul, Golden Gate bridge …

I think the area that disappointed me the most was in and around Istanbul where I had time, but no camera. I am very interested in the history of the Ottomans.

What is the thing you most regret not photographing for whatever reason?

How do you view blogs? I have been using RSS feeds for some time now and find it an excellent way of keeping up with who has updated thier blog. It enables me to save time surfing and focus on those blogs which have been updated. indeed, I often overlook some very good sites that do not posess feeds because I simply forget them.

I have also used a number of feed readers, but at present I use the Sage plug-in for the wonderful Firefox browser. It seems to work well and allows me to browse directly to sites that have changed.

Do you use feeds? Which reader do you use? Do you keep up with blogs without feeds?

Please leave your comment on this topic - I am off to Vienna today and Paris on Friday (I know it is a hard life) - if I have no internet for the next couple of days, I will get back to you over the weekend .

PixelPost is becoming a dominant photoblogging tool among the blogs I visit and with the advent of version 1.4 there are an awful lot using the default layout (including Morven Photoblog) with perhaps a few tweaks and added bells and whistles (such as a calendar).

Indeed black and or grey seems to be prevalent since one of the well used standard templates with Blogger is also black - somebody the other day was concerned that others would think them a Goth because of it.

This observation led me to wonder if this matters. My conclusion is that it does since we are all operating and presenting a creative visual concept, so the surroundings must play a role. In my own case it is lazyness and lack of time which have in the main prevented me from moving on from the basic template.

What are your thoughts on layout and colour and does it matter that so many of us are using such a similar presentation?

One of the key criteriea for me for a layout is that it is simple and comfortable to navigate. The ’standard’ has the benefit that when you have learned to negotiate one, you have learned them all. To me the site layout should be invisible - by that I mean if you are noticing the layout then it is likely to detract from the images.

There are of course many websites that do not conform to this stereotype just outlined and which are creative in themselves. Do you believe that some of these layouts enhance the photography or detract from it? Also which is your favourite blog from the point of view of presentation (not necessarily the content)?

One of my favoutrites is Moments in Time by Paul.

A response I was writing on yesterday’s post To EXIF or not to EXIF? got me thinking about the whole process of critiquing and how I actually do this. What factors are important and what causes me to write what I do.

Increasingly my interest has become providing an honest feedback and information which could help the photographer improve their image from my point of view. I subscribe to the view, however, that in the end there is only one opinion that matters and that is the one belonging to the photographer who alone knows what was intended. The rest of us are proffering advice and opinions from the sidelines. For me it is clear though that if a large number of people are saying the same thing then there is probably something to take note of - either positive or negative.

It is often surprising which pictures provide a strong reaction - for some reason more so when this is a positive reaction (the negative I often expect ). A good example is the image I posted last Monday - Stowe Reflected: Grotto which received an overwhelming positive resonse despite my feeling that it is run-of-the-mill. This may be to do with my familiarity with the subject turning into taking it for granted.

Variables

• Objective Factors
1. Technical quality of image - focussing, exposure …
2. Subject
3. Composition
4. EXIF data
• Subjective Factors
1. Relationship with photographer
2. General skill level of photographer
3. My own mood
4. Existing comments

Above is a list of some of the variables which influence my commenting broken down into two sections.

Key Factors for Me

Thinking about it now, the ones which are of most consequence to me in terms of the comment I write have less to do with the objective quality of the photograph itself. These are my relationship with the photographer and the general skill level of the photographer. My relationship plays a role, because generally I do not critique photos - particularly negatively - of photographers I have not been reviewing and interacting with for some time. Further, I also have a picture of the photographers ‘body of work’ in mind and generally compare this image with that, i.e. is it weaker or stronger and this modifies my commenting accordingly. Paradoxically therfore, I am more critical of good photographs and photographers than weaker ones.
Sorry guys

The objective factor which plays the strongest role in my opinion forming is composition - for me this is the key issue, the technical aspects of exposure and focussing are generally taken care of very satisfactorily by even the most basic of cameras available today. Even the best camera, however, can have no influence on the composition. The key is what to include and what not to include, not any rules of composition per se - see also the article Composition in Photography.

I do try not to let the subject influence me, but we all have likes and dislikes - the one problem I have is with flower images - some of them are very good, but there are an awful lot of seriously bad ones and there are an awful lot of them period. Mostly I do not comment, though there are a few of my A list blogging friends where I pretend this problem does not exist for me in order to make some kind of comment.

Of the other factors, EXIF is irrelevant, I try not to let my mood affect me, though I am sure it does from time-to-time. The one area I try not to let myself be influenced is that of the comments from others. I have noticed, however, that an early comment that contains what is critique (i.e. not backslapping alone) often influences those that follow. One might say this is to be expected and somehow underlines an objective truth; sometimes I am sure this is true, but other times I feel people feel they can jump onto somebody else’s bandwaggon.

The Process

The process I use is simple, though not at all scientific.

1. Form an Opinion

I look at the image and form an instant opinion of it.

1. Do I like it?
2. Why do I like it or not?
• Composition
• Technical quality
• Originality
3. What do I like about it?
4. How could it be improved?

2. Decide on Level of Comment

I have five levels of comment.

1. No comment
2. Discuss things other than the image
• some text the photographer has written
• the subject matter
3. Compliment on some aspect of the image attractive to me
4. Comment about why the image is strong
5. Compliment with a suggestion for improvement

Often I will make a combination of these and generally I try to be positive and constructive. As discussed previously my relationship with and my perception around previous work of that photographer will heavily influence my choice. Generally the more robust the image, my relationship and the photographer (gauged on their own commenting habit) the further up this scale I run.

Rarely do I chose option 1 - no comment - thinking that if the photographer has taken the time to post and I have taken the time to look and think it does us both good - even if it is what I call a ‘drive by’ comment at least it acknowledges that I was there.

Sometimes I will just make a comment low down the scale because it is easier and quicker.

Conclusion

As I said, this is a far from scientific process, but I was surprised that during my writing of this article I discovered how much my assessment depends upon so-called ’soft’ factors.

I would be very interested to hear your opinion of my process and how you go about this for yourself.