Just a thought

I'm just back from a week long business trip in Boston.  It's lunchtime and I'm surfing my favorite photo websites.  I had a thought I figured I should capture.  It was inspired by a photo posted on Luminous Lanscape.  (one of the best photo resources out there).  Anyway, the photo is of a very mediocre, very predictable landscape. 

So I began to wonder...why did they post this photo on the front page?  Someone obviously liked it.  So I figure, maybe I'm just not looking at it appropriately.  Okay, let me try a little harder to like it.  Well, it's got nice wavy lines, and nice color contrast.  The sky has some interesting clouds...but it's just not doing it for me.

Well, then it hits me.  If I have to look for a reason to like something about an image, it's not really that good.  This isn't to take a shot at someone else's photography.  I created a photo just last week that I have to try really hard to like...so in the end I really don't like it that much at all. 

It's that initial reaction of "wow" that I'm going for with an image.  If it doesn't have that...it doesn't have a chance of being a favorite for long.   Given that I've started back up my PAD, I expect to have MANY photos which do not have this "wow" factor...but sometime soon I'll get one.  And that's the fun of it. 

Comments

[Craig Persel]

Just went out and took a look at that photo. Yikes. I know what you are saying. For me, it certainly falls into the "snapshot" category. I'm not familiar with the website so do not have any idea why they would highlight that photo, but I understand what you are saying about the "wow" factor. My personal term is the "unexpected" factor. I want an image to grab my attention right away and say "look at me" ... "explore me." I try my hardest to do that with my PAD, but it is very difficult ... so I just try and get as close as possible - as often as possible. If the image is interesting to me then there is an outside chance it will be interesting to some others.

Thanks for the post and thoughts.

[Ed K.]

Sometimes the WOW attraction fades quickly - the image does not have *staying power*. Probably related to "true beauty being more than skin deep." The WOW attraction is one of the biggest problems with camera club competitions. The judge has only a very short time to decide - and better images that grow on you are discarded. Just last week I took an image off my wall that I loved a month ago - lots of WOW but boring after the WOW wore off.

You seem to be returning to the PAD for reasons similar to those why I've stayed with it for 3+ years. Think photography. (But then I'm retired and don't have the other calls on my time - apart from walking the dog.)

[Craig Persel]

True that a "wow" factor can fade if the image has only superficial qualities. However, an image with deeper and more lasting qualities will also engage the viewer from the first look. There will be something mysterious, creative and dynamic that will pull a person into the image and start a "dialogue" with the viewer. The more complex and sustaining this dialogue the greater the image.

[Chuck]

Good points Craig and Ed. "Wow" can definitely fade with time. I've seen it quite a bit in my own images. It's interesting to look back at prior work and see it with a different appreciation. Very few of my own images make me happy for very long. About one or two per year stick with me. The rest are just filler.

[birkenstock outlet]

school of the complex. "He, he was a bit too nervous, but my side of it ... ...?" However, at this time, two stealthy figure is quietly moving behind the depressed state of the rapidly approaching

[Tory Burch]

Imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning and saw a photo posted in my Pbase PAD gallery. I must not be dead, just on hiatus. Oh well, back to blogging about photography. Next up...feedback from a pro.

[Microsoft Office]

Ah well your comment! I did you good!