Monday 10 March 2014

Landscapes or Not?

A couple of shots from a walk over the chase in that beautiful weather we had yesterday.The vast majority of the landscapes we see are either highly stylised / formula very wide angle shots from low view points or straight forward records of what was in front of the photographer with little or no attempt at interpreting the scene. 

I suspect a lot of club judges would not class my two shots as landscapes but as Friedrich Nietzsche said 'You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist'.
So interpret them as you will.

Yin and Yang

Rape of the Chase

Tony Middleton

8 comments:

  1. Mick Brownridge11 March 2014 at 11:54

    Of course they are landscapes. Very different.

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  2. Mark Brownridge11 March 2014 at 11:56

    Great pics. I'd happily have one on the wall. Can't see them ever making it into the mainstream though ie: chocolate boxes, IKEA prints, hanging on the walls of travel lodges etc... Which is obviously a good thing!

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  3. I like to see detail but in the category of Landscapes I expect and enjoy a more general view of where the author has been. People unfamilar with Cannock Chase would not understand the meaning. The images would catch the eye of judges of other categories.

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  4. Well anonymous is forgetting one thing, I'm assuming who ever they are knows me, I'm not making images for judges. I agree that thank goodness they will never ' do for me'. I agree about the title so substitute 'countryside'for Chase.

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  5. PS WHy do details in the landscape not count as landscapes, often they can tell you far more than the general view. I feel the fact that most close up details require some thought beyond the obvious technicalities is the reason that they are not popular with some tongs and most. judges.
    Thanks to the. Breckenridge for their comments.
    This must be a first as we've had more than one comment!

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  6. Tony. I love your quote from Friedrich Nietzsche ('You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist'). I have to say that these particular images aren't necessarily my style, but as ever, I enjoyed your comments and the fact that they, together with the images, made me think. Keep it up.

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  7. Sorry for the mix up with your name, it's either me getting old or the kindle's keyboard being so sensitive and my fingers so clumsy.
    Just been rereading the comments and took on board Anonymous's comment that they 'expect' to see a wider view. Sadly that's a very restrictive attitude that wants every one to produce 'the grand vista', it limits personal expression but then so much work in the club world is produced to formula or current fashion and judges in the main only talk about technique never the feeling that the image arouses. An old saying is that 'the sum of the parts is greater than the whole'.

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  8. Interesting but do the images have to be categorised at all if the author does not intend to enter them for competition? When I'm choosing for my wall or my photo albums I do not stop to think whether my images belong in a certain category - only whether I like them enough for inclusion.

    I can see reasons for categories on competition nights as they give a broad idea of what members should select for public view. I don't know what happens at your club but I enjoy competition nights because I personally see how my work compares with others. I'm not too worried about the final choices of the judges as they may be biased towards images they like to take themselves.

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