Reply To: Opinions

[IHF]

I like the way you see David.  I struggle with wide compositions myself and I’m very attracted to environmental portraiture (environmental portraiture is what I’d say the majority of your work is.  People more knowledgable go ahead and but in and call me wrong, and add your input please.  It’s just, how frustrating to not know what to call or categorize your work as, when describing it to people?  I had to try to help with that).  I try to go wider with my comps, and always fall short, and I almost instinctually go in close where I’m more comfortable, so your work is instantly appreciated by me.  I also like they way you process and the way you play with color in your compositions.  That desaturated filmy type look with a pop of saturation.  You do it well, because normally it doesn’t work well for me at all.

There are a few pictures that I think may not print/finish well in your port, due to being quite dark and too muted in the shadows.  I think important detail may get lost.  This is just me going by my own personal experiments with different processing and exposures.  Maybe MY darker pictures don’t print/finish well because I suck.  We just don’t know this for certain hehehe

Have you been finishing your work and making a real paper portfolio for yourself?  If not, that should be your very next step.  Keep an ongoing paper port, and you will be amazed at how much you learn about your photography, and how it will change and evolve and go forward because of actively finishing your photos that make the cut.  PLEASE if your not finishing, you must.  I think you have talent and tons of potential and these pictures need to get made and any confusion or uncertainties you may have would come to light much easier when you view them.

emf said that they would like to see looming moved or cut because it is so similar to oceans.  I have to disagree with this (aren’t you glad you asked so you could be even more confused than when you started lol).  I think the color play alone makes for a striking difference of the two.  If I had to cut one, I’d pick rattlesnake, because I don’t like the muted black (It’s one I question would do well on paper), and I don’t like how the landscape goes through her head.  If her head was completely in the light area, clear from the landscape, she would have been beautifully and perfectly framed.  Do you see it?

David, You have to keep going.  No matter how discouraged you may get in the future, keep going.  I think you have something beautiful to say