Subjectivity

Subjectivity refers to a person's perspective or opinion, particular feelings, beliefs, and desires

Where do I start.With referance to my own work of course. Not for promotion, but because theres no point talking without solidifying your words with your own work. here you go = [link] This is probably my personal favourite photograph. Technically, not so great. Infact a little bit out of focus. also, for Velvia, the colour isn't as brilliant and saturated as I would like it to be (Yes, I notice some of my mistakes), bad time of day. So why am I attracted to it? Because for once, I've actually made an informed and concious decision to photograph something that I feel is important or, which makes my point of view distinctive. Its not beautiful, but it is something that I purely desired, in a visual way, and wanted to share and photograph, at this particular point in time.

Think about it. if you take away all the mechanics of photography...what are you left with? Subject and composition. What makes photography so wonderful is that no amount of $$$ will ever be able to do this for you, and to me, this is the essence of making a photograph. whether it is a good, bad, mundane, nice or a wonderfully pointless badly composed flower, subject matter and compoition is what makes you...you. these are the core decisions that you make when taking a photograph. its just that, I (and maybe you aswell) have been making some of these decisions unconsiously for a long time, and my point is that, you have to be "aware" and photograph exactly what YOU want. not, what you were told is great, or what your teacher said. or whatever. Feel what is important, what interests you and photograph that. If you dont, then, maybe you'll be better off making stock photography, or postcards.
Im no pro, but I write what I feel, and if im wrong, please correct me. Or, I will be living in some screwed up denial which is a lot more harsh that me telling you that maybe you should become a stock artist instead.

Im also tired of people undermining themselves because of pageviews and favs and blah blah blah.Please dont do that. think about it like this. If you dont photograph it at THAT particular moment, no one else ever will, and it never would of been recorded. Having other people like your work, is a completely differant issue, although, it has the same name of this same topic. and that is subjectivity.

At the end....
Subjectivity is what makes you unique. it gives you a voice. it makes photogrpahy and artform again. It mkaes photography 50% lucky and 50% oppurtunity. So take it.



tl;dr
OK!

have you seen it?

if you haven't, please check [link]
IMO, thee most interesting DD ever! not the most beautiful, not the must technically well lit, or "perfectly" composed. just interesting and captivating...somewhat random.

anyway...YOU should go look at it.
and read the comments.

its very interesting how quickly people say something doesnt deserve praise just because they dont agree with it, or rather, are not attracted to it. Are you not yet tired of rain drops on flowers? or sunsets? or blood and corsets? of course not. its all about preference. But people who continue doing the same things, admiring the same trends, making the same mistakes, drawing the same pictures, in the same angle, with the same hair, or photographing the same flowers, and the same models, still covered in blood never grow as people or artist, and tend to be boring. Dont be boring. Go look at the picture. You dont have to like it...but understand this: Doing something, or rather noticing something and finding beauty in places that most people wouldnt, deserves merit as well. that is what art is after all

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I leave you with a quote
from the film "cashback".

Ben: I've always wanted to be a painter, maybe have my work hung in a gallery one day.
Sharon: I've always wanted to meet a painter.
Ben: Why?
Sharon: I think it might have something to do with their ability to see beauty in everything.

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i support

UPDATE
TJOU! you can view all the photos from the nahk'd + silly rabbit shoot...here @ [link]

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I havent written a journal in a while, mainly because of not having much to say. Although, some people have the great talent of making even mundane things seem interesting and fun. Im not one of those people.

Alas, the last 2 weeks has been pretty interesting.

Anyhoo...i've recently done some fashion work. NOW. I have never been interested in doing fashion photography, but hey, if the opportunity arises, why not right? Im more of backstage/journalist type person. So how did this happen? mostly because of luck and me being somewhere at the right time and having friends that are very talented fashion designers. I did 2 shoots. Both, insanely spontaneous, different and spur of the moment type stuff. but, more importantly, I learnt a shit load.

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the one was a editorial (Im using that word loosely only to sound fancy and professional) for the 2 up and coming brands/labels named silly rabbit and nahk'd. Basically, the 2 designers were preparing new work for an up and coming show. sooooo, after completing their garments and fitting the models, we just decided to do a shoot(see, spontaneous). where? aross the road to the park (again, spontaneous). We just gathered whatever random props we could find in the house and walaa. It was fun, but, could've been so much better.

Things I wish I knew before starting: shoot 1
im sharing mistakes because theres no point in other people doing the same. Also, writing this down will hopefully help me remember them

1) get a stylist. Yes. If the designer is the stylist as well, then make sure they're there when you are making your photos. As an amateur, I dont notice dresses being skew or shoulder lines being off. Also, i didnt take note of jewellry not matching, shoe laces being untied and other small things. I was concerned about the crappy over cast weather. Make-up (if it isnt over the top) can be done by the girls themselves.

2) Wish I had a reflector. Hence, the sky is blown out white on all the photos. not pretty at all .Seriously, the reflector (or anything that acts as a reflector) it the most inexpensive thing you could use to enhance your photography. If you're shooting digital, you could take 2 photos and combine them, but, IMO, thats cheap.

3) know how to direct your models. this couldnt be foreseen really, as i didnt know i was going to take photos until like an hour before. But it wouldve helped if I knew what I wanted them to do. (or if i had any prior experiance )

Twas rad though, and everyone was pretty happy and having a good time. still, I would redo the entire thing.

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shoot 2

venue: The old Biscuit Mill

So the actual fashion show was great. I had a pass, never had to pay for anything and spent the day backstage with a bunch of girls that WANTED to be photographed. So it was greatness. This was my first time making photos backstage at a fashion show, and even though it was no "Cape Town Fashion Week", it was still wonderful. PS: I had a photo pass for CPT fashion week as well, but i felt like too much of a novice too shoot...I know, im so lame.

The catwalk was awesome as well, but its not really what interests me. toooo much pressure on the catwalk so far as im concerned. Quick, shoot, OMG, shes turning. FRECK! I missed the shot and... you're screwed. Backstage though. just WOW. make up, hair. people running up and down. Designers disappearing. ha...chaos is wonderful (as long as it works out in the end of course). That said, I screwed up lots of photos.

Things I wish I knew before starting:

1) Use the fastest film & the fastest lenses you can find. 800ISO just didn't cut it. I missed many photos due to this. 15th of a sec was hard to nail and usually made my photos, well...not crisp. In fact, if you can, go check what the light is like before hand. I shot at night, with 2 different colour floods shining over the models whilst they were doing there make-up. It was kinda Sucky and, in turn, I got some strange colour casts. Faster lenses would help, but im stuck with a 50mm f2.0. You could use a flash, but I dont have one so I have to work with available light.

2) Get a second, digital camera if you're shooting film. Too many people asked me to see my work the next day and because i shoot film, my stuff was still at the lab. If you can, try and get your work out there while the hype of the show is still going around.

3) Have business cards on hand. Someone WILL ask you for one. its lame writing your DA or Blog address on their cell phone. in fact, get your own domain.

END:

anyhooo. it was beyond awesome. I enjoyed the backstage vibe more though. the buzz was great and since everyone was amped, so was I. Good times. I really want to do some more fashion work, but mainly backstage. Unfortunately, I highly doubt that I could get paid for such work. would be nice though

OK! awesome.
A used a lot of “work” hours writing this journal.
Long journal.
oh wells.

have the greatest day.
tl;dr
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