Comments on: Photography as Poetic Statement http://stephencuyos.com/photography-as-poetic-statement/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 19:20:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: John Rork http://stephencuyos.com/photography-as-poetic-statement/comment-page-1/#comment-2699 John Rork Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:00:55 +0000 http://www.stephencuyos.com/?p=88#comment-2699 This is a question which I continuously face as a photographer. It really needs to be broken down into main parts: What makes an image meaningful locally, and what makes an image meaningful non-locally. You provided two examples which illustrate this distinction; the shot of a sunset which elicits memories and is a token between you and your hosts, and the photo of a dying child. Now here is where things get interesting, because a sunset can also have non-local meaning, (as sunsets have a universal appeal), and the dying child will have greater meaning to the relatives of the child. As a photographer, I almost always want to capture and create images which will have wider appeal and elicit more powerful states in the viewer. So what gives an image that appeal? How do I make the distinction between the appeal which will cause reaction in a wider audience, and one which is merely affecting my state because of "other factors"? Parsing this out while engaging in the creative act of imagining the final form keeps me fully engaged while making an image. Things which I work on to improve the number of meaningful images include: Reading more about composition, looking at images which I and others find meaningful, (and then analyzing why it elicits an emotional reaction, and how that reaction is affected by changes to framing, perspective, colour and tone.) It is an ongoing journey and learning curve which I particularly like because it is both inner (introspective), and outer (social and analytical). It happens at every step of the creative process from first recognizing the raw material which may become a potent image, and then exercising craft at every step in the process to the creation of the final image. This is a question which I continuously face as a photographer. It really needs to be broken down into main parts: What makes an image meaningful locally, and what makes an image meaningful non-locally. You provided two examples which illustrate this distinction; the shot of a sunset which elicits memories and is a token between you and your hosts, and the photo of a dying child. Now here is where things get interesting, because a sunset can also have non-local meaning, (as sunsets have a universal appeal), and the dying child will have greater meaning to the relatives of the child.

As a photographer, I almost always want to capture and create images which will have wider appeal and elicit more powerful states in the viewer. So what gives an image that appeal? How do I make the distinction between the appeal which will cause reaction in a wider audience, and one which is merely affecting my state because of “other factors”? Parsing this out while engaging in the creative act of imagining the final form keeps me fully engaged while making an image.

Things which I work on to improve the number of meaningful images include: Reading more about composition, looking at images which I and others find meaningful, (and then analyzing why it elicits an emotional reaction, and how that reaction is affected by changes to framing, perspective, colour and tone.) It is an ongoing journey and learning curve which I particularly like because it is both inner (introspective), and outer (social and analytical). It happens at every step of the creative process from first recognizing the raw material which may become a potent image, and then exercising craft at every step in the process to the creation of the final image.

]]> By: Ms. B http://stephencuyos.com/photography-as-poetic-statement/comment-page-1/#comment-65 Ms. B Fri, 18 May 2007 12:28:32 +0000 http://www.stephencuyos.com/?p=88#comment-65 Photography indeed entices my being into the realms of a well perceived imagery- too vivid not to be pursued to its purest perception. How the camera captures the subject is best attained via constant awareness of the details, which can be achieved through proper balance of purpose and objective by the eye that focuses it. Photography indeed entices my being into the realms of a well perceived imagery- too vivid not to be pursued to its purest perception. How the camera captures the subject is best attained via constant awareness of the details, which can be achieved through proper balance of purpose and objective by the eye that focuses it.

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