Sacrificing integrity
Apr. 30th, 2019 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
plonqNow that the weather is turning warmer, I plan to spend more time outside with my camera. To that end I walked up to the park on the weekend and took pictures of various flora and fauna that were braving the cool, cloudy weather. Below, for instance, is a duck.
What makes this duck special is, well, nothing. There is nothing special about this duck. It was in a pond by the side of the bridge, so I zoomed in all the way and took a picture of a duck that was drooling sloppily into the pond.
What is special about this picture is that I applied a random HDR effect from a collection of free filters, and it made the colours an details pop in a way that you'd normally have to ingest chemicals to see. This picture bears no resemblance to the scene when I saw it in person, but this is the picture that has drawn the most praise and comments of the ones that I've posted. I am slowly starting to accept the fact that people don't want a picture to represent the experience of being there, rather they want it to idealize the experience of being there.
I've noticed that the pictures in r/Earthporn on Reddit that draw the most comments and praise are the ones to which people apply artificial colours and HDR effects. I've always found those pictures a bit annoying, since there is no way I could visit that same spot and experience that view in person. This duck has finally made me accept that people do not want to share a reality, but escape it. It's made me wonder if I should stop trying to preserve the integrity of a scene, and just concentrate on the art of the scene.
Anybody can take a picture of a duck, but I've done enough work on this picture to make this my duck.
And I do like the colours.
What makes this duck special is, well, nothing. There is nothing special about this duck. It was in a pond by the side of the bridge, so I zoomed in all the way and took a picture of a duck that was drooling sloppily into the pond.
What is special about this picture is that I applied a random HDR effect from a collection of free filters, and it made the colours an details pop in a way that you'd normally have to ingest chemicals to see. This picture bears no resemblance to the scene when I saw it in person, but this is the picture that has drawn the most praise and comments of the ones that I've posted. I am slowly starting to accept the fact that people don't want a picture to represent the experience of being there, rather they want it to idealize the experience of being there.
I've noticed that the pictures in r/Earthporn on Reddit that draw the most comments and praise are the ones to which people apply artificial colours and HDR effects. I've always found those pictures a bit annoying, since there is no way I could visit that same spot and experience that view in person. This duck has finally made me accept that people do not want to share a reality, but escape it. It's made me wonder if I should stop trying to preserve the integrity of a scene, and just concentrate on the art of the scene.
Anybody can take a picture of a duck, but I've done enough work on this picture to make this my duck.
And I do like the colours.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-30 03:39 pm (UTC)I wonder if this is how Picasso felt when he started Cubism ;)
no subject
Date: 2019-05-02 03:49 am (UTC)I have always had a personal vow that once I had more free time in my life, I was going to start spending more time with a camera in my hand. I don't think I'll ever reach Picasso-like levels of talent or stature, but I want to be able to look at my work and think, "It's almost like I know what I'm doing now!"