“Of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask ‘how’, while others of a more curious nature will ask ‘why’. Personally, I have always preferred inspiration to information.” Man Ray Today's meeting covered a lot of both visual and organizational ground...and the discussion was good on both counts. First, the visual side. Paul showed pictures taken by a Chinese photographer (or a group of photographers) revealing some of natures oddities...each was curious and pretty but didn't lend itself to much aesthetic discussion. Below is an example: Steve presented pictures he took on a recent business assignment. It was a series of 8 pictures looking at Metro Line infrastructure...as usual from his "architectural eye"...and with his usual visual panache. There were several rendered in B&W which most felt were less favorably rendered than the color. The discussion centered around the composition of the images. Below is an example of his work. Finally, Howard showed real-live "prints"...B&W of a local Rose Parade float construction with his new Lumix camera. These prints generated both compositional and printing comments...Bill was anxious to print one image on fiber/matte paper. Always good to see prints at our meeting. Chris commented...and I'm paraphrasing and partially quoting some famous photographer..."is photography real without the print itself." Whether you believe this to be true or not...below is an example of Howard's images. We talked briefly about the importance of both narrative and storytelling in the work we do ourselves and see posted or in galleries/museums. We looked at several series of pictures from Lens Culture's awards for story telling 2014. The sets of pictures ran 8-20 shots and one of the two sets failed to capture our storytelling imagination...the second told the story of soldiers (some just children soldiers) and the state of conflict in Africa. This example was from the "Photojournalism" award group. These were more provocative for sure...sample below: Bill had some final kudo comments about his recent working with Paul Dupont, our resident color expert, on some technical issues surrounding color management. It was a valuable lesson in better understanding how the color gamut of monitor, printer and paper all come together (or not) to produce the right print. If you are interested in having the best and correct print...work with Paul. He will profile your monitor (mine was judged to be failing at 4 years old), create a better ICC profile for the paper you use the most and provide valuable insight on the color process. The second part of the meeting discussion centered on defining the schedule for 2015
Nobody seemed to want specific week assignments for contributors in the group. This made sense in light of travel / absence schedules we all face. Leaving lots of open weeks seemed to be the better option going forward into the new year. Also, most felt that viewing films and/or internet talks was not an appropriate use of our time on Saturday mornings ....we could watch these on our own. Field trips was still high on the list of wants. Chris said he would organize several trips including one to Joshua Tree. Field trips to local shows seemed good choices including Arts & Crafts Museum for the "Focus Iran" show: maybe to the Larry Sultan show at LACMA...although Howard panned the show. Howard is working on the curator at the Norton Simon to get us a "behind the scenes" tour prior to an upcoming photography exhibit Bill will work with Eric Joseph at Free Style in Hollywood re: a seminar on "paper" at the store some Saturday morning...stay tuned. Overall, the schedule should remain largely "OPEN" which means each of the f8 contributors shouldering work in on those weeks...and be prepared to discuss their offering. We will explore additional options hopefully from those who could not attend today.
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