This one comes close.
Almost, but not quite. What I want (as if you couldn't tell from my gazillion pictures) is to reveal concealed forms while keeping them concealed. In fact, while keeping them almost entirely concealed. To capture the feeling of seeing something out of the corner of one's eye. Or a reflected flash in a window. Or sights in the dark before your eyes have adjusted. Or a shell in the ocean just visible between two waves. I'm looking for the emergent, something more suggestive to mind than to the eye but yet still satisfying to the eye. (Or at least to mine, and that's enough for me.) That's why I love "parts." Eyeballs. Hands. (And eyeballs.) Those parts suggest more than what they are, and yet in a way they become the whole of the photo.
It turns out I like taking photos. Of eyeballs.
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It looks like one of those cameo pins carved out of ebony.
I’m far too late for the “sad song” poll, but because it’s such a fascinating topic, I can’t resist chipping in:
“The Heart Asks Pleasure First,” by Michael Nyman, as played by the Ahn Trio. Expresses a tragic yearning, with desperate beauty.
“A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head” by Andrew Bird. I should add that I too am a music rather than lyric person, but the lyrics of most his songs are flat-out depressing.
most things by Damien Rice, but esp “The Blower’s Daughter” and “Amie”
“So Sorry” – Feist
“Where Are You Now” from the Once soundtrack – also a sad and beautiful movie
the entire Amelie soundtrack; if listened to in the wrong mood, it can be devastating
“I’m Not” – Panda Bear
Already mentioned, but worth repeating: Eleanor Rigby, Brick
And “I Will Follow You Into the Dark”? I’ve always found that one rather cheerful; but then, I’m comforted by most melancholy music, as evinced by my love for everything on my list
And it's equally fascinating to have an expression of your photographer's vision in words at last .. and I do wonder how you capture many of the effects you do ..
technoprairie--it has the kind of creamy, soft-edged look, doesn't it. interesting observation; i wouldn't have thought of that.
joyf--
awww…thanks for your comments and contributions. Always always welcome. There’s no way too late for you, my friend.
music. quick. I own songs by bird and rice, but I don’t own the songs you mention here. Downloaded. Boom. I own "so sorry," and agree with you that it’s terribly sad. I downloaded the other songs you mentioned as well, excepting the Amelie soundtrack, which is not available on itunes. next time i see you you better have a burned copy in hand.
"tragic yearning, with desperate beauty" plus "andrew bird"="Yawny at the Apocalypse," a sad personal favorite of mine, but a favorite i avoid mostly on account of its sadness.
photos. quick. "tragic yearning, with desperate beauty." yes. that's my kind of music. and to be ridiculously and vulnerably candid, it's really what i aim for in some of my photos as well. i know i've done something special by my standards when my photos hurt me. (but not for the same reasons, probably, that they hurt others.) again and again, i'm struck by how different other people's faves of my photos are from my own faves. that's why i was pleased a while back when applebee mentioned liking my empty chair photo. he--or she?--caught on to what i was trying to do. a satisfying moment fo sho.
as for effects, what i aim for most of the time (way too often, truthfully) is to create the chiaroscuro effect that caravaggio used so often and so well. that means (a) darkening the photo, (b) in most cases draining its color saturation, and (c) playing with contrast, usually pumping it up some. an embarrassingly simplistic formula, true, but one that agrees with my own photographic sensibilities.
you'll have to let me know if you like the music. i hope it's proof enough that i too have a sense for sad songs. tho most of those are more whack-you-upside-the-head sad, so there shouldn't be much doubt
no amelie on itunes? you're right. i'm appalled. what an oversight.
i did like the chair photo as well. it feels regretful - not quite the word, but thesaurus.com isn't helping me out on that one. sadly reminiscent?
aHA, you cheat with your formula-ing. actually it seems to be quite effective for getting the look you're going for. i feel my own photography lacks some sort of similar artistic drive, but i imagine i'll get there eventually. in the meantime, i'll appreciate the otherworldly quality of your pics. cheater.
Normally I find your obsession with eyeballs slightly creepy, but this photo is breathtakingly beautiful.
well good! but creepy and beautiful aren't antithetical, are they?
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no need to answer. thanks for the kind words!
okay, it takes me several listens to "get" most songs. yours i'm getting immediately. more detail later, but i love "i'm not" the bird and "the heart asks..." i'm going to listen to the others again.
your photography is terrific. i don't know what you're going after. obviously i'm going after a mood more than representation. so that permits me to cheat. i wasn't sure from your comment whether my cheating came from using a formula or whether digital manipulation is cheating. because one i'd call a trick, the other cheating. so i'm guilty of both. but digital is a kind of cheat to begin with, isn't it?
what i meant was i don't know why you'd want to change in your photography without knowing your goals. sometimes i just want pretty or striking. other times i'm trying to evoke a very specific mood. i'm trying to defunctionalize something to show that that thing has a visual form as well.
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