The urge to classify

tom dinning

tom dinning

Messages
37
Edit My Images
No
On browsing through my images after a couple years hiatus I realise one thing is consistent with my thinking.
Nothing fits the current classification of genre.
I’m inclined to think it’s not me, it’s everyone else. Since there’s no one here to disagree I’ll stick with that assumption.
What’s this, for example?
I’d been sitting on the cold sand at Clark’s Beach as the sun set. Surfers were returning to their cars after the last wave.
It was so quiet and still. White noise of waves muffled anything audible. They’ll be back at dawn. So will I. I took the last shot of the day. It seemed so final. A private moment never to be repeated except within my thoughts. Another part of who I am.
25339CA0-9B0A-491C-B456-6F0F70987711.jpeg
 
I'd call that Art. Maybe Abstract, at a pinch. But it's interpretive, which makes it art in my book.
 
I would agree with Lindsay that if pushed to classify I would opt for Art. That being said, photographs always tell a story, sometimes to the observer, to the photographer and sometimes to both. We all I suspect, have pictures that invoke a feeling or memory to ourselves that really do not fit !

As an example I love this picture but I can never really decide why, I do remember sitting for hours looking as the tide receded and the light faded and the sun lower in the sky, it felt old and yet safe and IMHO worthy of recording.

Engine in Decay_.jpg
 
I like the image.
tom dinning said:
Nothing fits the current classification of genre.
Click to expand...
On here, Photos: Creative Photography - https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/photos-creative-photography.112/ check out @Pomo 's work

For the RPS, Visual Art - https://rps.org/groups/visual-art/

I'm sure there are other systems of classification and I'm sure those would have a space for images like this. What genre classification systems have you been looking at? Or do you just think you are exceptional?
 
I like it. I'd 'classify' it as Documentary. Could easily be part of a series, zine, or book, or gracing the wall of a surfers hotel. It would look out of place in a ski hotel for sure.

That said, if you're doing it for you, it doesn't really matter in the end.
 
I've often thought about this, thinking hard enough about some of my photos you could choose to put them under many genres or under none. In the end, I don't care because I take photos for myself no one else.
 
Bebop said:
I like it and I'd call it creative photography if I had to classify it.
Click to expand...
And there’s the pinch. Why do we classify? Isn’t all photography creative?
I understand that early photographers followed the central themes of painters and expanded from there. The painters also had themes like romantic and pastoral. Maybe it’s more about the intent than the public perception.
My original photograph I might refer to it as Reflective, even Romantic if I include thoughts of my love for surfing.
 
tom dinning said:
And there’s the pinch. Why do we classify? Isn’t all photography creative?
I understand that early photographers followed the central themes of painters and expanded from there. The painters also had themes like romantic and pastoral. Maybe it’s more about the intent than the public perception.
My original photograph I might refer to it as Reflective, even Romantic if I include thoughts of my love for surfing.
Click to expand...
I'd say some photographs just record the moment and there may not be much artistry involved. I helped someone do focus stacked photos of fossils for scientific publications. That didn't feel very creative.

I don't think about classifying it, I just enjoy doing it - sometimes it's creative and sometimes it's not.
 
I'd describe myself as an "artisan" rather than an "artist". I give my images descriptive titles (aren't long filenames wonderful) and classify them dynamically, depending on what I'm attempting to show.
 
Compuwight said:
I would agree with Lindsay that if pushed to classify I would opt for Art. That being said, photographs always tell a story, sometimes to the observer, to the photographer and sometimes to both. We all I suspect, have pictures that invoke a feeling or memory to ourselves that really do not fit !

As an example I love this picture but I can never really decide why, I do remember sitting for hours looking as the tide receded and the light faded and the sun lower in the sky, it felt old and yet safe and IMHO worthy of recording.

View attachment 377816
Click to expand...

Is that Lyme Regis where the road and vehicles fell into the sea when the cliff collapsed?
 
Since we are on the subject of classification, the ones that always seem out of place to me are film and black and white. All* the other genres with the exception of creative are based on types of subject but film is a medium and monochrome is stylistic choice. Creative is the one that really cuts across and merges any mix of both subject and processing into the resulting image.

I can see why these are considered separate categories (not that we separate monochrome on here but other places do) but it still mildly irks the ontological purist in me.

*I'm sure someone will find something that I have missed :)
 
I will not be pushed, stamped, filed, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own....

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :D
 
Well, that cleared that up nicely.
Guess I’ll just continue along my usual path of confusion and keep all my piccies under one heading. Photographs ( images recorded using a camera or similar)
Then I can use my madding memory to find what I want. That way I can be reassured of revisiting images often.
 
tom dinning said:
Well, that cleared that up nicely.
Guess I’ll just continue along my usual path of confusion and keep all my piccies under one heading. Photographs ( images recorded using a camera or similar)
Then I can use my madding memory to find what I want. That way I can be reassured of revisiting images often.
Click to expand...
You may well do it already, but I can really recommend keywording your images. It makes looking for images so much easier than relying on your madding memory :)
 
Bebop said:
You may well do it already, but I can really recommend keywording your images. It makes looking for images so much easier than relying on your madding memory :)
Click to expand...
I think I’m just to lazy to bother. My brain hates organisation. You should see my office. On second thoughts ……..
My partner tells me I couldn’t organise a root in a brothel; whatever that means.
 
tom dinning said:
I think I’m just to lazy to bother. My brain hates organisation. You should see my office. On second thoughts ……..
My partner tells me I couldn’t organise a root in a brothel; whatever that means.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't want anyone to see my 'woman cave' either, although I was always organised when at work.

I don't know what software you use, but it can take seconds to add 'sunset' 'surfing' Clarkes Beach' to all your photos when you import them, which would at least give you a head start in a future search. I take a lot of photos so I need help when I search.

I wrote more, but I'll spare you :LOL: You just have to find what works for you with minimal effort and good luck.
 
I use keywording in Lightroom, the main reason I started to use that software. However my photos are mainly record shots, I am not talented enough to do artistic.

This makes keywording easier and I like to be organised. I am however 2 years behind with keywording.
 
Bebop said:
I wouldn't want anyone to see my 'woman cave' either, although I was always organised when at work.

I don't know what software you use, but it can take seconds to add 'sunset' 'surfing' Clarkes Beach' to all your photos when you import them, which would at least give you a head start in a future search. I take a lot of photos so I need help when I search.

I wrote more, but I'll spare you :LOL: You just have to find what works for you with minimal effort and good luck.
Click to expand...
Don’t hold back, bebop. I’m in for the long haul. As for changing my ways, that’s another tale. I don’t know if my software has keywords. It’s just a few apps on the iPad. Besides, searching brings about discovery. At my age it’s all the excitement I can expect. I was only curious about the concept of classification in photography because I’ve really never thought about photography in that way. I was dragged up Old School. Shoot it, stick it on a wall, talk about the times, not the technique. The photo seemed to have an intrinsic value beyond its visual appearance. Like a fable your grandmother would tell you as a kid. Something to remember beyond what you could see. People come to my house and see photos and drawings everywhere. I let them browse, like they are rummaging through a Stacy of second hand books at a fair. When they’re finished I just leave the screen running, the prints scattered and peer at what caught their eye. Then I wonder what they were thinking. I don’t ask if they don’t volunteer. It’s none of my business. They’ll have their own stories. As I do mine. I’ve been like that for nye on 70 years. It’s where I get my kicks.
 
tom dinning said:
Don’t hold back, bebop.
Click to expand...
No really I can make people's eyes glaze over! I'll say no more on keywords, but they are very useful for searches.

tom dinning said:
The photo seemed to have an intrinsic value beyond its visual appearance.
Click to expand...
I reckon we can all have an emotional attachment to one of our own images that others don't share, but it may also evoke something for them too, the same or different. (Apart from focus stacked fossil pictures that is - unless you're a paleontologist :ROFLMAO: )

I can imagine your picture above in a book, with a large white surround and your words underneath. Perhaps on the last page since it is at sunset.
 
Fossil annelids maybe. Tube worms.
Found around ancient cenozoic heat vents.
It’s been a while. I don’t get bored easily but I know the look. Try teaching 15 year olds about angular momentum or senior chemistry class on hydrogen ion concentration in ph buffer solutions.my psychology lecturer told me I could talk the bark off a tree.
Here’s one I’m sure you’ll find fascinating.836F30AD-4195-4B80-9B24-8C349C5B1DB2.jpeg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top