Steve Mccurry Composition

Jayst84 said:
And yet some of them still end up shooting for Magnum, et al. Weird hey.
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It is a major part of any art school education to go out and study other peoples work, especially at exhibitions and art galleries. You steep yourself in visual art. It is true that some who flunk their courses or never complete them become "treasured Ikons" but most that flunk never achieve anything. On the other hand those that do well have no guarantees of success in the real world, but perhaps all of them, forever enjoy art and the experience and pleasure it gives.
 
i completely understand i do try take lost of pictures and do exactly that ''analyse" and observe many pictures and try to understand compositions from different artist - it just so happens that i like Steves technique more it appeals to me more than any others ive come across - i was hoping someone could maybe talk through what steve may go through from selecting a subject waighing up the elements of the scene (i.e what he might do to create a picture composition light, etc) to then say ok lets move on and find another subject

XXJOXX

p.s all your imputs have been amazing aswell, thank you
 
Jayst84 said:
Of course it is, at most. Certainly was at the schools I studied at.



Pretty similar to most who don't flunk then. :p
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No one who does anything in this world has a Guarantee. However statistically those who study anything earn far more over a lifetime.
This is true even if they work in an area they did not study. Strange perhaps, but true.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
No one who does anything in this world has a Guarantee. However statistically those who study anything earn far more over a lifetime.
This is true even if they work in an area they did not study. Strange perhaps, but true.
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Not strange, perfectly logical.

At University you should learn how to think and analyse, be disciplined, and get the opportunity to network with other people who will be or go on to be successful.

Moving away from home by itself widens your social circle so has the benefit of opportunities you won't get staying at home.
 
Jod100 said:
there is a photographer online which comes close to his style obviously not being in india and what not but what do you guys think

https://youpic.com/photographer/xenamalhi86/xenamalhi86-from-east-sussex-united-kingdom?flow=pic

and also they have some stuff i found on

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+XenaMalhi

JO XX
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Why don't you ask them in person "Josephine"... seeing as they're

a) a member on here already @Osman Nasar

and

b) you both share the same name in your signup email address and posting IP Addresses.
 
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This Members acount has been permanently Suspended for being an admitted Duplicate.
Yep shamefully im not Josephine - i didnt know how else to get critiqued - hope you can forgive me for this - moving on hopefully the Noroc's Atlas pics are absolutely amazing !!!
 
Jod100 said:
Yep shamefully im not Josephine - i didnt know how else to get critiqued - hope you can forgive me for this - moving on hopefully the Noroc's Atlas pics are absolutely amazing !!!
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Well... Clearly not like that!

Anyone can join and post and ask for critique, but to make comparisons between some rather ordinary work and one of the greats was at best naive and at worst ridiculous.

Post a couple with some narrative and get some critique. Or post a full project in the projects thread, there's some great critics, and a great community here, hopefully this account will now be locked and we can get on with some adult behaviour.
 
Jod100 said:
Yep shamefully im not Josephine - i didnt know how else to get critiqued - hope you can forgive me for this
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It's simple - you post IMAGES, not a link to a "body of work" off site, pick 1 or 2 that mean something to you, post them, with a short writeup of why you took them and what they "say" to you. What you DON'T DO is post 2 links to your external websites and expect everyone to go away and spend a couple of hours looking at your shots elsewhere, then expect them to provide meaningful critique. Think of it this way, for me it can take anything up to 5 minutes per image of simply looking at a shot before I'm even prepared to start and give my opinion on it. Add another 5 minutes to write something sensible and we're up to 10 minutes per image. Now Multiply that by the 34 shots in the first link, and you're asking for over 5 and a half hours of my time. You can gladly have that time - but I'll need to know where to send the invoice to (chargeable at my usual day-rate) .

As to the forgiveness - well, your @Osman Nasar account hasn't been suspended yet, now has it... I think that an apology to the people in this thread who have given their time to help,from one of you would be in order however, and may well stand you in much better stead should you decide to stick around.

Phil V said:
Well... Clearly not like that!

Anyone can join and post and ask for critique, but to make comparisons between some rather ordinary work and one of the greats was at best naive and at worst ridiculous.

Post a couple with some narrative and get some critique. Or post a full project in the projects thread, there's some great critics, and a great community here.
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Good Point (as per usual Phil) on posting in the "projects" section https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/personal-projects-themes.54/ - if there is a underlying theme between your images Osman, that could be just the place to post them - start a "project thread" - give some idea of what you want to say/where you see the thread evolving, and post a few pictures at a time in there - maybe 2-3 a week if there are enough that can fit the theme. You'll definitely get feedback on them that way.

Phil V said:
... hopefully this account will now be locked and we can get on with some adult behaviour.
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Well - I can help with the first part of that request Phil, not promising anything on the Adult Behaviour front though ;)
 
TheBigYin said:
As to the forgiveness - well, your @Osman Nasar account hasn't been suspended yet, now has it... I think that an apology to the people in this thread who have given their time to help,from one of you would be in order however, and may well stand you in much better stead should you decide to stick around.
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look guys i simply made a mistake i had requested the other account to be locked, havent heard anything as of yet - Mr Phil V has taken thinks a bit too personally - so for his sake ill get this account suspended too.
 
Osman Nasar said:
look guys i simply made a mistake i had requested the other account to be locked, havent heard anything as of yet - Mr Phil V has taken thinks a bit too personally - so for his sake ill get this account suspended too.
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Mate, it's not about taking anything personally. It's just plain weird and dishonest. You seem to be making light of the fact you claimed to be a woman and lied to people. I don't know anywhere, even online, where that's considered acceptable.
 
Osman Nasar said:
look guys i simply made a mistake i had requested the other account to be locked, havent heard anything as of yet - Mr Phil V has taken thinks a bit too personally - so for his sake ill get this account suspended too.
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Just stop being a petulant child and apologise - there's no need to throw your toys out of the pram.

Phil is a sensible down to earth bloke who's not about to get all bent out of shape about what happens on a internet forum - you'll note he's not one of the people calling for your removal from this place, indeed he's telling you where to post to get what you want - being helpful even after having his time wasted by you - However, as one of the main people who's time you wasted with your thread, I think that he has every right to expect an apology.

The other account IS locked (well - it's permanently suspended - we can't actually remove accounts after they have made posts, as it fouls up the whole database eventually.

If you are actually determined to leave this forum, then I'd suggest selecting the "self requested ban" option in the "contact us" link at the bottom of the page.
 
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Osman Nasar said:
look guys i simply made a mistake i had requested the other account to be locked, havent heard anything as of yet - Mr Phil V has taken thinks a bit too personally - so for his sake ill get this account suspended too.
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I didn't take it personally, that's an odd thing to say.
I gave you a gentle nudge that you'd acted weird, and gave you friendly advice for getting what you want.
If you'd rather behave like a nob and get banned than take friendly advice, that's your prerogative, I won't lose any sleep over it.

I think this is a great place to get help, and it'd be good if you stayed around to take advantage of that. But, that's your choice.
 
Phil V said:
I didn't take it personally, that's an odd thing to say.
I gave you a gentle nudge that you'd acted weird, and gave you friendly advice for getting what you want.
If you'd rather behave like a nob and get banned than take friendly advice, that's your prerogative, I won't lose any sleep over it.

I think this is a great place to get help, and it'd be good if you stayed around to take advantage of that. But, that's your choice.
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Id rather stay - i completely ballsed things up i apologise to everyone concerned including Phil V - it was childish of me my behaviour has been unacceptable - i hope you guys can my actions - i didnt mean for thing to ecalate to this level.
 
Osman Nasar said:
Id rather stay - i completely ballsed things up i apologise to everyone concerned including Phil V - it was childish of me my behaviour has been unacceptable - i hope you guys can my actions - i didnt mean for thing to ecalate to this level.
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It's s friendly place, as you can see by all the advice we gave your friend Jo ;)
We are also happy to take the p*** when it's the best response :)
 
Phil V said:
It's s friendly place, as you can see by all the advice we gave your friend Jo ;)
We are also happy to take the p*** when it's the best response :)
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That sounds as good a place as any to draw a line under the whole duplicate accounts thing I reckon.

Osman - how about you go back to your original links and pick out a nice cohesive set of (say) 3-6 people portraits - and post them up in the https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/photos-people-and-portraits.36/ section, then we can all put down our pitchforks and burning torches, and go and get on with something more photography related...
 
Thanks everyone i will do that as soon as possible - once again apologies to all !
 
Ed Sutton said:
Anyone who thinks looking at other people's pictures won't help their visual awareness is either so arrogant they reckon they don't need help or an idiot. Or maybe both. :D
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Jayst84 said:
And yet some of them still end up shooting for Magnum, et al. Weird hey.
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Who at Magnum, ever, has not looked at other work and how do you know that?


Sorry late to the discussion, I spent a long day Saturday travelling and visiting several exhibitions in the East London Photographic festival - worth a visit, very accessible.
http://2015.photomonth.org/
 
Jayst84 said:
You think there are people at Magnum who have never looked at someone else's work?
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Sorry James... your grammar confused me... your sentence read awkwardly and on the first read I got "I would imagine nobody at Magnum has ever looked at other work".
 
Jayst84 said:
Thought as much. I was trying to respond directly to Byker's question (which confused me).
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My question must have really confused you then as you haven't told us who the arrogant idiots at Magnum are:

Ed Sutton said: ↑
Anyone who thinks looking at other people's pictures won't help their visual awareness is either so arrogant they reckon they don't need help or an idiot. Or maybe both. :D

Jayst84 said: ↑
And yet some of them still end up shooting for Magnum, et al. Weird hey.

Ed Sutton said: ↑
Who's that then?​

:p
 
Ed Sutton said:
My question must have really confused you then as you haven't told us who the arrogant idiots at Magnum are:

Ed Sutton said: ↑
Anyone who thinks looking at other people's pictures won't help their visual awareness is either so arrogant they reckon they don't need help or an idiot. Or maybe both. :D

Jayst84 said: ↑
And yet some of them still end up shooting for Magnum, et al. Weird hey.

Ed Sutton said: ↑
Who's that then?​

:p
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I have little doubt that there are a few arrogant idiots at Magnum, in the administration of the agency anyway. They've had their fair share of less than stellar moments.

Regarding not worrying too much about spending time looking at the work of others: off the top of my head, I think it was Alex Majoli who mentioned it in an interview, or on the Magnum Facebook page a while back. Queue the internet of amateurs losing their collective s***. :p

(Amateurs meaning people who own cameras and live on Flickr and Facebook, not people who don't make a living in photography).

I'm sure there are plenty of successful photographers out there who don't worry about it. It can be useful of course, but once you have a vague idea of what you're doing with your life, you're probably better off spending time elsewhere.
 
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Jayst84 said:
Regarding not worrying too much about spending time looking at the work of others: off the top of my head, I think it was Alex Majoli who mentioned it in an interview, or on the Magnum Facebook page a while back. Queue the internet of amateurs losing their collective s***. :p

I'm sure there are plenty of successful photographers out there who don't worry about it. It can be useful of course, but once you have a vague idea of what you're doing with your life, you're probably better off spending time elsewhere.
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Ta.

We'll have to agree to disagree with your final comment as I don't think you can ever stop learning from others.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Ta.

We'll have to agree to disagree with your final comment as I don't think you can ever stop learning from others.
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The minute you stop looking at work of others (and therefore what is current, commissioned, or just admired more widely in the industry) you become isolated, and live in your own little bubble. This is not healthy IMO.
 
Pookeyhead said:
The minute you stop looking at work of others (and therefore what is current, commissioned, or just admired more widely in the industry) you become isolated, and live in your own little bubble. This is not healthy IMO.
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Quite true
However our preferences do seem to be largely governed by our first period of fertile work and exposure.
I still have a hankering for the styles representative of the thirties to fifties, with their strong reference to the graphic styles found in print and architecture of the period. (Italian architecture of that later period continued to extend the style)

The Sixties broke the link and became by comparison more free style, with typography becoming almost anarchic..

I have always seen photography as more linked and partnered to Graphics than to Fine Art.
( but then I studied photography at the then London School of Printing and Graphic Art)
 
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Pookeyhead said:
The minute you stop looking at work of others (and therefore what is current, commissioned, or just admired more widely in the industry) you become isolated, and live in your own little bubble. This is not healthy IMO.
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Aye, and when you spend all your time worrying about what other people are doing, trying to 'keep up', imitate, be "inspired by"... a lot of people would do well to log off the Internet, not buy any photobooks for a year, and go out and just shoot.

Not mutually exclusive of course, but it doesn't hurt to trust yourself, and shoot. Most of time you are going to learn more and become more creative, by creating your own work, rather than looking at what other people are creating.
 
Jayst84 said:
Aye, and when you spend all your time worrying about what other people are doing, trying to 'keep up', imitate, be "inspired by"... a lot of people would do well to log off the Internet, not buy any photobooks for a year, and go out and just shoot.

Not mutually exclusive of course, but it doesn't hurt to trust yourself, and shoot. Most of time you are going to learn more and become more creative, by creating your own work, rather than looking at what other people are creating.
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Why do you keep saying people are 'worrying' about things, let alone spending all their time worrying? :D

I agree that you learn best by doing, but that's not a reason to avoid looking at other stuff or finding out what is currently going on. Not as a direct source of 'inspiration' or whatever, but to broaden your visual and/or conceptual horizons. It's all part of the process of progression as far as I can see and doesn't mean you're not confident in what you're doing.
 
Jayst84 said:
but it doesn't hurt to trust yourself, and shoot. Most of time you are going to learn more and become more creative, by creating your own work, rather than looking at what other people are creating.
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In my experience, that's not necessarily true, sorry. Creativity often doesn't come from "doing" anything, and taking lots of photographs doesn't necessarily hone your creativity at all. I would argue that the creativity isn't even a photographic process or issue. The creativity is an academic process and you don't even need a camera to develop it.
 
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