The Old Home

[Donald]

In this thread I discussed visiting my aunt who still lives in the house in Ireland where she and my mother were born 80+ years ago. My unmarried aunt, with her unmarried brother, lived here all of their lives. My uncle died 4 years ago.

Your comment and critique as to the quality of this image will be appreciated.

[Geoff F]

Looking good.

Whether the verticals should be completely upright or a more artistic approach like this may be something to discuss.

[Daisy Mae]

Well, what to say!

As far as I am concerned this is a truly exceptional image. The proximity of the chairs, the pictures on the mantlepiece, the drying cloths..the crutch in the corner...the clock narking the passage of time that is so relevant to this piece. Not to mention the relevance of your newspaper on the seat.

I could pick out an endless amount of 'ingredients' ...but it is the 'total image' that conveys so much.

It is a room where life has taken place. It is warm and it is marked by the personalities who have shaped it.

I could look at it for hours and still see ..and feel..something new.

Stunning work Mr G! xx

[Mike Buckley]

Agreed entirely with Sharon. I just have to mention the nice touch of the materials hanging above the fireplace to dry. One small nitpick: The sunlight in the window is darker than the sunlight reflected on the floor, when I would think it would be just the opposite.

[James G]

Donald, Sharon is too eloquent for me to compete!
But, there is a particular resonance for me seeing the wooden press/cupboaard and the 'high' mantelpiece.

And the newspaper....I stopped reading newspapers a long time ago, but, for your Aunt, (and mine before losing her sight), they are an essential part of daily life.

As Sharon says

It is a room where life has taken place. It is warm and it is marked by the personalities who have shaped it.

But in addition, it is a room I recognise, and could walk into now and feel instantly at ease. I can imagine evenings in times past with whiskey, music and a shanachie..

As regards 'technical' issues, the square crop and your rendering of the softer tones and shadows is inspired, particularly the areas to the right of the image.

The way the light comes into the room creates an 'antique' tone, and I'm left with the absolute feeing that your aunt is just out of frame.

Beautiful!

[Rita]

This is a truly awesome image. Sharon has said it so beautiful so I will just say that I agree with her. As for the verticals, well, in a home this old I wouldn't expect them to be straight.

[Shadowman]

Very nice, is the tight crop strictly to eliminate unwanted items?

[mknittle]

It is a wonderful image Donald.

[Manfred M]

Donald this image really tells a story, and an interesting one for sure. There are always a few touches in an image that "make" the shot and for me, it's the newspaper sitting on the chair and the items hanging from the mantelpiece. These bright items in a relatively dark scene are what draw the viewer's eyes into the image and lets them explore the rest of the room.

This is one of those scenes that I would be tempted to try with a warm yellow tint rather than the traditional B&W just to add a bit more age to the scene.

[LePetomane]

Donald, that is a nice photo. There is a lot going on over a long period of time.

[Tronhard]

I have to agree with Sharon. Wow this takes me back, as my family have roots in Ireland, in fact my great aunt was one of 7 sisters, and was a spinster herself. I had the experience of living with her for about six months when I was a child just before me migrated to New Zealand. It has awakened a lot of forgotten memories, and for that I thank you...

[Donald]

What a pleasure to wake up to such a body of positive comment. Thank you all. And thank you Mike for picking up on that one technical point about the lighting. You are quite right. And that is the sort of you need to note and address if you want your images to get critical acclaim from a wider and even professional group of people. I will correct that processing error.

The 'success' of this image is coming at a time when I am appraising my photography and what it is I do. We have to keep stretching ourselves and exploring the new. I can make a reasonably good B & W landscape. I like working with landscape and will always do so, but ......! I want to keep pushing myself.

I started out doing a BA in Photography, but for a number of reasons have had to park that for the moment. However, I'm now also questioning whether that is the right direction for me. I've been looking at the various Societies' of Photographers and the various mentored awards schemes they have and am wondering if that is a route through which I'd be able to find the challenge that I seek. Continuous Improvement is something of a mantra to me and the day I stop wanting to learn is the day I give up and just roll over the cliff.

Interestingly, I don't think we've ever asked members how many people on here are members of one or other of these Societies. In the UK (possibly internationally) the most well known is the Royal Photographic Society. But there are others with, some argue, more interesting member programmes.

[mugge]

Donald, a sensitive and well thought out image. Simply stunning. This, in my view, is one of your best.
Cheers Ole

[JBW]

intriguing

[billtils]

What a pleasure to wake up to such a body of positive comment.

I don't think we've ever asked members how many people on here are members of one or other of these Societies. In the UK (possibly internationally) the most well known is the Royal Photographic Society. But there are others with, some argue, more interesting member programmes.

Donald

I did not see this until this morning and have nothing to add to the thoroughly justified comments already posted.

In regard to your BA/Societies/continuous improvement comments, I had concerns about the value of the BA right from the start. You have a style and a flair that are remarkable and are enjoyed by us here in CIC; these can be the foundation for development into new areas but I feel that the BA route would take you places that would lack value and need not be visited.

I tried the RPS but chose not renew - the reasons were partly personal (too "establishment clubby" for my taste). However, I have had some discussions with a friend re the PAGB (he has achieved distinction status) and it may be worth taking a look there.

[Donald]

I tried the RPS but chose not renew - the reasons were partly personal (too "establishment clubby" for my taste). However, I have had some discussions with a friend re the PAGB (he has achieved distinction status) and it may be worth taking a look there.

Thank you for this, Bill. I certainly had that impression about the RPS and was not terribly interested. I had not heard of the PAGB. I will go in and look at that carefully. The other one a friend pointed me towards was the Societies' of Photographers.

[Manfred M]

I started out doing a BA in Photography, but for a number of reasons have had to park that for the moment. However, I'm now also questioning whether that is the right direction for me.

I certainly gave that a thought when I was getting ready to retire. There are really three ways of formally studying photography in Canada.

(a) University programs - there are none that are close enough to where I live to be of interest and as my educational background is in engineering, I've fairly certain there would be little to no overlap / credit transfer if I happened to choose that route, so I would have to look at four years of full-time study. Frankly, I have no interest in doing that at this point in my life.

The other issue is that I don't necessarily feel that I want to study what is essentially a subset of a fine arts program. In fact, I'm pretty sure I would have little interest in that route.

(b) Community College programs - These tend to be more practically oriented and have been the training ground for commercial photographers for many decades. Aspects like fine art photography are covered, but more in the sense as a genre, much like street photography or product photography. Both technical and creative aspects of photography are covered.

There is a two year diploma program and an 8 credit certificate available. I've taken 6 of the 8 certificate courses and will likely not take the other two because I don't think I would learn much from them. For me this was the obvious option as it allowed me to polish my knowledge and skills in these two areas of photography.

(c) Private schools - there is a privately run art college and a privately run photography school locally. The art college has a few fairly basic photography courses.. The photography college has some courses I would be interested in taking, but the timing of the courses and my own schedule have never quite matched up, so I haven't taken any there yet.

There are also some photography Meet Up groups I am active in. Some of the work would probably not be something suitable for display at CiC (not nude shots, but some more risque work in some of the shoots). The more suitable shots from these events do show up here from time to time. I find that this is my primary learning tool right now.

Interestingly, I don't think we've ever asked members how many people on here are members of one or other of these Societies. In the UK (possibly internationally) the most well known is the Royal Photographic Society. But there are others with, some argue, more interesting member programmes.

I am a member of CAPA (Canadian Association for Photographic Art). I am not active in it and really use it more as something that keeps me current. I have no real interest in competitions. I'm a very competitive person by nature, and do photography to relax and have fun, so don't really want to get into that side of photography.

[purplehaze]

An image to be savoured, to be sure. Thanks, Donald.

[Rainforest]

..and I almost missed it! So rich with age and life. An image to be in/with for awhile. Lovely.

[bnnrcn]

I'm a bit late as I haven't seen this image so far for some reason It is a great image and Sharon commented so nicely on it that I have nothing to add