Degraus

[kaskais]

Os princípios vitruvianos subjacentes a grande parte da teoria arquitectónica sugerem uma tendência de vincular a estética e a promoção da utilidade. Da mesma forma, a teoria funcional da beleza recomenda que considerações estéticas e éticas estejam ligadas na arquitectura. Para cristalizar o assunto, podemos perguntar se é possível que uma estrutura construída seja boa, embora não seja esteticamente interessante, como é o caso destes degraus que compõe uma escada como tantas outras, ou talvez não. Alheios a tudo isto, os dois homens ficam cristalizados na foto, num momento particular das suas vidas publicas.

https://kaskaisphotos.wordpress.com/2019/08/31/degraus/

[Shadowman]

Nicely seen and captured, is it the steps or the pedestrians that you seek to emphasize? Not a question, just a thought.

[selig1656]

Shadowman asks a very valid and important question, this can aid you in better defining the key subject and what will create a better composition.

[DanK]

If I am not mistaken, Fernando never replies to comments posted here. Given that everything he posts here is in Portuguese, which he must realize most people on a British site can't read, I suspect he isn't interested in our comments.

[Manfred M]

If I am not mistaken, Fernando never replies to comments posted here. Given that everything he posts here is in Portuguese, which he must realize most people on a British site can't read, I suspect he isn't interested in our comments.

Dan that is indeed correct.

My understanding is that Fernando has very limited English and has been posting here for years and never responds to comments. He has a unique and non-mainstream style that is not everyone's taste. His "big sky" style was in fashion for a short period a good 10 or 15 years ago.

Carefully said, this is actually an American site. Sean, the site owner, lives and works in California but the name comes from Cambridge, England where he studied (PhD in Chemical Engineering, I believe) where he photographed in and around Cambridge University.

https://pbase.com/compuminus/cambridge

[xpatUSA]

Carefully said, this is actually an American site. Sean, the site owner, lives and works in California but the name comes from Cambridge, England where he studied (PhD in Chemical Engineering, I believe) and where he photographed in and around Cambridge University.

https://pbase.com/compuminus/cambridge

Thanks for the link, Manfred. Used to live near there for a while in the RAF but long before I even owned a camera!

[billtils]

If I am not mistaken, Fernando never replies to comments posted here. Given that everything he posts here is in Portuguese, which he must realize most people on a British site can't read, I suspect he isn't interested in our comments.

Dan

We don't really know what Fernando thinks about the comments so any conclusion we make on the fact that he posts in Portuguese will be a bit of a guess. We could, for example, suspect that because he posts regularly he is indeed interested in our comments. Whatever his reason, I like his images - they are different from most of what we see here and often quite dramatic.

[DanK]

Dan

We don't really know what Fernando thinks about the comments so any conclusion we make on the fact that he posts in Portuguese will be a bit of a guess. We could, for example, suspect that because he posts regularly he is indeed interested in our comments. Whatever his reason, I like his images - they are different from most of what we see here and often quite dramatic.

I like some of his images, and I find some that I don't like thought-provoking regardless. However, he has posted over 600 times here, and as far as I can ascertain, he has never responded to a single comment, not even with a simple "thanks".

Spurred by your comment, I finally looked at his Wordpress site. I was surprised to find that it is mostly in English. So, my guess that he doesn't understand our comments is wrong, unless he had someone translate for him. He has a section where he posts favorable comments he has received on other sites. None from here at the moment.

I'm not suggesting what others should do. However, I'm personally interested in the give and take one finds here, and I don't find it worthwhile to provide comments to someone who hasn't responded to anyone's comments in 11 years.

[FootLoose]

... and as far as I can ascertain, he has never responded to a single comment, not even with a simple "thanks".

It is not that long ago when there was an exchange between between Fernando and Manfred - and a few others - about his style of processing. Basically, the blackophobics criticised him for the darks being too black. As I recall he responded then with a strong defense of his style, and pointed out that English was not his first language and that someone else was translating his words at that time.

Maybe he posts in Portuguese now because he knows Google does a reasonable job of translating at the click of a button and he assumes people on this site are capable of performing that simple task if they are interested. In fact, when I view his work on my tablet the Portuguese is automatically translated; I am sure I am not the only person who has that.

[Manfred M]

Basically, the blackophobics criticised him for the darks being too black.

Carefully said, you are misquoting me. It's the quantity of black that was in question.

Large areas of an image that are pure black or pure white are generally viewed as poor photographic technique. A B&W image should generally have a bit of both and that has been an accepted view for the past 100 years or so (basically something that was put into practice by the modernists; Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, etc). The Zone System popularized the approach.

The pictorialists the preceded them went for a more constrained tonal range and often did not have any pure black or pure white and sometimes nothing even close to those values, but they went out of fashion around about 1920.

Anyone who has formally studied B&W photography had that strongly instilled into their workflow. Getting poor grades for messing up the rule was a strong motivator to do this correctly the next time. Showing blocked up shadow detail and large areas of pure, blown out whites will lose points in a juried competition.

[FootLoose]

Carefully said, you are misquoting me.

In fact, I didn't quote you at all. You may feel that my simple summation has misrepresented what the argument was about but given your reprisal of that moment I'll let it stand.

I was replying to Dan's claim that he couldn't find a single instance of Fernando having responded to a single comment in 11 years. I have sighted an instance from memory where he did respond and you have backed me up. Thank you.

I don't understand why you people have decided to attack Fernando again, surely he isn't doing any harm posting his images here.

[DanK]

I don't understand why you people have decided to attack Fernando again

I didn't "attack" Fernando. I just pointed out that he doesn't reply to comments here, and I speculated that he therefore isn't interested in them. You pointed out that I should have said "virtually never" replies.

It's easy to misinterpret comments online, but I posted this much in the same way that people will sometimes note in a thread that people are responding to a thread that has been dormant for years.

Regardless of Fernando, people use a forum like this for different reasons. I value this forum because it is a learning forum, one in which people exchange ideas and suggestions and teach each other skills. That is very rare, in my experience.

[Manfred M]

In fact, I didn't quote you at all. You may feel that my simple summation has misrepresented what the argument was about but given your reprisal of that moment I'll let it stand.

I know that not everyone agrees with my position on this, but that something that a number of commercial photographers I have studied under over the years have all said and re-enforced. Likewise I have sat of photographic juries and been at many more competitions where this is a very common criticism made by judges at these events.

A lot of self-trained photographers do not understand this rule. Back in the days when photographers submitted works for publication, this was often the number one reason that the photo editor would reject the work.

I know that this is a technique that you use a in your work. I know we have differing views on the subject.

I was replying to Dan's claim that he couldn't find a single instance of Fernando having responded to a single comment in 11 years. I have sighted an instance from memory where he did respond and you have backed me up. Thank you.

Actually I tried to find this conversation as I could not remember it. I had assumed you had, but perhaps I was wrong?

I don't understand why you people have decided to attack Fernando again, surely he isn't doing any harm posting his images here.

In my recollection (but I might be wrong), other people who have posted a lot but not acknowledged what people said or asked about the posts have also been criticized for their lack of response.

If this were just a site to post works, then I would agree with you, but CiC is a learning site and Fernando posts in the forums where comments and critiques are encouraged. When someone continues to post but does nothing else, I can see how some people might respond negatively.

[Donald]

Anyone with a problem regarding Fernando's contribution to the site has one very easy option - don't bother to look at entries made.

If people wants to waste time and energy on this, please go and do it elsewhere.

You will see (or probably have never noticed) that I do not reply to any post in which the photographer does not set out specific questions, states what his/her intentions were and how we think he/she might improve the image, etc. I will occasionally mark such an image with a 'like' indicator, but that's it.

If you want to express your views then do so, but do so for everyone on the forum not just the photographer who posted the image. If the photographer does not respond or thank you, that is her/his prerogative.

And if you read this Fernando, please do keep posting. I don't always appreciate your style, but will always look to see what I can learn if anything.

[Tom Barry]

I like your approach to this subject, Donald. In any case, Fernando has found his metier and sticks with it, regardless of whatever else is trending. I appreciate most of his works posted here, including the explanations/narratives (though Google translate can still come up with some unintentionally confusing or amusing results). I have read that Portuguese (especially the Brazilian version) sayings, allusions and the like are among the most counter-intuitive in any language.