More Gesture (or is it just blur?)

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I'm getting a bit tired of the nudie parade.

Tom's comments on gesture verbalised something that rings true. Tom has a way with words.

I went to a wedding. People always ask me to take photos at their weddings, despite knowing the results will never be considered "wedding photos." I really don't know why they ask me, especially since most of what I give them would be considered embarassing. And I just don't have the skill to do it right.

So here's a photo of the bride at the end of the rehearsal dinner.


The Night Before, Copyright 2000 Jeff Spirer


-- Jeff Spirer (jeff@spirer.com), October 18, 2000

Answers

Naturally I have no idea about your INTENT with this photograph and you may have wanted to express something profoundly different from what I see in it, but what I get is "outrageously charming" or "charmingly outrageous" or such like, and it certainly made me smile from the heart :)

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 18, 2000.

I like blurry images but this one does not quite work for me. I get an awkward feeling when i look at the image, the hands, the elbows, the expression, don't seem right. I think a lot of your other work is much stronger than this particular image.

-- Altaf Shaikh (nissar@idt.net), October 18, 2000.

I thought your smiley faces were supposed to be yellow? Did the copyright owners get to you?

I too like the pose and sense a moment of uncharacteristic outrageousness in the presence of trusted friends, but I don't feel the blur works very effectively, except to say that the photographer had also been drinking. On reflection, I think it's the closed eyes: they imply that the blur is purely accidental and the photo becomes just another party snapshot.

-- Struan Gray (struan.gray@sljus.lu.se), October 18, 2000.


I'd agree that it's a party snapshot, but I think it conveys the sense of "party" very effectively. Her body language is just as important as the blur in making it a good photo.

-- Mike Dixon (burmashave@compuserve.com), October 18, 2000.

Oddly, it's sharp, it's just the motion and activity you see! I especially like the composition with the fellow in the background just over her right shoulder. That she's somewhat bent over makes the topmost part of her body larger in proportion to the bottom half, and this gives it an odd, dreamy, quirky look. The photograph's interest far outweighs unmet technical expectations. I like it. And it has that famous "Spiretan" look to it!

-- Tony Rowlett (rowlett@alaska.net), October 18, 2000.


She looks like I felt the night before my wedding..... i think this conveys well the emotions prior to taking that big scary leap called marriage. In art school one makes literally thousands of gesture drawings. They are done quickly...in only seconds, the goal being to capture the essence of the expressive nature of what the model is doing. Not static poses mind you.... but poses that quickly change and are all about the movements our bodies make without our consciously thinking about it.... reaching for something....bending....walking with our own unique gait... or as this woman, expressing nervous excitment and a sense of "final freedom" of laugher, movement, flirtation etc....

yes! gesture captured well.

-- Susan Daly (SLascaux@aol.com), October 19, 2000.


So...ummm...Jeff - just how many drinks did you have before you took the picture?

-- steve (s.swinehart@worldnet.att.net), October 20, 2000.

blurry

Well to me the emperor has no clothes. Sorry Jeff but this isn't much of a shot. A monkey could have done a better job. There isn't any emotion except what the viewers here put into it. The idea has all kinds of merit but the execution sucks. I know you can do much better than that. Your quinceanos project was superb. What happened? Blur should have some use but this has none. It isn't even representative of a hardy party. Show us your good stuff please. I enjoy and learn from it. Yes and soon you all can burn me at the stake. I'm getting close. lumberjack

-- lumberjack (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), October 24, 2000.

Strictly speaking there isnB4t an image made which has any emotion except what the viewers put into it. A piece of visual art is a very dead thing - it only comes alive during the trip from the viewers retina through the winding path of his neurons. I once posted a portrait of an old man that IB4ve known all my life. He was always happy and easy-going. In my opinion the portrait reflected his personality, but the responses I got were about hopelesness, the sadness of old age and decrepitude, imminent death etc. I guess part of what makes an image a success is if you hit on something so universal that the viewer is able to attach similar emotions to the image as you do yourself. If you are not able to get any emotions from Jeffs image, it probably says more about your social life than it does about his photograph - no offense intended :)

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 24, 2000.

Hey! What IS wrong with my apostrophes - is anyone else having this problem?

-- Christel Green (look.no@film.dk), October 24, 2000.


Jeff...this may be a bit late in telling you this, but that is about the best bridal portrait i've seen, and being, a wedding photographer, I do hope I can rise to your standards one day ;>)

-- Todd Frederick (fredrick@hotcity.com), October 29, 2000.

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