Just discovered a feature I didn't know existed

[LD_50]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Sorry, but ...

If anything goes and "your taste is irrelevant", why should anyone be listening to you with respect to aesthetic advice?

 

Art and aesthetics are never "anything goes, just do what you like." Never have been, never will be. If there was that little structure to art and aesthetics, it would have no value whatever. Of course, I don't mean that everyone should be slaves to conventions such as the rule of thirds, the golden mean, etc. Be educated by "the rules" and know when to apply them and when to 'break the rules' or 'think outside the box' ...

My taste in art is irrelevant when I’m not critiquing someone’s art. That doesn’t mean my advice regarding creating whatever art you enjoy is irrelevant. Is that particularly difficult to understand?

 

I didn’t provide any specific aesthetic advice, other than to say- don’t be concerned by any aesthetics other than your own. I said do what you like. Others may like it or they may not.

 

I am not assuming you or anyone else is telling anyone to be a “slave to convention.” I am saying not to worry about conventions or critics. If you don’t need to make money with your art, simply do what you enjoy.

 

The value associated with art is decided by each artist and observer and is subjective. Monetarily it shifts over time and often has more to do with the name of the artist than any given structure. Of course there are conventions that tend to be popular. Again my advice is simply not to worry about them unless you need to sell your work. If you do intend to sell work or if you need positive criticism, then by all means you should cater to convention and the aesthetic expected by your audience.

 

Many artists started by doing what I advised, that is created the art that they wanted to. If the work became popular it may have created an aesthetic but it did not have to originally follow one.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[geetee1972]

 

If you don’t need to make money with your art, simply do what you enjoy.

 

I largely wish that this is how everyone were able to live their lives in general; It's a laudable sentiment but the problem is, as I have found out, that most of us can't exist in a vacuum of approval. We all have a need to have positive affirmations about who we are and what we do. Ironically, the very people who are best able to operate entirely independently of what other people think are also potentially the most dangerous in society. That feature is strongly reminiscent of sociopathy. People with artistic ambitions are always looking for approval from others for their work and that's a good thing to a large extent. It's how you get better at what you want to create (where better is the increasing agreement that your work is good among the general population).

 

Ultra shallow DOF is like sugar. It's an easy and instant hit that tastes sweet but leaves you feeling empty very quickly. It's massively over used and the results are frequently cloying, cheap and sentimental photographs. It's also something that Leica users seem particularly susceptible to (at least in the modern era). I also think that simply using large apertures to blur out distracting or jarring backgrounds is a lazy approach to composition; part of the skill and the aesthetics of the finished image ought to be the ability to make everything in the scene work together harmoniously; that after all is the best definition of a great photograph, when everything in the frame is perfectly placed and has perfect meaning and value to the frame. That's a thing of beauty.

Edited January 10, 2018 by geetee1972