February 2, 2005: Chile 12 (Final)
That's it- I'm done with Chile. Maybe I'll post a gallery in a couple of weeks- but until then, consider me officially back in NYC. [Unrelated: I think that we photobloggers need to learn to give and receive criticism a little bit better in the comment sections of our sites. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to one site or another and read the comments, and it's all "great picture!", "beautiful!", "wow." These are not good comments. Good comments point out something subtle about the image, or contextualize the image, or compare and contrast the image to another image. Perhaps because of this prevailing trend of inane, kiss-ass commentary, most of us are also very uncomfortable giving negative criticism. I'm not saying you should tear down someone else's work, but you should feel free to say when a picture doesn't do it for you. Maybe the focus is off- maybe the subject is boring. Maybe the image was badly processed- why not tell the truth? And if you are one of those photobloggers who prefers not to hear that sort of thing, please, for your own good- turn off the comments. Just hearing "you are the greatest!" over and over does not make you great. It just makes you soft.]
Comments
is the mannequin missing a sock? and they sell socks??
Man, that is one SWEEET looking shawl, dress or whatever. And just in time for Valentine's Day.
I like your text below the photo. Should be the most natural thing in the world. Unfortunately it is not. The todays photo is too restless for my taste, because the bathrobe isn't strong enough to stand out against this mixture of coloured stuff. But I like the most of your shots I've watched yesterday at your site.
where is this store i gotta buy that dress for my lady
good point, re: comments. i think this photo in particular looks a little digital snapshot-y. i also wonder if it could be cropped differently--there's something about the floor that seems like a distraction. i think there's something interesting about all the bright colors on the left sort of dissipating into darkness at the right edge though.
The mannequin is missing a shoe.
me, i tend to make a positive comment, but when i'm not a big fan of the shot, i tend to just move on.
yeah baby! keep it coming. i'm not a huge fan of this photography technically- it's overexposed on the left side, underexposed on the right, and i was too close when i snapped it, so there is a "falling forward" perspective problem, especially at the bottom of the print. but i did like the subject- talk about an insane chilean panty store- i came this close to buying that outfit for the plane ride home.
i'm with dragonballyee. i tend to do the "nice", "wow" thing when i am really moved by a photo (not because i am a kiss-ass), and if i'm not, i move on.
i'd like to challenge dragonball and madorange- instead of leaving a "wow", tell us why you like the photo- what moved you about this one in particular? that is the kind of information we need.
i didn't mean that i just leave a "wow" or "great shot" every time when i said "i tend to make a postitive comment" i meant that i'll usually point out something within the photo that made me comment or allude to something it reminds me of. but back to this picture in particular...
i think that this photo has too much going on. the display window is just too much. maybe if you moved to the right some and shot wide open, you could've used DOF to focus solely on that crazy print. or moved some to the left and taken a center-weighted meter and get a shot going into the darker store.
When you obessesively delete negative comments and encourage an inbred mentality among blog circles, this is what you get.
You routinely censor postings on your blogs such as this and Gothamist, so maybe you should look at how your own behavior and social filtering leaves a trail of lipstick traces on your buttcheeks.
lighten up, jack (or whoever you are)- the only comments we delete on gothamist are the ones that start something like "hey douchebag, you suck!" that's all in the gothamist comment policy. but that's not what i'm talking about here. what i'm talking about is giving honest, constructive crit on the photos we post- this is essential to all of us developing as photographers, and something i think we can do without being rude.
Personally, I would have cropped the picture so that it was either the mannequin with kick ass outfit or moved about five or six feet over concentrated ion that jam packed main store. And I would have used a long-ish telephoto(say 100-150mm) to compress the depth of view. But then again, the window doesn't seem that interesting - looks like nothing but socks, underwear and wallets-no real local flavor.
Better yet, I would have like to have seen a photo of human interaction with this SWEEEET mannequin (especially tourists - this looks like a pretty busy area). Y'know, kids running up to it and giggling, guys going up and being...guys. I'm sure you'd have gotten some pretty humorous shots out of it.
i think the question we're all wondering is, did you buy the naked lady cape?
If I had bought that cape, I would have turned myself into a crime fighting super hero, the masked marvel known as BREASTMAN!!
yes- a telephoto would have been good here- even a 50 would have done better than what i used.
nice shot!
Wow
very cute, mike and eliot.
but to summarize: I think it's possible to change the expectations for our comment sections. When people come to bluejake, and decide to leave a comment, I want a comment- I already have the stats to tell me how many people visited that day, so I don't need anyone to give me a "wow" just to show they were there- loading the site is enough of a statement of solidarity.
i hear what you are saying jake, that one word positive comments aren't helpful, but i look at a lot of photo sites and i enjoy them all and don't necessarily feel the need to critique the work one way or another. i assume that you post photos to get feedback that helps you grow as a photographer, but also because you want to provide your audience with some enjoyment. sometimes when i look at a photo, my first reaction is "wow" and so i generally go ahead and share that comment. should i feel awkward about doing so?
oh, okay. point taken. (the comments above mine weren't there when i posted.) but for record, when i leave short positive comments, i don't do it just to show i was there. it's just a response. oh well, at least you have me thinking now.
i think all of should ask ourselves when we leave a commment: "does this add something to the post?" for the record, i'm one of the worst when it comes to leaving comments, and this little rant was provoked by a complaint from eliot, when i left the comment "abstractlicious!" on this post. [he felt it wasn't adding anything to the post.]
some other comments i've left recently on flickr illustrate good vs. bad comments:
"that is one hot cat." [bad]
"catrific!" [bad]
"suprahot!" [bad]
"very richard estes." [good]
"new york misses you!" [not that good]
"very cute." [bad]
"infinity cute + 1." [bad]
"super cute." [bad]
"hyper cute." [bad]
"this one is my favorite." [bad]
"holy canoli! what a cute picture." [bad, but bonus for rhyming]
"laura is very cute." [bad]
"oh shnap!" [bad]
"very taxi driver!" [good]
"holy god you are good." [bad]
"you call that a cat?" [bad]
"lAdies luv d0bk1n!" [toss-up]
Jake Says: 'lighten up, jack (or whoever you are)'
Jack Says: You're referring to me I think? I don't know. Not for nothing but I was only told about this post recently, so personal from to you Jake Dobkin, fuck you. Don't mix me into your paranoia. Some people get over things. Get a clue. Get meds. Or get both.
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