Home sweet home

[willpops]

As I came on US forums in order to gather informations about the lifestyle there (in France, we have a television vision of the US, something very cliché), I launch this thread, with a little rule to apply while posting in it :

Post here pictures as natural as possible (this does not mean bad pictures) from locations near to where you live, with every time the name/country/state where the pictures were taken. Not only US pictures are allowed, naturally.

Here I begin with Strasbourg (France), where I live :
(they've got nothing special, as you see...)

 

[willpops]

I think this thread has just crashed

 

[daydan]

does normal mean bad? it is in a way what you give in your photographs here, with a lack of originality. thoses pics are arent normal, they are like banal; sorry but you could have made an effort. I hope you'll give something better next time.
Common things have to be shown in a subtil way, to make us feel their common side. You need to play on the visual effect, remember it is visual art you are exploring.

 

[willpops]

My aim is here was in fact to show something "without the photographic magic" (that's what I name "natural"). Something very demonstrative, if you want.
But I guess that was a bad idea after all

 

[WNK]

On the contrary, I think its a very good idea, willpops
I dont have any pics suitable right now, but when I go out today, I'll have to see if I can discover some neat "everyday" shots from around where I live. I look forward to seeing everyone else's! :mrgreen:

 

[daydan]

ok it may be "conceptual"? but dont you think the hard thing is to give magic to a photograph? for me it is the goal, maybe we can find others

 

[willpops]

"As I came on US forums in order to gather informations about the lifestyle there (in France, we have a television vision of the US, something very cliché), I launch this thread [...]"

Nothing "conceptual" there, but only "tourists instincts". If you post some artistic pictures here, how could I see the every day life in your local area? I'm agreed with you, that the magic you give to the picture is the most difficult thing to do, but here, I precised in the topic : "just show reality", because I just want to see pictures that show reality...

 

[daydan]

the difference between what i think and what you think about photography, is that the "magic" of photography don't take out the part of reality, but on the contrary emphasises it. it isnt because a photograph is artistic that you cannot see reality in it. anyway, i know france, and for the me this is not the common reality of france. even in documentary images respect some photography rules (no blur, no burnt colors, balance in the compostion...)

 

[willpops]

Magic of photography tends to "put a spell" on the reader of the concerned picture, and somehow modifies reality. (That's my point). You say that it emphasises it ; I'm agreed with that, but to emphasise it, is a sort of modification. In anyway, taking a picture will never give the same picture as the one we saw with our eyes (for the eyes read a scene with a very fast "scanning", whereas a camera reads a certain angle in one time).
To confirm what you say about you and me thinking differently, I think you're right : when I take a picture, I want it to be the more "uncommon" that it can be. That's why I do not really love birds photographs, or journalism photographs for example.
About blur, burnt colors, I totally agree with you Those pictures are in fact "what remains", but I can't really say why, there's something in them that I love. Maybe an affectionnal feeling of "home sweet home" (from there comes the title of the thread).