Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image

Rating:
Summary: For those with a Right Brain
Review: An imaginative and instructive book of images and text. Athough the techniques are written for film, the thrust of the book applies equally to users of digital media.

Rating:
Summary: For those with a Right Brain
Review: At first glance, this book might appear to offer photographers a step beyond straight picture-taking as a tool to invoke a response from viewers. Freeman Patterson has always been an important teacher who talks about the role of the photographer, rather than equipment, in creating photographic art. Unfortunately, this book doesn't deliver on its premise or promise.

This book seems to have been made by joining together smaller pieces. There are two short books here under one cover, one called "Photo Impressionism" and the other "the Subjective Image". Then each of these books is made up of relatively unrelated chapters, like the first which discusses the creating of multiple images of the same subject on the same frame of film by making multiple exposures and the second which discusses creating images by sandwiching two or more pieces of film together. That the chapters are unrelated is made obvious by the fact that they are written by each author individually with no collaboration between the authors.

What one learns are a couple of techniques. One involves randomness in the creation of pictures that makes a mockery of the description of photo impressionism as a "depiction...intended to achieve...a vividness or effectiveness...." Ansel Adams' teachings about the role of vision in photography have guided fine photography for many years. Perhaps that has been an error in the conventional wisdom, but most serious photographers would deny any error. Randomness is the antithesis of intention and vision.

Other than that, the book is a collection of trite advice like the fact that exposure and film are important to good photography! A description of an author's trip to Morocco provides little guidance about photo-impressionism, and advice that a "long chin or nose will appear shorter if you lower your camera position" sounds very conventional. What is amazingly lacking in a book released in the 21st century is any reference to the manipulation of images digitally.

However, the photographs in the book are beautiful, and one can see how the authors have tried to speak to our emotions. At the same time many of even the best images appear to be quite conventional in approach.

Photography needs a good book on this subject that can tell serious camera wielders how to "achieve a vividness or effectiveness more by invoking subjective and sensory impressions than by re-creating an objective reality" (to quote the authors' paraphrase of the dictionary). How can one look at a subject and see the potential for its image to be adjusted in a way that will tell the viewer something that could not be said if a mere record was made? This book doesn't tell us that. In fact Patterson's earlier "Photography and the Art of Seeing" does a better job. Someone interested in seeing how one practitioner does this, along with the photographer's thoughts on individual pictures, would probably benefit more by reading Tony Sweet's "Fine Art Nature Photography: Advanced Techniques and the Creative Process"

In summary, nice pictures and weak words.

Rating:
Summary: An Unfulfilled Promise
Review: At first glance, this book might appear to offer photographers a step beyond straight picture-taking as a tool to invoke a response from viewers. Freeman Patterson has always been an important teacher who talks about the role of the photographer, rather than equipment, in creating photographic art. Unfortunately, this book doesn't deliver on its premise or promise.

This book seems to have been made by joining together smaller pieces. There are two short books here under one cover, one called "Photo Impressionism" and the other "the Subjective Image". Then each of these books is made up of relatively unrelated chapters, like the first which discusses the creating of multiple images of the same subject on the same frame of film by making multiple exposures and the second which discusses creating images by sandwiching two or more pieces of film together. That the chapters are unrelated is made obvious by the fact that they are written by each author individually with no collaboration between the authors.

What one learns are a couple of techniques. One involves randomness in the creation of pictures that makes a mockery of the description of photo impressionism as a "depiction...intended to achieve...a vividness or effectiveness...." Ansel Adams' teachings about the role of vision in photography have guided fine photography for many years. Perhaps that has been an error in the conventional wisdom, but most serious photographers would deny any error. Randomness is the antithesis of intention and vision.

Other than that, the book is a collection of trite advice like the fact that exposure and film are important to good photography! A description of an author's trip to Morocco provides little guidance about photo-impressionism, and advice that a "long chin or nose will appear shorter if you lower your camera position" sounds very conventional. What is amazingly lacking in a book released in the 21st century is any reference to the manipulation of images digitally.

However, the photographs in the book are beautiful, and one can see how the authors have tried to speak to our emotions. At the same time many of even the best images appear to be quite conventional in approach.

Photography needs a good book on this subject that can tell serious camera wielders how to "achieve a vividness or effectiveness more by invoking subjective and sensory impressions than by re-creating an objective reality" (to quote the authors' paraphrase of the dictionary). How can one look at a subject and see the potential for its image to be adjusted in a way that will tell the viewer something that could not be said if a mere record was made? This book doesn't tell us that. In fact Patterson's earlier "Photography and the Art of Seeing" does a better job. Someone interested in seeing how one practitioner does this, along with the photographer's thoughts on individual pictures, would probably benefit more by reading Tony Sweet's "Fine Art Nature Photography: Advanced Techniques and the Creative Process"

In summary, nice pictures and weak words.

Rating:
Summary: widen your horizons
Review: Yes, photography is a real art medium and you can take it beyond literal representation and make it more expressive! Make your photography convey how a subject makes you feel rather than what that subject literally is. Andre and Freeman are excellent instructors and this book is wonderful and inspiring. Several different techniques in subjective imagery are presented, including multiple-exposure impressionistic images (with different camera movement techniques for different effects) and the aptly named dreamscapes using photo-montage. The explanations are good, and the techniques are not difficult, although they take practice to master. Don't be discouraged at first, keep experimenting!

Rating:
Summary: widen your horizons
Review: Yes, photography is a real art medium and you can take it beyond literal representation and make it more expressive! Make your photography convey how a subject makes you feel rather than what that subject literally is. Andre and Freeman are excellent instructors and this book is wonderful and inspiring. Several different techniques in subjective imagery are presented, including multiple-exposure impressionistic images (with different camera movement techniques for different effects) and the aptly named dreamscapes using photo-montage. The explanations are good, and the techniques are not difficult, although they take practice to master. Don't be discouraged at first, keep experimenting!