Monday, September 7, 2009

Afternoon in the park


Sometimes I'm looking at a photo but I just don't know what to say about it. In a way, that's good, it means that the shot speaks for itself. This one seems to explain everything - yes, we were just relaxing in Ljubljana's Tivoli park one afternoon. This is Eva, who happened to be in the right place at the right time - that is, in front of the camera :)

This photo really stands out as being taken on film. The colours are a bit muted but still nice (I think they look classy), things feel warm, it's hard to say why exactly, but it just doesn't feel digital. The out-of-focus background also looks nice, if you like that sort of thing. The square crop keeps things simple and focuses attention on the subject, at the same time the photo follows the traditional rule of thirds.

People often feel that expensive cameras are the key to good photos, yet don't spend nearly enough time thinking about more basic things such as composition. The technical aspects of photography can be taught in less than a day, but making art is something completely different. Yes, you can break the various rules of composition, but you need a lot of experience to know when and how - I don't know if I'll ever get there. It's quite annoying seeing amateurs completely disregard the basics and call the results 'art'. For anyone who wants to improve their photography, I'd say skip photography exhibitions and go see paintings instead. I was blown away by the exhibition of Slovene Impressionist painters held in Ljubljana's National Gallery not long ago. I think Žiga and I spent a couple of hours there - something that would probably never happen with a photographic exhibition.

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