low resolution photography by davin risk

conversation 2

Canon AE-1

Click here for both sides of the conversation — The two photos work together side-by-side as a bit of a panorama even though I didn’t take them with this in mind.

The two photographs together complete an unusual and intriguing picture. Would like to know what the two of them were thinking of at the time. Did they pose for you or did you capture them in a moment?

Looking now at the two photographs merged together the big space seperating the two strikes me as unusual. It in a way you might think something was missing from the photograph. Some shocking, odd, abnormal or paranormal thing needs to be throw in there. heh

Just a regular conversation over lunch.

We were discussing our evil plans for world domination.

excellent humanness.

Don’t worry Ian, I’ll be back to the in-human subject matter soon enough.

the unintentional panorama is fantastic. excellent. :)

Awesome Davin. I love how well these photo work together.. And thanks for filling my curiosity.

Human subject matter has a good deal more depth, at least it does to me. Its easier to take still like, but difficult to capture humanity.

On a different note, I work with a guy who looks just like that. Weird.

I don’t feel the same way.

I don’t think that photos that don’t have people in them inherently have any less emotional depth.

I’m sure I could find thousands of examples of pictures of people that are flat and practically emotionless.

That said, I do want to get better at taking pictures of people as it’s certainly a different way of shooting and has its own set of skills to learn.

My Grandpa is an artist and has chosen watercolor has his medium of choice over the years. During his travels in this country and outside the country he has always used photography to capture images of things he might be interested in painting. While it hasn’t always been the case, for many years the human element has played a significant role in his work. He has an appreciation for the people and the diversity represented in the world.

Like the traditional paintings of the Japanese and Chinese which usually have a suggestion of people, a little boat or a small hut, my Grandpa has told me he feels the human element is important because it adds another level of depth to a painting. I think the same can often be said of photographs because of the connections we all have to people. Unless you have been to a particular place it is sometimes hard to identify with a photograph of that place. For someone who has never seen Zion’s National Park in Southern Utah to see a photograph of it must be remarkable. But on the other hand I think we can more readily identify with people because we are people ourselves. That human connection we all share is important and plays a significant role in much more then photography.

Whether the human element is more difficult to capture successfully I’m not sure. Photographing people posing for you can be awkward because their facial expressions, posture and other things are often contrived. “Smile for the camera!” But photographing people who are unaware of your presence can yield surprisingly interesting and striking results.

Ya I disagree. Our surroundings… the world we make and live in can say as much about who and what we are. I think you can capture humanity or a lack there-of without a human face. It’s not a better or worse thing… it’s just different.

Look at this set of photos and how differently they have been interpreted by different people. I don’t think it’s any more straight forward.

Taking photos of objects and capturing an emotion in them isn’t easier it’s just different and requires a different set of skills.

As someone who primarily takes photos that aren’t of people I can say that what IS easier is capturing my mood and emotion. When photographing people the focus is on them. Sometimes the social interation between the photographer and the subject can get in the way. Sometimes that can flip and the photographer does express their own emotion or mood rather than the person in the photo. And in that sense the photographer in some ways burdens the subject with their own mood. I’m not sure if that’s a bad thing entirely but there is something wierd about forcing your own personal agenda onto a human face that isn’t your own.

For me photography has been about expressing what I feel, not someone else’s emotions. So in that sense, from my perspective, photographing a person doesn’t work as well. And again, because the skills are different, photographing people doesn’t work as well for me based on my nature. I’m not comfortable, the subject isn’t comfortable and the photo is crap. Just as I am not comfortable with people, some photographers aren’t comfortable with landscapes or objects.

Davin, I like these people shots, th moment has been captured well, he looks like he is enjoying that brownie, and the expression on Gayla’s face is very thought provoking.

I also like your non people shots, can i see more of the same please, either with people or without, I will still visit to check things out, thanks for posting interesting imagery :)

G & G — thanks for sharing your story through these images… I think they’re great — I’m still pissed you told me about the tree in Six Feet Under…

Seriously — it’s these sorts of images that keep me coming back again and again…

I can take pictures of people AND junk on the road, Davin.

You could learn a lot from me.

Capture some humanness next time, chump!

Surroundings only say something about people when there are people associated with that place. To say “the world we make and live in can say as much about who and what we are” is what I referred to when I wrote about the human element. I agree that you can capture humanity without including a human face but I think that is only true when you are dealing with a place that is associated with people in one way or another. Whether we are talking about a man-made building or a garbage dump these are places human beings have left their mark. But in the wilds of the world, in the back country and the high mountains there are places untouched by man that I don’t think any human element exists. In that respect then capturing the human element is difficult at best.