Photos Grandfather [update 15/09/2011]

No problem at all, I also understand that you just wanted to see it in colours, I'm just saying if you never asked for the colour one I and others never could imagine both of them.
I'm not saying color one is all better than the b/w it's just something more "aaaaaaaa" how can I put in words, it's like that extra spice in a barbacue, it's a hole other flavour.

 

Let's draw a line under this. I like unpleasantness as little as you do.. I hope.

My issue with JRS77 was the way he stated his opinion as fact. I'll always challenge that. My issue with you was you accusing me of being a smart ass.

I wasn't being pedantic, and just picking over the fact you said "how he was". If you think I was, I apologise... but I just wasn't.

My point was the fact that doing that (referring to him in the past) meant that somehow, subconsciously, you'd assigned this guy to the past as a result of his treatment in the image.

The following is not necessarily aimed at zuko... but as a point of interest generally....

This is how images can be encoded or constructed (or indeed decoded or deconstructed).. by playing on your pre-conceptions, and what Roland Barthes termed "Myths" which in reality, what he meant was "truths" that we all subconsciously understand.. simple things like red is danger... we all get that. Even on a more complex level.. images such as Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother are so successful because they hit on these universal "myths"... in Lange's case... motherhood, as it's the same in any language or culture, so this image is harrowing to all people regardless of culture, creed, gender or age.

I'm not right. No one is.. but when we see a black and white image we start to make associations... subconsciously rifle through our memories of what we have been taught to believe culturally... and black and white is associated with the past, and can also connote gravity, seriousness... The reasons are pretty simple: We associate it with the past because the past, in terms of our records of it.. ARE in black and white, and we associate it with seriousness, because until fairly recently, most press images were also black and white (it was only really in the early 80s that colour newspapers became popular).

I find this interesting, and Ive always wondered.. if Nicéphore Niépce's (or Fox Talbot's... depending on who you believe to have created the first real photograph)first ever photographic image was in colour, would we have even bothered developing a black and white process at all? Would we have seen value in it enough to invent a black and white process if we had colour first? I bet we wouldn't have. And... if this was the case, would black and white images (assuming we did eventually start creating them) have the same connotations they have now? Again, I'd suggest not.


Where am I going with this... I suppose, I'm saying once you KNOW what these myths are.. you can subvert them... play with them... do the unexpected. Resist the urge to stereotype or produce clichés.


Discuss

[edit]

If anyone is interested in all of this stuff... about what images MEAN.. and going beyond merely recording a scene, or developing on a technical level only (not that there's anything wrong with that BTW), then an easy way in to this murky academic world is by reading John Berger's Ways Of Seeing. It costs a fiver or so off Amazon... and it's brilliant. Better still... break open a beer.. type "John Berger Ways Of Seeing" into You Tube... enjoy.

Barthes, Wells, Saussure etc are a heavy read... these people aren't necessarily even photographers.. Barthes was a Philosopher for eg...Saussure a linguist. They're quite challenging, but rewarding... but Berger examines issues like culture, gender etc in a very accessible way, and makes it enjoyable. It's referring to art in general, not just photography (to me there is little to distinguish photography from painting or drawing) If you opt for the You Tube option though.. prepare for some pretty 70s tastic fashion!

 

My grandfather came over for christmas dinner yesterday and I gave him a large pint-out of this picture as a gift. He was getting quite emotional, he didn't say much (he never does) but I could see it touched him somehow.

 

He looks like a nice guy. I like his smile.

 

Result!

 

Blimey this thread got a lot more agitated than I though it would/could.
Like both images, but think the colour version does just bring everything to life a little more, I'm not surprised he was moved by it

 

I like the B/W version a lot. Then I saw the colour version, and I liked it more.

That's not that I prefer colour over B&W, but for this particular subject it works that little bit better. The weathered cracks and creases in the B/W pic suggest experience, but the ruddy cheeks in the colour picture suggest warmth and life.

I'd agree with Pookey that, considering this is art, you can make up your own rules. And if we all did the same thing, life would be far too dull.

 

Grandfather update 21/11

I have come to a dead end. trying to find out who are the parents of my great, great, great,great grandfather. He is William Bellamy married to a Letitia Rayner on 7th Dec 1795 in Louth lincs. Can anyone help me?Marisa

 

This man, my grandfather died yesterday (14th september 2011). He was born on 10th may of 1922, so just a few month shy of becoming 90 years old. He had a full life, but his body was just too weak to keep on going.

This picture will be used on front the card.


And because he was always in his garden, we are using this picture on the back of the card. So people can choose which image to display (one landscape, one portrait) to remember him by.

 

both are awesome. I never knew him and they touched me.

 

Sad news, beautiful pictures.

 

I'm very, very sorry to hear that I hope you're doing OK.. and the rest of your family are too. You have some awesome photos to remember him by, ones that really capture a personality.

Never knew him, but through great photography.. I kind of do.. if that makes sense.

RIP

 

Very sad to hear - they're some great pictures to remember him by!

 

Thanks for the support and kind words. These things are always hard to handle, especially on my mother (his daughter). I'm doing 'ok' I guess, I keep reminding myself he had a long life and that its just a part of it. Funny how that never helps as much for yourself as you think it does for others in a similar situation.

I always do my best to visit my relatives, especially grandparents, as often as I can. Because he couldn't live at home anymore (often confused, demention), my grandfather was in the hopsital the last 6 weeks waiting for a place in a retirement home. As his situation wasn't critical, I just visited him every weekend once or twice as I could.

Now, offcours, I regret not visiting him more often. But regrets are always too late.

I'll post a photo of the card I designed for him later next week.

 

Sorry to hear that .

And as others have said, very moving photos.

 

Sorry for you loss mate. My Grandmother was born in 1916 and is still around. I can't imagine what it will be like when she is gone. Even more so because I know I can't go home to see her one last time.

But your pictures are amazing. I wish I had your talent and camera. My Sony A350 takes no where near these kind of pictures.