Self Portrait

[The Repro Kid]

For those who don't visit the lounge... A Self Portrait.
(Today, New Years Eve)

[The Repro Kid]

Thank you for the input, but in this circumstance I can't that I agree with you in the slightest. If I were utilizing the photo in a design layout piece then I might want to crop it. But as it stands, I am showing entire the shot for it's accidental immediacy, extra sky and all. The shot was taken by holding the camera myself and aiming it towards me, and then just snapping. I had no way to compose the shot. So the composition is purely by chance and accidental. Cropping the photo would cheapafy the falsify the accidental nature of the composition, thus removing what little artistic merit the photo now possesses.

[AdobeAce]

Hi Repro,

You're right!

Once you get the headline in there, it's perfect!

Maybe the headline could be:

The Repro Kid
Photostat Camera, X-acto Knife, Wax

Like I said, Perfectly cropped!

Ace
:D

[big pix]

....... and I thought you were taller:)

[The Repro Kid]

Ace, I like it! Not everyone's cut out to be an Art Director such as yourself. When one man may see dead air, you see "Cover Shot." :D You've given me an idea. Excellent art Direction.

Big Pix, very funny, I never knew not cropping photos was one of my shortcomings!

Actually, Ace, Big Pix, and kombizz, I've never liked the idea of cropping photos in order to show just a photo itself. I've always considered it cheating. I know as an artist that cropping is a given, when doing design, layouts etc. But when it comes to photo purism, as a rule, I like to see, and show, photos uncropped. Pretty much every photo I display for photography's sake, here or otherwise, is uncropped.

[kialua]

Wasn't it said that Ansel Adams never cropped a photo? He considered cheating too. He did however manipulate the heck out of it in the darkroom, which leads me to believe that he would have LOVED Photoshop. I try to always use full neg –ooh that's an old term– but I must confess to a little cropping now and then.

[DCurry]

Hmmm… after seeing your self-portrait, I'm not so sure "Kid" is quite the right word in your online handle!

Happy New Year!

[The Repro Kid]

Ha ha, very very funny. Yes we've been over that before. :rolleyes:

It's a very old handle. I suppose Kid Rock now has the same problem. :rolleyes:

In my defense, I was quite useful at work back when I was very young and frequently fell into the "Kid" category as I worked along side the Old timers and senior operators.

I could just shorten it to Repro, but then again, why bother? I'm too old now to care :cool:

[wallyn]

As the image stands, I think it lacks a professional look without having the top cropped. It doesn't look intentional, so that's why I say that. But it would depend on the context the image was displayed in too. It would be great for a photo on an "about" page where you could add some text at the top. Then it's clear it's intentional and you include the text in the photo and not as a title or caption.

I really like the glint of sun through the hat. The only possible thing you could have done, and I realize it was not a "staged" shot, was to put something up in front of you to reflect some more light on your face. I would like to be able to see it more clearly... :-)

(We should probably shut up since you weren't asking for comments... but I do like it and only was thinking about how it could be even better. My work needs a lot of help...!!!)

[The Repro Kid]

OMG, that's so awesome. After 23 years working professionally as a graphic artist, who knew I had the option to crop a photo. Boy, you learn something new every day, don't you?

Cropping photos is not what photography is about. Any simpleton can crop a poorly composed photo and then claim they are a photo-composition genius. Photography is about truth and immediacy. Nothing is more boring in photography than a photo that has been composed and arranged as if it were a carefully thought out painting, they way they shot photos in the 1850s. It was boring then and it is boring now. Not until people shed this notion did photography come into it's own as an art form.

The truth and immediacy in this shot is the fact that I am sitting on the ground and laying the camera on the ground and pointing it up at the sky, and towards myself. Laying a camera on the ground and pointing it into the sky, you are bound to capture, wait for it... Lots of sky. Cropping the sky out of the image would cause visual chaos, removing an important visual clue that keeps the viewer grounded into the correct visual perspective in which the image was captured.

But thanks for the critique.

[irinajones11]

I have a visual art project where we have to visually portrait a fact and our opportunities are unlimited. For example, last semester some kid made a car that would beep every 4-5 minutes and was stating the fact that every 4 minutes somebody dies in a car accident. I was thinking about making a giant cancer stick and with the help of a smoke generator have it blow smoke out that someone die from smoking cigarette but its just too expensive. What should I do?

[The Repro Kid]

Well first I wold advise that you should start this question as it's own thread, as really this doesn't much to do with a goofy self portrait that I posted, and that's what this thread is about. It is a very interesting question and it deserves to be it's own subject.

I see this is your first post (welcome) and so I am attaching a screenshot below showing how to start a new thread. Just click the button I circled and start your own new topic. I could do it for you, but I'll let you give it a try so you can get the hang of it. When you've got a thread started, I remove this post so there isn't any confusion. I'll also move any posts you might have received from this to your new thread.