Tag Archives: 나나

It’s Only Art #11

It's Only Art Be sure to check out this column’s Gallery on Flickr. There are stunning pictures there; many who deserve very much to be highlighted in this column. Highlighting five is arbitrary, i know, but it is important that I set a limit or I could lose days writing each column. For me, this time, color seemed to be a recurring element in those I chose to highlight.

You desired my attention,

You desired my attention by paperfairy (나나)

The idea for this column, or more accurately for its precursor What I Like at Shopping Cart Disco, came from the daily plurks of a former SL resident who left several years ago. Each day she would do a WTF plurk and share her critiques of SL photos. Sometimes feelings were hurt and she defended her plurks and advice to help people take better photos. It seemed to me that you could achieve the same ends by highlighting what people did right instead of focusing on what people did wrong. Why do I mention this?

Screen Shot 2014-12-30 at 1.21.50 PMOne of her big complaints was people who shot pictures with backgrounds in a similar color to their clothing. She hated to see clothing disappear into the background. Well,, here is a photo from 나나 that proves that rather than disappearing, the similarity between background and dress intensifies our focus. After all, if we look closely, the skirt is clearly delineated. It is there, but we have to stop, focus and look for it. I love this picture. The subject is well off center, which makes for a more dynamic feeling. The close crop that requires us to interact with the picture, completing it in our minds also intensifies our attention. The bright scarlet red says STOP and demands we look. Everything about this picture says look at me and she knows it – hence the ironic title of the picture. Continue reading

It’s Only Art #10

It's Only Art When going through my recent favorites to choose pictures for this column, I was drawn most to those pictures who gave us slice of life moments, the story-telling pictures that seem so spontaneous despite the amount of scene design and pose setting and all the work that must go into them. All that work is invisible if the picture is done well and it seems as though someone just accidentally caught them at that very moment. I love those pictures though I never do them myself. I admire the creativity and imagination that goes into planning and execution. They often make me smile, sometimes even I even laugh out loud at the predicaments and mishaps they capture. There are far too many great pictures to highlight, so please check out the Gallery that accompanies this column to see some of the other great works that I did not include in this post.

"Nooooooooo!"

“Nooooooooo!” by Leonorah Beverly

snowballLeonorah Beverly gives us action and a wonderful use of perspective with that snowball heading right for us or for the camera. Notice how the snowball is placed at the sweet spot of the Golden Ratio. I love this picture for its story-telling and its fabulous attention to details of composition. I have to say, that snowball looks like it could hurt. Duck! Continue reading