Tag Archives: It’s Only Art

It’s Only Art #4

It's Only Art
The Flickr® stream was full of many beautiful nudes this week as people were enjoying the smooth joints and supple curves of their new Venus from Belleza. I probably could have done an entire 50 picture gallery of just those shots, but there is the Belleza group for that. Instead, I looked for some storytelling pictures. As always, there’s a gallery of my favorite fifty of the week.

Screen Shot 2014-09-24 at 8.50.49 PM

This picture from Nomak Nyoki is amazing with a verisimilitude that had me checking to see if it was really done in Second Life® and it was. The pose is completely natural and that puff of smoke is so perfectly done. The angle of the bench draws us toward the subject. Even though there’s no background other than white, the shadows ground the picture. It’s a stunning photo that with great simplicity tells a story, sets a mood and demonstrates exactly how much you can do in Second Life. There are not very many photos in his photo stream, but it is well worth your while to go check them out. Continue reading

It’s Only Art #3

It's Only Art Another week where it was a struggle to winnow my favorites down to only fifty, five of which I will feature in the column. The rest you can see here.

j o r.d a n

I love this picture. First, I am struck by the avatar, Jor.dan, who reminds me so much of Yolandi Visser of Die Antwoord. However striking an avatar may be, though, that alone cannot make a great picture. In this case, ARnnO PLAneR, who shot this picture, made several brilliant choices. First, he went for black and white which strips away distractions. Secondly, he broke the rules and posed her dead center looking straight ahead. Normally, a centered head shot can be dull, but there are exceptions and this is one. Notice how symmetrically she is posed, looking straight ahead – in this power pose with no expression other than that of intense focus. From that central focus – all the details fade away, her earrings blurred, her hair blurred. This strips away the distractions. This picture really is about that gaze, the unblinking gaze that looks right into you. Continue reading

It’s Only Art #2

It's Only Art

There are amazing photos that I did not include in the post, but you can see them in the gallery linked at the end of the post. Each week the gallery for the week will include my favorite fifty. Through the Flowers

I am in love with this picture from Leica Arado called Through the Flowers. It reminds me of a Mary Cassatt painting with the lovely blue-greens and the soft impressions of flowers, flashes of sunlight on the water and the romantic mood. There are two interesting elements to the composition of this photo I want to highlight. The first is quite obvious – the placement of the boat one-third from the left and one-third from the top, following the rule of thirds in the composition. The background also nicely divides into thirds, the upper bank, the river and the lower bank. triangle The picture also forms geometric shapes such as the rectangles of the upper banks, the river and the lower bank. but the most striking the triangle formed by the clusters of red flowers in the corners as illustrated here.

Continue reading