What I'm doing. Where I've been. What I saw. And why I shot it.

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

mixed feelings

fiesta flags, San Antonio
 San Antonio TX street, fiesta April 2010
There's a point where you realize that a good image is a good image, and a mediocre one isn't going to become a good image.  You can (in the olden days) tone, burn, hand color, or lift the emulsion & transfer it to watercolor paper. Nuh-uh, it's just not going to become a good image.
Or you can (nowadays), photoshop the bejeepzis out of it: liquify, sketchify, desaturate to black & white, watercolorize- and , yeah, same result.

So that brings me, guiltily,  to my beloved Hipstamatic app. I can't stop shooting this. I admit, it's a gimmick.  I instantly mimic the artsy plastic cameras with light leaks, and the polaroid transfers and the emulsion lifts from the past.  No yucky chemicals or complete darkness or time wasted working up the process. 

titoswall
 San Antonio TX, wall at Titos,  April 2010
Truth is, making an imitation arty piece most times only looks like imitation art.
But it sure is fun to keep trying.

2 comments:

  1. So true.
    The app is pure fun. There's something about what the photo is going to look like that keeps me curious and hopeful and surprised. It's a little bit of technological joy on my phone.

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  2. I too love this app - woolanthropy (above commenter) hipped me to it. Of course it does not take the place of a well-composed artistic photograph. But it's loads of fun. It is, after all, a photo taken with a telephone!

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