Ryan: Thanks for the thoughtful response. I am a bit uneasy about the idea that mixing artistic vision and portraying solid scientific/documentary info can be blended in Stormtrack.[/b]
Ah, but science and documentary are entirely different things. Science doesn't care what a photo looks like; if anything, it's trying to extrapolate some sort of numerical data from the photo and compare that data with the numerical data extracted from other photos. A documentary can be quite artistic, indeed. A documentary takes into account editing methods, composition, flow, narrative, etc. etc. A documentary is art (usually journalistic in nature, unless you get a dishonest documenter). Science is not. I never claimed to be a scientist, and my images are definately not geared towards scientific investigation.
I think the problem is that to the photographer/artist, the artistic element will often 'win out' and accuracy will be sacrificed or take a back seat to doing what i have always seen to be what is right for Stormtrack: providing info to storm chasers.[/b]
Info about what, though? My photos do provide info: what it was like (for me) to be at a certain place at a certain time. A camera, on it's own, will not do this just by pressing the shutter, unless you've put considerable thought into what you do before and what you are planning to do after you press the shutter.
I don't want to see a return to what happened a couple years ago when an everything-goes tolerance started lowering this forum to the lowest common denominator (resulting in my lengthy hiatus from this forum). But as i told Mike P, hearing others (such as you) describe their passion for their work has made me more tolerant. Hopefully, the artists/photographers will be mindful of the audience they are reaching (notice i did not say TRYING to reach) when they make post-processing desicions. As i said before, this is not an art gallery, though i don't have a problem with art and science mixing--forecasting still is quite a bit art after all.[/b]
To the extent that reports threads contain photographs and essays about chases, the reports threads are, at least to me, art galleries. They have some very journalistic limitations placed on them, of course, but I don't see how one could confuse the reports threads with a scientific publication.
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I wouldn't worry about lowest common denominator problems; I can only speak for myself, but I'm personally very pleased with the quality of work that shows up here on Stormtrack. Seriously -- there are some
very talented people here, and I'm not just talking about photography, either.
Incidentally, 2001 has long been my favorite movie (probably have seen it 50+ times) largely due to the blend of cinematography and musical score. The Monument Valley scenes heavily influenced my own
artwork, including a photo-essay/book i published a couple years ago.
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You know, the funny thing about 2001 is that just about every person I've ever met who says it's their favorite move has, like me, seen it a good 50 times. I love that movie. The cinematography really is excellent, and the story that it tells has so many embedded layers of meaning that you honestly can watch it 50 times and pick up something new with each viewing.
I really encourage you to watch Koyaanisqatsi. Make sure you get the DVD; see it on as large a screen as possible. Koyaanisqatsi also spends a significant amount of time in Monument Valley, and probably does it more justice than 2001 did. Koyaanisqatsi is a movie that requires patience, but if you can sit through 2001 50 times, I'm sure you'll be fine.