City - Rannoch Moor State - GLENCOE / SCOTLAND Country - United Kingdom
About
Location: Rannoch moor, Glencoe, Scotland.
One fine Autumnal morning in late November after the end of one of the masterclass courses I was running I opted to spend one more day to myself and came across this most beautiful painterly scene with a delicate palette of colour. I was the only one there and the silence chill and emptiness concentrated my attention wonderfully enabling me to capture it at its sublime best. Rarely have I come away from a scene feeling so inwardly satisfied.
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I am one person who feels I should comment more but I simply just don’t have the time. The thing I would say is that I find your work very inspiring and always enjoy seeing images of yours so please keep uploading. I type with one finger and recently learnt how to use two so find it all very time consuming. I browse a lot and doing so gives me new ideas. Keep up the nice work Ian, really enjoy your work and if you’re ever in Northumberland give me a call.
Thank you very much for responding. I probably shouldn't have written my comment to you at such a late hour for me last night. It wasn't very fair nor was it nice. I've always liked your work and perhaps and not ever hearing from you was probably the real source of my frustration. Your work evokes a great deal of raw emotion. This site used to be great for all of us sharing work, critiquing each other and using it as a sounding board to do exactly what it is you're doing. The participation and numbers of views have gone down dramatically and so has the quality of work being posted. I can't tell if a lot of people are just using this site as a repository to upload their work if they're looking to genuinely get better; hard for me to tell. I have scoured to net to find something where people can do the things that photographers love to do; grow in their skills, or share their skills with others to make them better and get a viewership that once existed on this site. I too have considered stopping altogether but then what's a good alternative? I haven't figured that one out yet. In any case....thank you for your honest answer back. Sincerely, ~ rob
Well where to begin, perhaps I should start by thanking you and all others for commenting on my work and let you know that it is appreciated.
Now let me deal with with your last point. Yes I do use this website and all others I contribute to, to promote myself and Transient Light, (my own website), and I do so unashamedly. I use it to determine what images to put in my new calendars each year.
Your very last comment "just an observation AND QUESTION" is perhaps the crux of my explanation.
To date I don't believe I have ever failed to respond to any QUESTION asked of me on any site and answering them takes a considerable amount of my time, probably more than it should. Unfortunately there is no chance at all of me finding the time to reply to every individuals comments. If I were to respond to observations made, which are by nature rhetorical, I would have to do so in a thoughtful and considered manner. I could of course copy paste a reply of thanks to everyone but this seems to me to be very unsatisfactory, possibly rude.
A long time ago I took the decision to only respond to questions asked, it may be wrong, but it was the only practical solution I could come up with, if that makes me seem aloof, I apologise, but I do not feel able to change it.
As for my work, yes I am proud of what I do, but I question your assertion that it is worth more recognition. The comments although greatly appreciated are less important to me than the viewing figures, ie. the number of anonymous persons that actually think the picture is worth opening to have a look at it. Both figures are low, therefore I can only conclude that few find it worthy of taking the time to look. (hardly an elitest view).
They are however very commercially successful, so perhaps my pictures appeal more to the general public than they do to "real photographers" who engross themselves in the technical niceties such as composition, rather than the emotion a picture evokes.
I do browse a great many images but only occasionally comment when a picture truly moves me or when it is unfairly maligned. As a film user. I was attracted to the site by its title, "USE FILM". My perception is that most images on the huge number of photographic websites that have sprung, up bear little resemblance to a photograph, they have become digital art.
My maintenance level is remakably low too. If viewing figures diminish still further then I won't bother uploading.
This is fantastic work as usual; breathtaking actually. I'm a pretty low maintenance individual for the most part. Just once I'd love to see you acknowledge one of my compliments. I could very easily give a long drawn out critique of why work work is as good as it is but I suspect you really don't need to know that. I don't need to have you tell me you like my work; that's not what I'm looking for at all. There are a few of you that belong to your group and a fair amount of people see you all as "Elitist" in attitude...but I don't even though I very well could by your responses or lack of responses to people in general. I've always been upset that your work is so excellent but seldomly is acknowledged the way it should be on this site. So my question is: do you just use this site to promote Transient Light and your affiliation with the guys you're partnered with??? Again...not high maintenance...just an observation and question.
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{K:13784} 3/7/2009
