Sunday 9 August 2009

Whats it all about eh ???

Think I am going thru a period of .. well ....'reflection' - that's another way of saying 'struggling for inspiration.
What makes a good image ?.. is it the subject ?, is it the light ?, the composition ? , or maybe its the emotions that the final image creates in the mind of the viewer ?. But how do we get inside the mind of the viewer, especially as one persons fave is another's pass by..

To give some idea about what the heck I am on about I have picked out 2 images from the past couple of years, both have what could be described as limited subject interest, lighting is ok but not exactly making the subject (what there is of it) leap of the paper, and the composition breaks all the rules .. so that leaves the emotion that is inspired in its audience - assuming they haven't already passed on by...

We have a lone bird flying low over the sea and some rather bland grass, or to put in another way ............. An image of a lone bird in flight symolising a wild and free spirit, and ... The warmth of an autumn afternoon encapsulated in the abstract shapes made in the grass by the setting sun.
But these are my personal impressions that will change depending on my own mood at he time of viewing, but then is not one reason to surround ourselves with images we like is to influence our mood ?. So as an 'artists' do we create images for ourselves or for others, well for me it has to be both, if I do not connect with my work how can I expect others to - and that's where the inspiration has to drive us forward rather than become another producer of 'what the public wants' work.
The inspiration is there somewhere, it just needs to find its way to surface sometimes...