2 shots for you to ponder... if you will!

[Daisy Mae]

Untitled by Sharon Reid2010, on Flickr

Untitled by Sharon Reid2010, on Flickr


I am always fascinated and a bit thrilled by the things you guys take from..or indeed 'bring to' my images. It's as though I create them to 80% and you breathe the life and meaning into them on a personal level....which I think is pretty damned wonderful.

So...as I haven't been posting much recently here are 2 new shots with no titles or explanation. Simply for you to comment on.. or not as you wish.

All I ask is please don't comment to say you prefer one over the other....I am not putting them up for comparison.

Thanks.

[saea501]

I like them both very much because they have a dark edge to them. And I don't mean dark as in light vs dark, I mean dark as in a bit creepy...an element of danger. I do work along these lines too but I think few people that look at mine actually get it. You're a little twisted....which I think is a good thing.

Excellent, Sharon.

EDIT: I just looked at your Flickr page. You have some way cool stuff on there. You're ok in my book.

[Daisy Mae]

Thanks so much Bob....for the very first time I find myself delighted to be described as a little twisted.

[Shadowman]

2nd image has a sense of nostaglia, especially with the leaf from the book. Smudges at top suggest neglect and that could be coupled with the sense of urgency of the figure.

[Mike Buckley]

The dark figure of the second one seems to me not to be part of the page. Instead, it seems to me to be a shadow of a presence from another world in the room that otherwise cannot be seen by mere humans.

[flashback]

In the first I see the shadow of a lost soul, pondering the next step (figuratively and literally). I might title it 'Negative Place.'
The second, perhaps the end of one chapter of life, waiting to turn the page to the next.

[FootLoose]

I see the first one as dejection. The bowed head, the slouched pose, as if carrying the weight of the world on the shoulders. The bright light is behind and the figure is edging off the stage into the darkness.

The second: 'Whodunnit"! On first glimpse, it reminds me of the children's books with illustrations imposed over the print. The 'stain' from the bookmark suggests it is much-loved book, and the texture at the top suggests something darker than a kids' book. It doesn't look like foxing so it is not simply aged; more like the characters emerging from the narrative

[Donald]

I prefer the .................!! Ooops.

I think people above are getting the sorts of emotions across that I'd also be citing.

[Saorsa]

The first is interesting compositionally because the figure is exiting the image but I don't find any connection to it. It could be depression as mentioned but could just as well be someone talking to a person seated on a park bench.

The second evokes characters coming alive from a book that has been read and discarded. Or they could be dying as the book decomposes. Either way, there are two things there which allow you to examine a relationship.

[Marie Hass]

Sharon,

If I let myself imagine, #2 evokes an extra strong dark visceral response in me. I just finished some research on the rise of the Third Reich and very poignant were the pictures of book burnings. In #2, the book looks as if it has been charred, and the image imposed on the book looks to be faces of those souls who were killed.

Marie

[Daisy Mae]

I am really enjoying reading these comments. Your imaginations are all very much alive and creative.

Sometimes people ask me to tell them what an image 'really was' and they are not happy when I don't explain, as if I am being mean or ( amazingly) that I don't know what it was I took.

However, were I to tell them then it would be forever that one thing. There would be no other interpretation and I think that would be rather sad. The actual building blocks of the pictures are just shapes I've used to convey a feeling or evoke an emotion.

Without you guys to unleash your emotions on them...they would remain just shapes.

I am constantly grateful for your feedback and input. Thank you.

[shreds]

1. Pondering and thoughtful....a walk along a promenade.
2. Reminiscing of a school teacher.

I love these unscripted shots a bit like Kaskais (Fernando Cascais) and Antonio Correia would post here on a regular basis. Of late we seem to have lost much of this, and I miss such talent. Luckily we still have Sharon to produce such masterpieces and the great thing about them, is it stimulates the old grey matter to comment, rather than inane 'likes' that are often prevalent on other sites.

Keep it up, Sharon, as it stimulates me to think about my own shots in a slightly different manner.