This week's Photo Friday challenge – Modern – has caused me a number of problems, not least because I'm not quite sure what the word means to me. Clearly, in some senses, it means up-to-date, but it seems to be an almost dated, anachronistic term. For example, I have a book that belonged to my father called the Boy's Book of Modern Marvels (with a frontispiece that speculates about firing a rocket at the moon). And then there are post-modern ideas that suggest that modernity, and all things modern, are behind us.
All of which is largely irrelevant, but it's what I was thinking about as I wandered around this afternoon trying to find something modern. And then I ran out of time and decided to go with the somewhat banal idea that modern, in this context, equates with contemporary existence – consumerism, pace of life, and so on.
camera capture date aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO focal length flash image quality white balance cropped?
Canon G5
5.41pm on 2/9/04
f4.0
1/100
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
50
12.7mm
no
RAW
auto
minor
comment bymandar at 12:36 AM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
An ordinary image by your standards. i was trying to figure out how I feel about the image, when it struck me that the 'sale' posters are behind a glass and there are reflections showing. That set me to look for you somewhere in there and I did manage to find this reflection of something that looks like you holding your camera near the right hand border of the image. That is you, right ?
comment bydjn1 at 12:49 AM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
mandar: no, that isn't me. I was square on to the window when I took this shot, so if I'm anywhere it's in the middle.
comment bybrad at 12:59 AM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
you can see the reflection just behing the girl walking on the very bottom of the center poster. Barely...but it's there. I feel your pain about the theme this week...I haven't found anything at all really that has just scream "modern" at me.
comment bydjn1 at 01:05 AM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
Brad: no, I wasn't too inpired by 'modern". Well, I was, in terms of thinking about what it might mean, but as I didn't really resolve that issue it was a bit difficult to translate my wandering thoughts into a decent image.
comment by Luca (Italy) at 08:35 AM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
Grrr.... grrr....
comment byScatterbrain at 11:38 AM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
In this case, it sort of looks like the indifference that marks us nowadays, towards the quantity of publicity, reductions, consumerism that is constantly targeted at us... Loved this one...
Cheers
comment by Luca (Italy) at 01:13 PM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
After grrrr...
Well.. by the way, this is a really goood picture. Two main subjects who recall themselfes in a sort of echo: the wolking woman, and the fixed poster. The meaning..the modern meaning (in my opinion): the nowadays loud saving offers do not bewitch a modern woman. She knows they are not so true. She is disenchanted.. she passes by without taking care about them.
The lound noise is underscored by the repetion of the same posters; the carelessness of the modern woman is well stressed by her movement, that is by the low exposure time.
That's it!
Have a nice weekend.
comment bydjn1 at 05:07 PM (GMT) on 3 September, 2004
Luca: it's interesting that you see her as resisting the main meaning of this shot as I saw her as a part of it; i.e. something to do with the fast pace of modern consumer life. I like your take on this shot better though.
comment byzee at 04:44 AM (GMT) on 12 September, 2004
Dave, my thought upon seeing this image was that it clearly depicted the norm on what modern advertising and shopping has come down to. People hear that a department store is having a sale, people rush to it. Specially this 4th quarter, seeing as the holidays are starting to draw near.
I have mixed feelings about this shot: Although I don't like what this picture might represent, mainly because I don't relate to it --I don't really like shopping-- (of course, you didn't shoot it to please me, LOL), I think it's fantastic and very appropriate, and it captures one of the many facets of "Modern". I love the fixed crispness of the background in opposition of the hurried movement of the lady.
Anyway, my two cents. ;o)
comment bypixpop at 02:54 AM (GMT) on 14 September, 2004
Somehow I missed this one earlier. Lovely image. I think it works pretty well for 'modern', and that Luca's explication is spot on. Well done.
This week's Photo Friday challenge – Modern – has caused me a number of problems, not least because I'm not quite sure what the word means to me. Clearly, in some senses, it means up-to-date, but it seems to be an almost dated, anachronistic term. For example, I have a book that belonged to my father called the Boy's Book of Modern Marvels (with a frontispiece that speculates about firing a rocket at the moon). And then there are post-modern ideas that suggest that modernity, and all things modern, are behind us.
All of which is largely irrelevant, but it's what I was thinking about as I wandered around this afternoon trying to find something modern. And then I ran out of time and decided to go with the somewhat banal idea that modern, in this context, equates with contemporary existence – consumerism, pace of life, and so on.
capture date
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
focal length
flash
image quality
white balance
cropped?
5.41pm on 2/9/04
f4.0
1/100
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
50
12.7mm
no
RAW
auto
minor
An ordinary image by your standards. i was trying to figure out how I feel about the image, when it struck me that the 'sale' posters are behind a glass and there are reflections showing. That set me to look for you somewhere in there and I did manage to find this reflection of something that looks like you holding your camera near the right hand border of the image. That is you, right ?
mandar: no, that isn't me. I was square on to the window when I took this shot, so if I'm anywhere it's in the middle.
you can see the reflection just behing the girl walking on the very bottom of the center poster. Barely...but it's there. I feel your pain about the theme this week...I haven't found anything at all really that has just scream "modern" at me.
Brad: no, I wasn't too inpired by 'modern". Well, I was, in terms of thinking about what it might mean, but as I didn't really resolve that issue it was a bit difficult to translate my wandering thoughts into a decent image.
Grrr.... grrr....
In this case, it sort of looks like the indifference that marks us nowadays, towards the quantity of publicity, reductions, consumerism that is constantly targeted at us... Loved this one...
Cheers
After grrrr...
Well.. by the way, this is a really goood picture. Two main subjects who recall themselfes in a sort of echo: the wolking woman, and the fixed poster. The meaning..the modern meaning (in my opinion): the nowadays loud saving offers do not bewitch a modern woman. She knows they are not so true. She is disenchanted.. she passes by without taking care about them.
The lound noise is underscored by the repetion of the same posters; the carelessness of the modern woman is well stressed by her movement, that is by the low exposure time.
That's it!
Have a nice weekend.
Luca: it's interesting that you see her as resisting the main meaning of this shot as I saw her as a part of it; i.e. something to do with the fast pace of modern consumer life. I like your take on this shot better though.
Dave, my thought upon seeing this image was that it clearly depicted the norm on what modern advertising and shopping has come down to. People hear that a department store is having a sale, people rush to it. Specially this 4th quarter, seeing as the holidays are starting to draw near.
I have mixed feelings about this shot: Although I don't like what this picture might represent, mainly because I don't relate to it --I don't really like shopping-- (of course, you didn't shoot it to please me, LOL), I think it's fantastic and very appropriate, and it captures one of the many facets of "Modern". I love the fixed crispness of the background in opposition of the hurried movement of the lady.
Anyway, my two cents. ;o)
Somehow I missed this one earlier. Lovely image. I think it works pretty well for 'modern', and that Luca's explication is spot on. Well done.