Jack's Smirking Revenge

Well first off, positively, thank you to everyone who viewed this. Got some opinions running around, it nothing else.

CamDiver wrote in post #10041473
Get real on the 'my concept' issue. This technique has been done a million times before you and will be done many more times. Its food coloring into a water tank, pure and simple.

Right I'm off to take a photo of a bird and if anyone ever tries to copy me they're for it.....!!

2c

If you shoot the bird differently than just about anyone else, you don't feel like that would be an original image? I'd like to see someone else's work that looks like this photo. Of COURSE it's been done a lot, it's a very accessible product food coloring, but how many people have dripped it into a tank of water to achieve the results I have? Not that many I'm willing to bet.

bulldogg7 wrote in post #10048979
awesome shot, but get over yourself, you're not the first to try it

Did I ever say or insinuate that I was? No. I stated that I never intentionally borrow or adopt someone else's ideas. Maybe you should read before you comment. It's also very irritating that people like you don't pay attention to when I write: "Then I'm happy! As I said, springboarding off someone else's work is awesome, I do that a lot..."

I also put stock in the fact that rather than having seen someone else's work and going "Yea, I'm gonna do that" I happened to walk past food coloring at the grocery store and started thinking of what I could do with it. I imagined that dripping it into water might make smokey trippy effects, which it does. I then try to incorporate somewhat recognizable shapes, feelings, and meanings into each image.

gregpphoto wrote in post #10037766
My only hope is that you come away with something different. If you use my ideas and images as a springboard for your own concepts, I'm flattered and thankful. Just don't try to replicate what I've done, is all.

I hardly think you're the first person to drop some food colouring into water.

CamDiver wrote in post #10041473
Get real on the 'my concept' issue. This technique has been done a million times before you and will be done many more times. Its food coloring into a water tank, pure and simple.

Right I'm off to take a photo of a bird and if anyone ever tries to copy me they're for it.....!!

2c

Whoa, whoa, slow down dude. I hope the bird isn't in the sky, because that's my concept.

fly my pretties wrote in post #10051579
I hardly think you're the first person to drop some food colouring into water.

Ok, for the third time now, I never said, implied, or thought that I was. But I did it my way, using a lighting style of my choice, composition of my choice, a focal length of my choice, and post processing of my choice, etc. See how it goes from "some food coloring" into a detailed creative process made up of individual choices based on the talents and (hopefully) unique and artistic concepts of the artist?

You think most anything that most anyone shoots is completely original? No. But the way they go about shooting it is, if they take the time to learn for themselves what style and creativity and originality are.

CamDiver wrote in post #10041473
Get real on the 'my concept' issue. This technique has been done a million times before you and will be done many more times. Its food coloring into a water tank, pure and simple.

Right I'm off to take a photo of a bird and if anyone ever tries to copy me they're for it.....!!

2c

No one wants to copy me because I shoot street garbage and greasy pans and kitchen utensils soaking in suds. Well there are a few landscapes in there and a portrait or two. But yeah I'm planning on being at Marin Headlands this weekend and if I see you pointing a camera at San Francisco I'm going to ask you to put it away!

I forgot to mention also that I have several methods of agitating the mixture and of stirring it to produce different effects. Like Pollack, I am controlling the paint. What I'm getting at is that while the subject is often nothing new, the style attributed to it by the artist (me) could and should be unique and fresh. And this is true of all art forms.

Think about it. Ansel Adams shot landscapes. Yea, no one had done that by the 1930's. But he did it in his own way, creating his own style. Am I comparing myself to him? Sure. Until I come across anything like what I have been doing with dyes, pigments, and glues, I will stand by my work as being unique and individual. Furthermore, I am now hesitant to post anything more from this series until I showcase it to galleries, lest the style become mundane through overuse.

if you have such a particular way in which you mix dye why are you worried someone is going to copy it? i think you need to relax

ryanhnc10 wrote in post #10057586
if you have such a particular way in which you mix dye why are you worried someone is going to copy it? i think you need to relax

I don't think you get the point I'm driving at. How would you like it if you shared a piece that you put a lot of time into coming up with a concept, a theme, and the methods of achieving those goals, and someone said "Yea, I think I'll do that too"? That in no way kills your vibe?

gregpphoto wrote in post #10060057
How would you like it if you shared a piece that you put a lot of time into coming up with a concept, a theme, and the methods of achieving those goals, and someone said "Yea, I think I'll do that too"? That in no way kills your vibe?

Uhm, not really. Calm down, OP. If someone wanted to steal your work they would likely right click your photo and click "Save as".

Good photo. Looks more like a painting to me. Would be better with some vivid colors IMO.

PhotoCupcake wrote in post #10060786
Uhm, not really. Calm down, OP. If someone wanted to steal your work they would likely right click your photo and click "Save as".

Good photo. Looks more like a painting to me. Would be better with some vivid colors IMO.

Why do you all keep telling me to "calm down."? What about anything I've written has sounded excited to you? Please, allow me to speak without assuming what my emotional context may be in that situation.

If someone right clicked my work they'd have an 800x800 pixel image since I never upload full res.

"uhm not really" tells me you don't care all that much about what you do. Are you a professional photographer, or is this a hobby for you? I'm hoping the latter, because a professional DOES care about these things. It's about protecting your ideas from people who have none of their own so they opt to steal from others. So don't tell me to "calm down" anymore because I work best when angered

gregpphoto wrote in post #10061563
"uhm not really" tells me you don't care all that much about what you do. Are you a professional photographer, or is this a hobby for you? I'm hoping the latter, because a professional DOES care about these things. It's about protecting your ideas from people who have none of their own so they opt to steal from others. So don't tell me to "calm down" anymore because I work best when angered

I'm not a professional photographer. I don't know if you are but that may indeed be why we see differently here.

It probably wasn't your intention but when the first comment is "Wow. Very cool. Im going to try this later!" and your first response is "Just don't try to replicate what I've done, is all." you come off as overprotective of your work. It just wasn't necessary for you to make that comment. Clearly, the commenter isn't going to try to make an exact replica of your photo but rather experiment on his own with the food coloring concept.

I don't see your distinction between "stealing my idea" and "springboarding off my work". Obviously, food coloring in water has been done lots before, both in color and in black and white. So what is your idea here? Adding that black frame to it?

All the "don't emulate my work bs aside".. how do you do that?! lol.

PhotoCupcake wrote in post #10062072
I'm not a professional photographer. I don't know if you are but that may indeed be why we see differently here.

It probably wasn't your intention but when the first comment is "Wow. Very cool. Im going to try this later!" and your first response is "Just don't try to replicate what I've done, is all." you come off as overprotective of your work. It just wasn't necessary for you to make that comment. Clearly, the commenter isn't going to try to make an exact replica of your photo but rather experiment on his own with the food coloring concept.

I don't see your distinction between "stealing my idea" and "springboarding off my work". Obviously, food coloring in water has been done lots before, both in color and in black and white. So what is your idea here? Adding that black frame to it?

Nothing in the link you provided is as tight and well put together as what I've done. The works presented in the flickr link are snapshots, with no real emphasis on lighting, composition, form, etc. Those are my additions, bringing back craftsmanship to photography in response to the wave of low-fi mania.

gregpphoto wrote in post #10062743
Nothing in the link you provided is as tight and well put together as what I've done. The works presented in the flickr link are snapshots, with no real emphasis on lighting, composition, form, etc. Those are my additions, bringing back craftsmanship to photography in response to the wave of low-fi mania.

Okay, genius. We agree to disagree on that point

Love the effect, hate the border