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The paper's point of view
by Pops
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16-JUN-2007 Pops

4th Place
The paper's point of view
by Pops

"Sandra's seen a leprechaun,
Eddie touched a troll,
Laurie danced with witches once,
Charlie found some goblins' gold.
Donald heard a mermaid sing,
Susie spied an elf,
But all the magic I have known
I've had to make myself."

~Shel Silverstein


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jnconradie25-Jun-2007 17:31
I seem to have missed the post that caused the most comments and correspondence! :-) I'll just add a small "well done" at the end, since I thought it was really clever, creative and well executed. Compliments, Pops! Regards jnconradie
Canon DSLR Challenge25-Jun-2007 03:02
I am appreciative to the exchange below that is very civilized and enlightening. Thanks to the contributor and the participant in the discussion. Grates agere. Sam Attal
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Jun-2007 07:10
Just to explain why I first read "Mogie": Apart from the leading letter beginning a sentence, we only use uppercase for names (persons, institutions, geographic entities etc) here in Norway. So instinctively, I assumed a name. I mean.. there's Magoo - and here was suddenly a Mogie too :P
I read mirrored writing well - great fun. daVinci often mirrored his handwriting, as you probably know. That I can NOT read, no speak italian. But calligraphy has an aesthetic value regardless of whether it makes immediate sense or not. And it works just fine on that level here too. In other words: Lorem ipsum dolor site amet!
-k2
Canon DSLR Challenge22-Jun-2007 00:51
I'm with your perspective on this pops but I have to confess I was almost in the, nicely done, move on, category. I only saw the image with the text shown in the comment and so picked up what the writing said very quickly. I may have been robbed of my reward! A thought occurred as I read your reply to Traveller, related to 'The medium is the message' and "what it says is not very important... the paper doesn't care". Putting those two together I thought of it as an act of destroying virgin paper by writing on it. Then I thought it might look cool to convey that by having the paper vanish where it has been written on, perhaps turning most of the text black with a faint orange border glow as though it had burned away by the act of writing. But the most recent text still showing some blue as though it's still in the process of burning. It links in well with the magic theme too. Just an idle mind wander I thought I'd pass on! - Najinsky
Guest 20-Jun-2007 22:34
First, let me say I'm glad you didn't bite your tongue. It's this kind of interaction that makes the challenges even better. Don't ever bite your tongue in the future.

I'll try and explain myself and my reasoning behind the final product. How much of this was thought out before I took the picture and how much is justification after the fact, even I'm not really sure.

All too often when I view pictures in the gallery I'll look at one, think, "nice" and move on to the next image without enough consideration. That's unfortunate and often is my loss. So I wanted to create a picture that, if the viewer was inclined, would force a greater involvement. That put an extra burden on me as I had to find a quote with just the right, er, magic.

As Marshall McLuhan said, "The medium is the message." The image is the paper and the ink and the unusual viewpoint. What it says is not very important, and certainly the paper doesn't care. We as people and external viewers almost need greater coherence so we can see that there is something there even if we can't quickly discern what it is. With the little work and effort we are rewarded with a wonderful phrase. And I think "reward" is the absolutely correct term.

During the day I've wondered what it would be like if the text was in Chinese or Sanskrit or Klingon. The vast majority of us would not know if it was flipped or what it said. There would be no additional discovery and there would be no reward. It would still be an interesting picture but IMO empty.

I've wondered what it would be like if it was flipped but indecipherable hand writing. I almost made it there as evidenced by Kiki2's "Mogie" comment. But again that would leave me unsatisfied.

I've wondered what it would be like if it showed an ordinary doodle and again I don't think it has power. It would be a nice photograph but it wouldn't stand out.

How does my family feel about this picture? They like it. My youngest daughter has a double major from college, Fine Arts in Photography and Philosophy. She marries the two in all her photographic work. She likes it. I guess the apple didn't fall very far from the tree.

So, I'm very happy with the way it's presented and I don't want to change a thing. Well, okay, there's lots of things I'd like to change like the lighting on my hand and writing "Magic" a little clearer. I'm sorry I made you struggle a bit. I am glad you expressed your reaction. I am glad that you, despite your irritation, made the effort and got the reward. That is my reward!
Have a great day!
Canon DSLR Challenge20-Jun-2007 20:23
Now you're thinking under the box! Love the creativity. :) ~ Lonnit
Canon DSLR Challenge20-Jun-2007 14:43
You did such a good job of merging the images, I didn't realize this was a composite! Thanks for making me look up the author as I now realize what a talented man Shel Silverstein was! I knew he wrote children's books but his other pursuits are just as impressive. CJ
Canon DSLR Challenge20-Jun-2007 05:10
Pops, for all the praise you have received for this image I have to disagree.

I've wanted to say this for days now but I've been biting my tongue...and yet, here goes, and even choosing my words carefully...this image irritates me.

You're so smart, there's such a unique zing to your images, (I really conceptually am behind the Bug's View image, great picture), but I have to wonder if you are too smart for your own good?

I just can't stand this image. It is smart, well executed and for photo people, people in the challenges, maybe people at Flkr, it is fine because they Get It.

For normal viewers, I am not sure that this is the case. How does your wife feel about this picture or one of your children? When you flip the image, and I flipped it myself right when you posted it, I think it works just perfectly. I like everything about it...and I can read it.

This is such a great saying married to a great photo with a fabulous title...but you make me struggle...which is not necessary bad with Art...but in this instance I find it to be just frustrating.

I know that the counter argument is that flipped it is maybe just a common type picture with an interesting point of view from below and conveys a fine and beautiful message.

Common.

And just exactly what is wrong with that?

Uplifting.

Smart.

That seems enough to me.

Pops, I wouldn't be being honest if I didn't write this, but, as always, it is your decision and I'll respect it however you go.

Real Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon DSLR Challenge20-Jun-2007 01:47
Excellent Pops! Great concept and well produced. ~ Regards Melbob
Guest 17-Jun-2007 16:38
This is great, Pops. Excellent PS work and the quote is perfection. Really a magical piece, glad you made it :-) -Michael
Guest 17-Jun-2007 13:15
Thanks all,

JimH - It's a composite of two photos. The writing and paper are flipped and my hand was shot from underneath through a glass top table. There is some pretty simple PS manipulation involved.

Debbi - Yes, that was me way back in Challenge 48 (2 1/2 years ago) in CTF land. Well actually it was Lewis Carol who said it, but .... I know what you mean. That image remains one of my most popular on my flickr account (flickr.com/photos/atl_pops). I thought I'd redo it for this challenge. The hardest part was picking a quotation!

Most people are familiar with Shel Silverstien's most popular work but don't know he did it. He wrote the lyrics for the song "A boy named Sue."
Canon DSLR Challenge17-Jun-2007 09:36
What a great idea and so well done. You'll have to explain how you did this some time. I cheated and Googled it up too - for shame :) And, as is often the case when one opens a dictionary or encyclopedia or visits a library or roots around on the 'net, I ended up sidetracked and reading and learning all kinds of things I never knew I wanted to know - if you know what I mean :) Jim H.
Guest 16-Jun-2007 22:34
Wasn't it you that said "The Time Has Come" the Walrus said "To talk of many things

Debbi
jbhgmvo16-Jun-2007 22:13
Very neat idea. Managed to spell my way through it on screen too, "Mogie" was the tricky part.
-k2
Canon DSLR Challenge16-Jun-2007 17:46
Too easy I'm afraid, thanks to the power of Google.
Though I admit I don't know the author or the original work (should I hang my head in shame?)
I was expecting Houdini, or someone similar, but couldn't have been more wrong...
Phil
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