"The original darker photo has lots of merit. To simply dismiss it as a "bad Picture" strikes me as a real ego trip on the part of whoever would say that."(posted 8815 days ago)First, I think I rather clearly explained why it's a bad picture - much more clearly than anyone explained why it's a good one. (If I had found anything to praise, I would have.) I made the effort of finding Altman's photo to show that a lot could have been done that wasn't.
"I mean, who are we critiquing? Are we to hold Edward to the same standards as Avedon or Bresson. C'mon this is just a guy who shares a common interest with the rest of us."
(And that's not patronizing?) I would hope that Edward does aspire to be the next Avedon or Bresson and not to mere mediocrity, and, as such, values real criticism as well as real advice in developing his own critical eye. (If not, then he should confine his posts to his mother's refrigerator!) Taking mediocre pictures without 1) cognizance of that fact, and 2) a conscious method of analyzing the results, merely trains to you take more mediocre pictures.
And I think it's ironic that we're making apologies for Edward based on the equipment he's using. (I'd love to have the opporutunity to work with his camera.) And what better than Polaroids to provide instant feedback - albeit at a price? However, perhaps he should go back to 35mm for its ease of handling and lower cost - starting with still lifes or landscapes in order to work on basic composition (or buying a mannequin like I did). Finally, he should try to replicate (exactly) the style of the great photographers so that he can understand the techniques involved. But most of all, he should look at pictures - not only Avedon and Bresson, but a wide variety of others, like Helmut Newton, Ralph Gibson (see his latest book by Taschen), and Rodney Smith (see some of his work at http://www.pdn-pix.com/legends8/).
Actually, though, all this "discussion" has gotten me interested in working on my b/w technique some more. That, at least, is a good thing from my standpoint.