This is also because a lot of the photographers aren't very good though! Like very little of what's been posted in this thread really seems like it's done by photographers who (a) know their shit and (b) care about getting good photos out of their subjects (c) have the slightest idea how to do that.
True! Takes great skill & sensibility to be a good portrait photographer.
Yet I think something about the genre itself (at least current incarnation of it) is intrinsically... pitfally. But this may be my (photographic & psychological) biases talking.
― drash, Monday, 16 March 2015 20:34 (nine years ago) link
Soon-to-be married couples are generally pretty awkward anyway. It crosses the line when somehow the photographer emphasizes that awkwardness.
I mean, of all the goofy shit that's been posted here, I think this thread still could be summed up by this one gr8080 posted four years ago.
http://i.imgur.com/Ow1M7cC.jpg
I mean, why why why did the photographer make those people do that?
― pplains, Monday, 16 March 2015 20:38 (nine years ago) link
xpost Sure - for one thing, the whole impulse ("our engagement is different from all the other engagements") is fallacious, and so there are any number of ways that the photos can founder. But this is true of lots of "special" events that are only special because they're happening to you or your friends/family. Maybe what's changed is just the quantity/visibility of strangers' images; realizing just how many billions of beardos are doing the same woodland authenticity photos as you are surely has to make it harder to pull off the affect without the photos collapsing into self-awareness and/or irony.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 16 March 2015 20:39 (nine years ago) link
I mean lawd…
http://i.imgur.com/2Kkdgvc.jpg
― pplains, Monday, 16 March 2015 20:44 (nine years ago) link
photography is so weird, you can get the lights and exposure and shutter time right, but if you're taking pictures of people, you have to have an entirely different skillset
my friend (an architect) helped this dude who is a professional architecture photographer one time and it's amazing what you can do with technique. however, the same photographer also does portraits of people who work for the studios, and I kid you not, the people end up looking like buildings
― mh, Monday, 16 March 2015 20:55 (nine years ago) link
i could 100% believe that - - - over the past half-decade i've shifted to mainly shooting architecture, from primarily doing friendly people-pictures and candids and i've lost a whole set of skills related to the latter, even as i've improved as "a photographer" generically.
― Doctor Casino, Monday, 16 March 2015 20:58 (nine years ago) link
did I admit on another thread that I had yr building pics as the screensaver on my appletv for a while? good stuff
― mh, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:11 (nine years ago) link
Yeah that’s… unfortunate.
Problem with the genre is, what is it a photograph “of”? At least wedding pictures document and commemorate an event. Engagement photos aim to represent, what… a couple’s “love” for each other? A symbolic representation of their commitment?
It’s so hard to do that without falling into awkwardness, staginess, cliche.
In a way it’s safer to half-ironically play on pop culture motifs than— have them look into each other’s eyes.
― drash, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:15 (nine years ago) link
a picture of the young couple filing a joint tax return
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 16 March 2015 21:19 (nine years ago) link
or rolling a joint
― mattresslessness, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:20 (nine years ago) link
now that's more like it
― drash, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:21 (nine years ago) link
taking their first tax return and spending it all on one really big joint, which they light using a mini cooper that's caught fire
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 16 March 2015 21:25 (nine years ago) link
I'm all about the story a picture tells
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Monday, 16 March 2015 21:26 (nine years ago) link
this one couple's epic engagement night
― mattresslessness, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:27 (nine years ago) link
or one year anniversary i guess
― mattresslessness, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:28 (nine years ago) link
reposting this from upthread 5years ago
http://i.imgur.com/nRZMYVw.png
― gr8080, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:34 (nine years ago) link
I hope that is their actual wedding
― mh, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:35 (nine years ago) link
god
― mattresslessness, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:38 (nine years ago) link
pipe dreams really do come true
i went to high school with that dude & yes it was his actual wedding
― gr8080, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:41 (nine years ago) link
that makes me really happy
― mh, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:44 (nine years ago) link
u got more pictures from that wedding?
― Steph def def (Spottie), Monday, 16 March 2015 21:45 (nine years ago) link
i don't think so, lost to the sands of myspace
― gr8080, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:50 (nine years ago) link
so are the days of our lives
― mh, Monday, 16 March 2015 21:52 (nine years ago) link
a friend of mine had a photography sideline for a while...everything was suuuper processed and filters up the wazoo but what was striking was how even when they were people i knew, mutual friends we both hung out with & knew well even, everyone looked so stiff & awkward! i swear every shot looked like those bad stock photos they put in cheap walletsit was kind of a bummer
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 16 March 2015 22:46 (nine years ago) link
when the people get a little older all the couples photos look like big pharma ads
― groundless round (La Lechera), Monday, 16 March 2015 22:51 (nine years ago) link
the mini cooper 1, not that it makes any sense, is kinda cool. idk id pay 2 be in a greg crewsdon photo prob
― johnny crunch, Monday, 16 March 2015 23:00 (nine years ago) link
mh, i do recall you saying something like that and feeling very flattered/bashful - thanks again though, for real! I gotta get back into a regular posting groove.
― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 17 March 2015 01:15 (nine years ago) link
Your Flickr is all-time, Dr Casino. I believe that means "very good".
― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 17 March 2015 11:26 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/DlpVSlQ.jpg
― 龜, Tuesday, 17 March 2015 11:38 (nine years ago) link
^^ dude is stoned and proposed via video game, a+
― mh, Tuesday, 17 March 2015 13:14 (nine years ago) link
proposals
nadam had em
― Mordy, Tuesday, 17 March 2015 13:19 (nine years ago) link
http://www.snaphappyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lindsey-logan2%28pp_w950_h707%29.jpghttp://www.snaphappyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lindesy-logan1%28pp_w950_h707%29.jpghttp://www.snaphappyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lindsey-logan3.jpg
― drash, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 20:58 (nine years ago) link
realized what many engagement photos remind me of— not portraits, but tv show promo pictures
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luh4eny0Dm1qc30y1.jpghttp://buffycomics.hellmouthcentral.com/covers/spike_dru01.jpg
― drash, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 20:59 (nine years ago) link
http://www.snaphappyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lindsey-logan3.jpg vs http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_luh4eny0Dm1qc30y1.jpg
FITE
― Orson Wellies (in orbit), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:05 (nine years ago) link
vampire & buffy on the left much more fearsome imo
― drash, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:10 (nine years ago) link
and fierce
― drash, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:13 (nine years ago) link
I honestly can't tell if her eyes are saying "I'm only doing this to free my family from his dungeon" or "I'm going to finish absorbing his life force as soon as the photographer leaves."
― Orson Wellies (in orbit), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:17 (nine years ago) link
dunno but his eyes are saying 'my dad owns a dealership'
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:38 (nine years ago) link
lol, I see both things (xpost: all three things). also, the two are seconds away from pouncing, ripping open, and draining the photographer of his blood.
― drash, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:38 (nine years ago) link
http://www.snaphappyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/lindsey-logan3.jpg https://hewholaughs.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/bear_shining_costume.jpg
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:40 (nine years ago) link
another pro photoshop jobhttps://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1484956/shining%20new%20couple.png
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 21:52 (nine years ago) link
lol at drash's observation and everything since
― Doctor Casino, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 22:00 (nine years ago) link
"Don't shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes!"
…
"Okay, looks like they're about 10 miles away! Can I shoot now!"
― pplains, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 22:05 (nine years ago) link
I think if you've ever asked to pose with your palm slapped up against a wall, you may need to reconsider the aesthetic vision of your photographer.
― pplains, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 22:06 (nine years ago) link
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u299/alexrrobleto/VietnamMemorialwall.jpg
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 22:33 (nine years ago) link
I lack the photoshop (read: powerpoint) skills to take this where it needs to go
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 22:34 (nine years ago) link
can someone photoshop their eyes on to each others faces?
― gr8080, Wednesday, 18 March 2015 23:05 (nine years ago) link
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1484956/eyes%20on%20faces.png
― Team Foxcatcherwatcher (Sufjan Grafton), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 23:25 (nine years ago) link
Somehow I dont think thats what gr80 meant but LOL oh jesus.
― I checked Snoops , and it is for real (Trayce), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 23:29 (nine years ago) link