PixelatedImage Blog

Sharon was looking yesterday at images from a little town in Mexico. She sifted through hundreds of photographs trying to get a sense of the place, once in a while turning her laptop so I could see an image of coloured buildings or urban landscapes. And then she said something that hit it on the head. “Apparently nobody lives there.” In all of those images I saw over her shoulder I saw only two shots of people, in a parade. The rest were totally devoid of people, and as Sharon pointed out, made the place look lifeless.

A place, unless it actually is a ghost town, is what it is because of its people. The people in turn are who they are because of the place. The two are inseperable and I suspect the only reason we don’t see more great images that represent the relationships between people and place is fear. If that’s the case, it’s a hurdle an aspiring world photographer needs to overcome quickly. There is, of course, room, in every photo essay for beautiful landscapes, images with a sense of isolation or loneliness. Lord knows if I shot in the Canadian Arctic there’d be many of those. But not to the exclusion of photographs of people, any more than a diver would shoot image after image of coral reefs without the fish.

This isn’t a rant, just a pep talk – a reminder to us all that the people truly matter in context of place and culture. And if it’s just fear that’s keeping you, join the club – it’s a challenge for all of us. Courage is an act of the will in the presence of fear, not the absence of it. So if ya gotta fake it till you make it, you’ll be in illustrious company.

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On a related topic, the PixelatedImage Vision Collective is growing quickly into a really welcoming and active community of photographers, particularily those focussed on NGOs and world-photography. We’re over 100 members strong now and have a broad range of photographers from beginners to seasoned vets – all of whom seem to share a passion for their craft and for connecting with others. I’ve been very impressed with the openness of the members and their willingness to help. We’ve started the Image Workshop, as well, giving members a chance to develop their critical image review skills with one member-submitted image a week. All in all, it’s an exciting time to hanging around these parts. If you’ve not yet visited the Vision Collective, please stop by. You can find us HERE.

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Lastly, bad news for Canadians on the wait list for the Canon 5D Mk2 – looks like the price just went up by about $300 for all buyers. Yet another fallout from the loss of the near dollar-parity we were sharing with the US. Sigh. Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme, n’est ce pas?

I’ve never been accused of dragging my feet. After the initial comments on the last post, and a few emails suggesting I just give it a try (it’s always people like that that aren’t the ones that have to do the work! – I decided to do just that. So, while it’s only a beta and I’m sure I’ve neglected several things, the forums are up. So now I have a favour to ask of you, and it comes in a couple parts.

1. Visit the Vision Collective HERE.

2. Register as a user.

3. Start participating, and by that I mean please post some topics and join some of the discussions. These things run themselves once there is critical mass, but gaining initial momentum is harder – I’d be grateful if some of you regulars (and all you lurkers, for that matter) would jump on the bandwagon here. These are your forums and the more we all participate the sooner this becomes a truly valuable place and when you visit the theme song from Cheers will start playing in your mind and someone will yell NORM! (which will be sweet if your name is actually Norm, creepy if it’s not.) It could be that kind of place, all we need is you.

It’s a work in process, but it’s up and running.