The graphic you see at the start of this post has appeared at the bottom of the middle sidebar on the right for over a year now. The graphic states, I make comments participation is king. Tyson Crosbie created that graphic for those of us that participated in his soft edit comment process to proudly display on our blogs as a show of support for his approach to social media and photography.
Its been a long time coming, but alas, right now I need your comments. Tyson has published my soft edit on Flickr and for the process to work most effectively I need you to go to Flickr, view the 15 images- and via comment -vote for which image you believe best represents the words spontaneous, inspired, and direct.
And now that Ive asked for a favor, a few words about the images and the experience of being photographed by Tyson. Because I was a lucky winner of one of Tysons fine art photographs in his contest Living With Art, Tyson needed to come to my home. As a result, the photos were taken there on the day I received #9. Tysons wife Jamie was also present. She told me this was the first time shed seen Tyson take someones portrait.
In the past, Ive had my portrait taken a few times. The process in the had always been the same. The photographer asks me to sit in a spot, look in a certain direction, tilt my head a certain way, and then a few clicks later, my portrait was complete.
That Saturday was very different. Tyson gave me very little direction. As you look at the images in the soft edit, you can probably identify the shots in which I was given the most direction. These are the images, in which makes it becomes painfully obvious, I could never be a professional model. Instead, for the most part, I was simply chatting with Tyson and Jamie about stuff. Just talking about this and that. Learning more about each of them, and them a bit about me. Small talk, really
the kind you might do at a dinner party. It was certainly nothing like what I expected a photo shoot to be like.
But the results
they speak for themselves. Still, the process is far from complete. To be the most effective, this process needs you to participate as well. So head over to Flickr, and please, please comment. Let me know what image or images you think capture those three words.
Thank you.