Does My Daughter Have Talent?

Scott Pollak

What do you think?

I was a semi-professional photographer many years ago and am - quite honestly - just STUNNED by the eye that my 17 year-old daughter seems to have for photography. I'm really trying to encourage her to pursue it from a more artistic point than, say, a journalistic or magazine or newspaper or portrait photographer point of view.

But of course, I have myopic vision and maybe my opinion is distorted. Take a look and give me YOUR honest opinions:

http://www.spasticlizard.com/dandelion%5Fgum/pages/111111111111.htm

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008, 21:46 (GMT) Post subject: very impressive

Well tell your daughter (if it matters) that someone who has had the fortune of selling both his photographs and his paintings in his lifetime, found most of her work to be exceptional.

She has a very good esthetic to begin with, combined with what I can only assume is a natural curiosity. Her focal length and decision at depth of field are very, very mature. Her composition skills are exceptional. USe of available lighting seems to be handled very well.

Subject matter is handled in very interesting ways.

Her overall approach to macro is very, very good.

I also believe I am seing a bit of photoshop skills displayed.

I'm wondering if your daughter brackets her shots. If the term is unfamiliar, bracketing means to take several different exposures of the same subject to insure you get at least one frame that is the exposure you desire. For example, suppose you metered a subject and got a reading off the face of 1/125 second at f/8. A photographer who brackets would shoot that exposure and then perhaps add one-half stop more light by shooting at 1/125 second at f/6.3 and subtract one-half stop of light by shooting at 1/125 second at the midpoint between f/8 and f/11. Some photographers bracket exposures in full stop intervals.

I'm just curious if she does this or not. For that matter, I'm not sure if she meters her subjects or not.

If not, this would just help her grow even more. There were a few shots that I thought might have been a little more effective stopped down by a half interval or so.

Hope this is helpful and tell her to keep clicking away.

Lance Blair · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008, 21:55 (GMT) Post subject:

really good. she's got her own eye, cool stuff.

Melba Sibrel · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008, 21:59 (GMT) Post subject:

I feel like I'm there when I look at her stuff. My favorite shot was the tiny quiche tray POV. Now, I am pastry.

Nice.

John Bigl · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008, 23:03 (GMT) Post subject:

interesting ... her avant garde shots are quite intriguing ..

when it comes to creative expression, the apple did not fall far from the tree....

daumen rauf

Rod Maupin · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008, 06:56 (GMT) Post subject:

I think her work is terrific, especially for her age. She has a good eye for composition and is very creative.

If I were you, I would get her a copy of Photoshop and get her started on using it. If she sticks with it, by the time she gets out of school, she'll be way advanced with her skills.

Encourage her as much as you can.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008, 13:45 (GMT) Post subject:

Thank you all so much for your comments and time!
Rod, we have several copies of Photoshop here (my wife and I are also graphic artists and former web designers) and both of my kids are getting pretty fluent in it.

I posted this same thread on another site and got a lot of similar responses. Overwhelmingly people seem to think she has a gift, but like J.S. said (thanks so much for your comments, my friend), she has a lot to learn from a technical perspective. I let her read all of the comments here and on the other site last night and she seemed pretty stoked. She had NO idea what bracketing or metering was, so that right there is more proof that she needs classes and training from the 'mechanical side' of the art. BTW, J.S. I used to be a semi-pro shooter and knew exactly what you were talking about. I used to bracket like crazy and could easily burn up an entire roll of Ektachrome on one or two shots because of all the bracketing.

Thanks again everyone. This is GREAT encouragement to her AND me!

J.S. Gilbert · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008, 18:25 (GMT) Post subject: darn nice photographs

I'm glad I could offer a little "direction". I remember when (I can't remember the name of it) this film that was a black and white film but could be processed like color film, came out. I went crazy with my Canon AE1 and when I say crazy, I mean crazy. I went in to pick up my pix and the bill was over $600.

I knew a professional photographer and I would ocassionally do some print work with him for a couple of clients. I picked his brain like crazy, but in the end when I asked him
what's the best way to get a great shot?"

He said that an amateur photgrapher might take 2 shots of a subject and show them both, whereas he would take 24 - 48 shots of a subject and perhaps show 1.

Like anything, the more you do it, the better you get. I'm afraid you're goingto have to buy your daughter a light meter now though. And watch out when she outgrows shooting with incidental ligth and starts wanting panels, reflectors, umbrellas, ...

I think it will be a good investment.

Now I shoot with a Canon digital, which is great becuase I can use all of my old lenses and filters. I also have a tiny little Sony 8 megapixel camera that takes unbelievable shots, especially macro.

I went to Tahoe for vacation and I had my laptop with me and I downloaded the shots ever evening when we got back to the cabin.
Over 3,000 shots. About 20 of them are good.

Hey Scott, what did she shoot those pix with? And is she recording the settings she used (or that the camera came up with)? If not, she really should.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008, 18:56 (GMT) Post subject:

J.S....

I used to shoot with Nikon F2s waaaaaaaaaaay back when and even had my own darkroom in my house where I processed my own color enlargements using a dichroic colorhead enlarger.

A few years ago, after selling all of my great Pentax ME Super gear on ebay (about $1000 worth of lenses, data backs, flashes, etc), I upgraded to a Canon Digital Rebel EOS. But I found it was so bulky that I never really toted it with me. About a year or so ago I sold THAT on ebay and bought a little pocket-sized Canon Powershot 850is that I love. For my daughter, we bought her a downsized version for Christmas, a 720is I think.

She's NOT recording the settings, she's just pointing and clicking and even worse, she hasn't been shooting them at terribly high resolutions, so you can't really enlarge them much. As you've already said - and I totally agree - she needs to learn the mechanics now. And this is where I'm excited. ANYONE can learn how to properly operate a camera (or a musical instrument), but some people have that gift of creative expression that others just don't have. While I knew the mechanics of photography inside and out, I could never in a million years 'see' what my daughter sees.

Marilyn Taylor · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008, 22:32 (GMT) Post subject:

Scott, I am not an artist or photographer but I know what I like....
I love looking at the use of light in works of art..one of my favorite artists...Nita Engle really captures light...that was the first things I noticed in your daughter's photography...it is stunning. I hope she pursues this medium as she sure captured my eye...

Another of my favorite artists (can't remember his name at the moment) once said...

"anything done with passion will find its place"...

Louis Tristan · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008, 23:20 (GMT) Post subject: Nice!

Funky shots. Some of those images may be worthy to upload in istock photo.

http://www.istockphoto.com/index.php

Try it...Choose the best ones n fill out the form. Normally if it's not they will tell you why but I can't see them turing down a few. all in all I think they'll give her a go.

Have you tried getting some in?

Deby Cedars · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 02:27 (GMT) Post subject:

The first photo I love!!!! The second photo is awful because you can't see the eyes.

Scott Pollak · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 02:48 (GMT) Post subject:

Louis, my wife and I have had hundreds of photos on both istock and bigstock for years and have benefited from a ton of people downloading them, so I'm very familiar with that service.

Deby... what about the other 100 or so pics that followed the first two?
Laughing

Deby Cedars · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008, 02:54 (GMT) Post subject:

Picture #* where she is holding the cat....has too much light from the flash.....I like her use of color on most of these though.

Debbie Deutsch · Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008, 16:48 (GMT) Post subject:

I love it when shots are "out of frame" It makes the viewer imagine what is beyond that. For example, when we can't see her eyes in that one shot, we, the viewer are forced to imagine what her eyes look like. That's great art!
My son worked for awhile with a stock photographer, that was known for taking pictures that are "out of frame" Students in high school walking in the hallways, just their legs or shoes in the shot.
Of their heads stuck inside a locker, as if looking for something. The jeans, tee-shirts, tennis shoes, and view of the back of the head as my son would peer into his locker are really a profound statement of the teenage years, (no need to see the actual face of the teen)
Tell your daughter to GO GIRL!! I love her shots!
More black and white please....love the shadows and textures!