Photo Cafe Lounge
~ Chat Transcript ~
29th of October, 2022
"Themes!"
H.11:00 AM SLT[The following Episode #29 will be on:
Sat, the 12th November H.11.00 AM SLT!]
[11:08] Duraya: Hello everyone, welcome to a new photo cafe, glad you could join us.
[11:12] Duraya: We already touched today’s topic “Themes“ in one or the other way before of course and it is an important one for all creative individuals.
[11:13] Duraya: Today we will dig deeper into individual aspects of the matter: personal likes and dislikes!
[11:13] Duraya: Before we do, Kika has some info on the workshops for us.
[11:13] Kika Yongho: Hello Photographer friends!
For those who were not present to the last episode’s intro, or as a reminder for those who were there but forgot to check the online XLS document … We are going to reprise our workshops!
[11:14] Kika Yongho: So: if you are willing to share your knowledge about some specific theme photography related or you are simply interested to hear what our fellow brave photographers are going to share with us, fill in the workshop offers / add your name to the interested participants on the shared XLS:
https://tinyurl.com/workshops-22-23
[11:15] Kika Yongho: If you are undecided about what you could share with us, don’t hesitate to drop me an IM: I will try to help and find a good topic given your personal skills! It could be some editing technique, rather than a specific photography subject, psychological journey or building tricks.
[11:16] Kika Yongho: Each of us has got a personal skill that could be great to share with all of us! So don’t be shy and we will surely find a great topic if you wish to contribute to the workshops mission! And please, if you are interested in any of the currently listed workshops, show your support to the speaker’s topic, adding your name to the list so we can better prepare it!
[11:17] Kika Yongho: Take a bookmark of the workshops list so you can work offline. Thank you all for listening: roger and out!
[11:17] Duraya: Thank you Kika!
[11:22] Duraya: “Themes!”
[11:22] Duraya: Searching the internet you find a lot of helpful hints that you can turn your attention to, this for example is a huge collection:
[11:22] Duraya: there are some fun suggestions and I wanted to share them with you
[11:23] Duraya: There is no lack of interesting themes, but what exactly makes us pick one up?
[11:23] Duraya: What do we feel comfortable with and why?
[11:23] Duraya: Is it themes itself or the way we depict them, meaning technique, post processing etc.?
[11:24] Duraya: Let’s cover these questions first before we move on – I’ve got more for you of course 😉
[11:24] Kika Yongho: c
[11:25] Duraya: yes Kika, please start
[11:26] Kika Yongho: A “theme” is useful when having a series of photos say for an expo or such. That’s a trait d’union that for me is necessary to build up a series. I can also use in individual photo and the editing follows the “mood” of the photo too. Say “glam” will be darker and “happy” will be lighter
[11:27] Kika Yongho: I can say I am less comfortable with themes that don’t resonate with my mood/likes but is also a good challenge to try and face those.
[11:28] Duraya: so your mood makes you pick the theme?
[11:31] Kika Yongho: The answer is yes and no. Mostly yes its the mood – but can be an idea/message I want to convey also
[11:31] Kika Yongho: That can be related to the mood but not necessarily so
[11:31] Kika Yongho: done
[11:31] Duraya nods
[11:32] Duraya: so what about the others – how do you choose, what are you comfortable with?
[11:33] Opal Summerisle (kenzilicious): c
[11:33] Duraya: yes Opal, please share your thoughts
[11:33] Opal Summerisle (kenzilicious): i usually find themes, sparked from another picture or thinking ‘what if this happens, or that happens, i could make that happen, i wonder if i can do this’ and it just kind of happens from there, sometimes i dont even know how the pic turns out until I’m doing it too cos i might get ideas along the way, for me its just a feeling, sometimes.
[11:33] Opal Summerisle (kenzilicious): like right now i clicked your profile Duraya and i got an idea about another pic
[11:34] Opal Summerisle (kenzilicious): done
[11:34] Duraya: ah – my new career as a muse! Sounds like you are walking through the world with open and curious eyes and seek inspiration everywhere.
[11:35] Moki Yuitza: c
[11:35] Duraya: Moki is next on my list
[11:36] Moki Yuitza: Time ago we touched this topic, and I said that I feel uncomfortable working on a specific theme. Nothing changed for me since then, I still feel uncomfortable, but I thought a lot about the reason for this feeling.
[11:36] Moki Yuitza: Maybe the reason is that I have some specific interests in photography, and it is hard for me to demarcate them around a specific theme. My favorite topics are quite universal, for example “human body”, or “architecture”, or “lights”, or even “colors”, but maybe this is the reason that makes it so hard to tweak them around a theme… too many possibilities. Combinations are endless…
[11:37] Moki Yuitza: When I have to work on a series I search for boundaries, so I choose one between my main interests and the infinite ideas that sparkle in my mind, and I work around it. I choose just one. Not more. So, combine it with a theme, starts too many deviations in my mind, and maybe I am just incapable to control them °͜°
[11:37] Moki Yuitza: done
[11:37] Kika Yongho: q
[11:38] Duraya: yes Kika please ask
[11:38] Kika Yongho: I don’t want to spoil themes but looking at the past.. what is an example of your themes? Question aimed at Moki specifically but also to all
[11:38] Kika Yongho: done
[11:39] Moki Yuitza: for me, inspiration is everywhere, i am a sort of sponge that store images
[11:40] Moki Yuitza: when i have to work for something, i choose one of those inspirations
[11:40] Moki Yuitza: usually it’s a feeling, an atmosphere that i want to express and usually, it has human body as center.
[11:41] Moki Yuitza: and it is heavily suggested by the space i have to work in
[11:42] Moki Yuitza: even if i have to prepare a photo exhibit, not only space installations
[11:42] Moki Yuitza: have i answered your question, Kika?
[11:43] Kika Yongho: Yes ty Moki 🙂 I thought more a mere list but you went all the way into it 😀
[11:44] Duraya: Remember, that was a question for all if anyone else would like to comment.
[11:44] Opal Summerisle (kenzilicious): c
[11:44] Duraya: yes Opal
[11:44] Opal Summerisle (kenzilicious): When Moki spoke about human body as center, that made me think about how i am usually using myself in a pic as a theme, or someone else, I’m not usually one for landscapes cos i don’t have an emotional attachment to it, i like to see an expression cos that conveys a stronger feeling or an attachment, like your avi is a stepping stone to your rl feelings. so thats consistent throughout my work anyway
[11:45] Opal Summerisle (kenzilicious): done
[11:47] Duraya: when I started photography I took snapshots – naturally most showing my avi in some context, I didn’t see that as ‘art’ and later I avoided to show myself, I used statues instead.
[11:48] Duraya: but it’s a very good way to express emotions and yeah we are just nicely available 😉
[11:49] Duraya: So I will ask that again: What themes do you shrink back from and why?
[11:49] Kika Yongho: c
[11:49] Duraya: yes Kika
[11:50] Kika Yongho: I am not really good at Landscapes / objects myself. As Opal said I use my avatar to express the “mood” of the theme, so I find it difficult to just portray a landscape
[11:50] Kika Yongho: done
[11:50] Moki Yuitza: c
[11:51] Duraya: thanks Kika, and Moki please
[11:51] Moki Yuitza: i avoid all themes that i cannot “feel” and express with a simple human body
[11:52] Moki Yuitza: but i do not avoid landscapes as the lack of human presence does not mean that the human body is not related to it
[11:52] Moki Yuitza: done °͜°
[11:53] DaneAlbion: c
[11:53] Duraya: thanks Moki
[11:53] Duraya: Dane is next
[
11:53] DaneAlbion: I really struggle with themes of any sort, they feel like pressure. The only time I would work to a theme would be for something like our Cafe photo challenges or a contest. I’m more likely to be inspired by seeing something that i like and going from there. I’m clearly a very sloppy photographer.
[11:53] DaneAlbion: done
[11:54] Thecla: c
[11:54] Duraya: Thekla share your thoughts please
[11:56] Thecla: I’m in a curious place. Up until a few months ago I experience SL with a 13″ five year old Mac laptop. Composing a picture, then turning on Advanced Lighting was an arduous process. Now I have nice machine and it’s been a revelation, running around with ultra etc. I’m more given now to taking “snapshots” as it were…and focusing on composition and light and shadow.
[11:57] Thecla: And now I’m at a point where themes do interest me, and seem to possibly provide a….structure? Or rather a river of ideas to fish from. I’m looking forward to exploring some.
[11:57] Thecla: Done
[11:57] Duraya: thank you Thecla – and I do agree with you
[11:57] Kika Yongho senses a new photo challenge upcoming
[11:58] Thecla: c
[11:58] Duraya: I love to work on themes – it’s as if they unblock my mind and force me to concentrate on something.
[11:58] Duraya: yes Thecla 🙂
[11:59] Thecla: I think SL provides an unusual opportunity…to literally construct photos. And I personally don’t like working in PhotoShop, and post processing as I did that as a graphic designer. I think I’m inadvertently a photo purist…if it’s not in the picture that I take, I’m not interested in it.
[12:00] Thecla: Done
[12:00] Duraya: thanks Thecla
[12:01] Duraya: Does it need a balance between the familiar and the new for you? What does it mean to lose the balance?
[12:01] Duraya: those are my last questions for today
[12:01] Thecla: c
[12:02] Duraya: your comment please Thecla
[12:02] Moki Yuitza: q
[12:04] Thecla: As someone who’s focused on “shots of the moment” I often find myself shying away from the new…afraid it is just novelty. And with respect to the familiar, often a particular photo OF the familiar will present itself, and because it has some quality that makes it worth taking, your familiarity with it gives you some confidence that it is “strong.”
[12:04] Thecla: done.
[12:06] Duraya: Moki, you have a question
[12:06] Moki Yuitza: to answer your question Duraya, i need to ask a question to you: what do you mean saying “familiar” and “new”? Theme? Process? done
[12:07] Duraya: familiar is the comfort zone, what you know you are capable of and can do easily – new is what challenges you even makes you a bit insecure
[12:07] Moki Yuitza: c
[12:07] DaneAlbion: c
[12:07] Kika Yongho: c
[12:07] Duraya: Moki was fastest
[12:08] Moki Yuitza: ok, so… nothing is familiar to me, except maybe my tools: my avatar and my building skills that i use as tools…. so, i have to always stay out of my comfort zone °͜°
[12:08] Moki Yuitza: done
[12:09] Duraya: great answer!
[12:09] Duraya: your turn Dane
[12:10] DaneAlbion: i guess its the problem of photography being a competitive sport as well as an art form, why make life harder by playing an unfamiliar game?
[12:10] DaneAlbion: done
[12:11] Duraya: 😉
[12:11] Duraya: so Kika has the last words – I will hand you the mic to make the announcement we have too after your comment – if you please
[12:12] Kika Yongho: When it was the time for the Industrial landscapes theme, I had a hard time balancing between my “usual” comfort zone and the “new” skills gained because I simply didn’t much like the results (just my feeling, with practice I got better). My way to balance and make it happen nicely was taking other photos in the meantime to simply help the transition. I prefer it done nicely. But I of course love to gain new skills for myself. Done commenting but … I have info for all
[12:12] Kika Yongho: If you wish to keep up-to-date with our news and meetings, feel free to ask me for an invite for (or you can simply join yourself) our group: ~ Photo Cafe’ ~ Photographers ~ ! Is free to join and we don’t really spam much 🙂
[12:13] Kika Yongho: And I am done!
[12:13] Duraya: And thank you all for an other interesting discussion, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did
[12:14] Duraya: hopefully see you again in a fortnight (12th November), friends and interested people always welcome.
