The photography of the Phoenixes

[Dragon Phoenix]

Aside from her paintings, Bambi gets more and more positive feedback from professional photographers on her pictures.

Go and look at the weblog we made for her pics, if you're interested.
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Dented Ford]

Um, you don't know me, I'm barely out of Icarian status, but I saw this post and had to see the pics. I guess the opinion of some of your peers would be a little more valuable to you, but for me, in a word, "wow." Is it odd that I'm the first to comment?
Some of the pictures are perhaps less original (in concept) than others, but all I have seen are original in composition, and beautifully constructed. For my own, purely subjective, personal opinion, I like the ones which some might call minimalist, but I prefer to think of as subtle, and (hopefully this is what you wife wants to hear) trigger the imagination. (For me, art - including artistic photography - should be as a book is to a film - a film can have more immediate impact, but a book can inspire greater imagination. Does that make sense without sounding overly amateur-art-critic-like?).
Some of my favourites: on the ice, on the road, tide, reminiscing, reflecting, composition, shattered, shadowplay and july. Top of the list... hmm... shadowplay, and tie for second between tide and july.
(Amateur analysts... what does that say about me?)

[Dragon Phoenix]

What on earth makes you think you are not a "peer"? Thanks for the comments - I'll pass them on!
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Dented Ford]

Um... perhaps I should have said "contemporary" (as in longer-established members with whom you potentially have more familiarity and rapport) rather than peer. Anyway, glad you appreciate the feedback.

[wordcross]

Hijacking the thread for just a sec, let me just say that you, Dented Ford, are an awesome newbie, and i look forward to your continued contributions to our quaint little discussion forum here

back on track, I agree that the photos are amazing, but for the opposite reason as Dented Ford. I like the more traditional shots as opposed to the minimalist ones, not because i dislike the minimalist ones, but because i don't feel able to properly appreciate minimalism, and therefore such art has less personal impact on me.

but yeah, lessee, I like most of the closeups, like "Bubbles" and "Shanghai Red", and i like any of the patterned photos, like "Up the Downstairs", "Spiraling", "Spiral" or, well, "Patterns".

I like Antwerp and Winter, but probably because i just happen to like winter scenes I like "Tide" for its broad perspective. It makes things look different.

"Shadowplay" is awesome
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Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

[Dented Ford]

@wordcross: thank you!

and betraying my lack of ability to properly discuss art like this - obviously "minimalist" is not the right word. I did mention I'd have preferred to say "subtle" - which, (I believe it is true to say,) is not incompatible with a composition of dramtic impact. What I mean, drivelling as I do, is that my favourites tend to involve some trigger to the imagination. Often that can be achieved by "leaving something out" - or perhaps more succinctly, by focussing in on some small detail, and perhaps inclusing proportionately large, but less distinctive area in the composition. The imaginative trigger can produce an emotion, or provoke a question, the creation of a story or snippet, all sorts of imaginative responses. Rain Romance is a much more traditional shot, but also inspires an imaginative response, which for me works like a "snapshot" of a scene from "an 'unwritten' book that has fallen open in my head." This works too with (for example) Shanghai Red, apparently a bold and not very subtle-seeming visual treat - but the fact that it zoomed so close, yet identifiable, while the background is blurred and comparatively large means there's an area for the imagination... um... not to fill... um... to work with. (I'm useless at this!)
On the ice could have been a beautiful natural shot of a pristine empty sheet. Alternatively, it could have been a busy shot of many people enjoying themselves. Instead it is (for me) a more subtle shot, with a trigger in the imagination to grow bodies/people/lives/stories for the skaters and also a study in reflection of the skaters themselves and the tree branches in the middle.
Anyway, I wish I hadn't used the word minimalist, but I thought it would help get over the idea of what I meant. You (wordcross) said it much better : "It makes things look different."
I like that, and looking at things from a different way is one of the things I have been trying to say all along - ie that there is a response produced in one's head. I suck at being a critic!
Still, I hope that her pictures having an imaginative effect is the sort of thing that Mrs Phoenix wants to hear.

[Dragon Phoenix]

My own reaction on her photographs is amazement at how she sometimes can look things at a totally different way than you and I would. But that is her artist background, and I think it is close to what your reactions are pointing at.
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Quailman]

[Beartalon]

Amazing. I have several photographer friends and I appreciate their artistic view of the world that doesn't always step in synch with my logical programming look on life. Warm and sensuous are the words that come to mind for most pictures, but many have their own individual emotive responses.

Thank you for sharing, Hennie.

[Dragon Phoenix]

Thanks Paul. Something new in the blog: a technique we call Double Digit (twoof her pictures digitally merged into one).

[Dented Ford]

Very nice. Somewhat reminiscent of reflections in windows, with which technique Mrs Phoenix also appears to be very proficient. Something more haunting (not eerily) than just using the panes of glass though.

I have to say, though - I scrolled the screen and saw the next item Autumn Coming, which I hadn't viewed before, and it knocked my socks off.

I have another question though - where the photographs include people, are they staged/posed, or does Mrs Phoenix choose candid shots of "real life" in preference? (I guess there must be a mixture of some and some)

[Dragon Phoenix]

Bambi never works with models, or staged settings. It is always just a snapshot of real life.

I liek Autumn coming very much myself as well. The stunning colour, as well as the choice of the direction of the background.
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[AZu]

Though not a man of art myself both because i cannot understand nor appreciate it let me just say ,for what it is worth, that both Autumn Coming and Coffee break were one of the few cases where a photograph has talked to me.

[Dented Ford]

It's a combination of lots of things, the bold diagonals, the striking colour, the contrast in highlight of the plank edges and the gaps, as well as the subtlety of the wood grain pattern and light/shade. Then there is the (beautifully understated) natural content of the leaves.

Without staging people then, does she read a scene and visualise something from an artistic perspective, and then habitually have her camera ready to capture what she has seen in her mind's eye? (ie reactive and opportunistic.) Or does she imagine something first, and patiently wait until something happens that she will capture? (more like a wildlife photographer, waiting at the waterhole until some creature(s) come to drink.)

[Dragon Phoenix]

The first. Everytime we go out, her camera comes along.....
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[jesus_saves]

I am now as in love with her photography as with her paintings (I keep changing my desktop bg each day with a new piece of her work). My favorites include:

The Waiting
Timeless
Reflecting (Nov 3 version)
Cafe
Remembering Shanghai
Atmosphere
Erotic Moment
Motionless
Rain Romance
Discussion
Reflections of My Life
Autumn Coming
Double Digit 2

(i had more, but thought I should narrow it down some. So now I have a runner up list too.)

But for all photos (save maybe one or two), the composition, color, exposure, and concept are all astounding. My dad is a photographer (semi-professionally) and I honestly think Bambi is better than he. Her eye certainly is anyway. Thanks for sharing. It makes me want to paint, photograph, draw and be generally artsy more and more.
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³⁸ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
³⁹ Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord

~Romans 8:38-39

[Dented Ford]

After the Flood is another one of my new favourites

[Dragon Phoenix]

Well, I went ahead and created one with my own feeble attempts as well:

http://konikachrome.blogspot.com/


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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Dented AvtoVaz Lada*]

Nice. Feeble? A lie. Cathedral would vie for a place in my (ever increasing) favourites list.

[worm]

he s right, dp...those are really good. keep it up!

[Courk]

Brollies is my favorite.

[Dragon Phoenix]

Thanks for the comments! Both blogs will be updated regularly.
_________________
My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[jesus_saves]

[Dragon Phoenix]

Of course no problem - I'm glad you like them.
_________________
My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Courk]

Spiralling: Are those stairs? *is jealous of those stairs, if they are*

[Dragon Phoenix]

Yes, stairs in an expensive apartment in Amsterdam where one of my colleagues lives.....
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Dented Ford]

Um, jesus_saves already asked about printing photos to hang up domestically, but this question is a bit different.
I was showing a friend some of the pictures and he said, "wow, some of these would be great on my website" - now that's a company website. He's a pensions consultant and just wants some generic atmospheric shots to use as sidebar punctuation type content, not to associate with any brand or product.
Obviously this isn't the same thing as hanging a couple of prints on your wall. What would be involved in obtaining proper permission to use some photos in this way? If Bambi doesn't want this to happen, then that's OK, I just told him I'd ask what the situation would be.

[Dragon Phoenix]

As long as it says somewhere on the site "Pictures by Lu Schaper", preferably including a link to the blog, no problem. We would like a link to the web site if he uses them.
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Dented Ford]

Wow, thanks, I'll let him know. I think he was prepared to put his hand is his pocket, but nervous of how much it might be (he's been stung by some graphic design and marketing companies before). If all it means is a credit/link to the site, then I think he will be very pleased.

[austinap*]

Some of those are pretty amazing, I love the candid shots! How'd you both get into this? It's such a great hobby.

What kind of gear do you guys shoot? Are you both digital, or all film, or both?

[Dragon Phoenix]

For Bambi, it kind of grew from just taking pictures of Europe for her Chinese weblogs, to more and more putting her own artistic view into them. For me, it was definitely because I saw what she could do with simple themes that I started to get interested in it myself as well.
Bambi uses a Canon Powershot 8Mpix, I use her previous camera, a Konica 4 MPx. Indeed, all digital, and with minimal photoshopping (unless it says so as Double Digit art).
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Dragon Phoenix]

This is rapidly turning out to be my most popular picture on Flickr.
_________________
My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Antrax]

That picture is seriously amazing. I would love to get a print of that. Or at least a bigger version.
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After years of disappointment with get rich quick schemes, I know I'm gonna get rich with this scheme. And quick!

[Dragon Phoenix]

Thanks, and why not?

Download here

This is the original version (2304x1704, 519 kb)
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Nicolaas Mulder*]

A very nice picture indeed, Hennie.
Hoe is het met jou?

[jesternl]

Hmmm wie is Nicolaas?

Who are you Mr. Mulder... a Dutch guest is less frequently seen here

[Quailman]

I wonder if he's the same Nicolaas Mulder mentioned here

From that site:

[Dragon Phoenix]

My money is on Aga.
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/

[Nicolaas Mulder*]

No Quailman, I am the Nicolaas Mulder from here

~wanders off listening to Hector Berlioz~

[Dragon Phoenix]

Nico! Lang niet van je gehoord. Wat een verrassing!
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My photography:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/artrock2006/