Viewpoint - Get Professional Help

[BAJR Host]

Its the right way up and it has your name on it

[Unitof1]

idont know what other angle would work
but if you know let me know I have got 16 more
examples to put
through your
archaeological standards
[ATTACH=CONFIG]371[/ATTACH]

ps I am trying to hold the camera level

[BAJR]

I would put up one of mine, but I am too scared now!

However, this is quite good to stimulate discussion.

The White arrow was not immediatly visible, and it is unclear what it represented.
The photo is taken at a slight angle to the left ratehr down the length of teh drain (however, as teh vertial pole is tilted, I would guess that a wide angled lens has been used, which distorts the image)

There is too much clutter surrounding the subject of the image which distracts
the back wall covers 1/3 of the image where (unless intentional) the subject is the drain cut
the base of the cut is messy and the base seems to be uncleaned, while the foreground - as it the digging has not been completed detracts from what the subject is about.

the long line of the ranging rod is so foreshortened that it is difficult to scale the image
An elevated position would have produced a more informative image

Now... I looked at some of my images of a drain I did, and as I said, I would actually put the same complaint about them... but... I was doing what I had to, and hey... it was just a 19th century drain... and anyway... the curatorial staff were happy.

The point of my viewpoint was to highlight that we have all (myself included) let ourselves become complacent... and allow images and drawings that are adequate, just fit for purpose etc... HOWEVER.. they are not anything to be uber proud of... and why should we... they do the job... they are OK... it has been a shake up for me, where I will endeavour to do my best. In my next job (yes I do work!) I am going to take photographs I am proud of... really do a good job. I already do a good job it could be argued, I save time, and save money for the client... but this time I will do a little bit more!

I have now looked at a few more of my images... and good grief... being director/photographer/draughtsman/surveyor/digger all rolled into one is tough ... so is it surprising?

For once Uo1 (well maybe more than a once) you have held a mirror up to me... and I am wanting!


It does show however, where the second image you put up shows how text and image work together... by themselves they are lost...

So... just you wait... next job... I will post up an image... and see if I have improved... because, if truth be told... I had become too... shall we say... commercial? B)

[Unitof1]

Commercial good- everything else fantasy

[vulpes]

what's the difference between BAJRhost and BAJR - split personality?

Unitof1 - that pic-ature gave me a chuckle thanks.
Is that an unusually pointless watching brief you're undertaking? Or are they all similarly dull? Either that or it's a Scheduled Monument and you are placating Dame Simone.

What are pilliwinks? - we need to know.

[kevin wooldridge]

One of the great advantages of digital photgraphy is that annotation of the image can be contained within the metadata - the photo as an artefact becomes unique and self-explanatory. I personally see this as the greatest advantage of digital media as regrads archive data. And once archivists get over their fears regarding non-transferability of digital data then 'wet' photography is dead in my book.

I mean after all what is the biggest danger to photo archives at the moment - nothing to do with digital media, but the danger that in a fairly short time non-one is going to be manufacturing reasonably priced film for analogue cameras or the means of turning film B+W or colour archive negatives into positive prints. And then what happens - archivists everywhere throw up their hands and start talking of the impending 'Domesday' scenario if all conventional photo archives aren't 'digitised' immediately!!

[BAJR Host]

Vulpes notices my split personality

I should explain..

BAJR Host was the BAJR of the past... who was brought across when all other forums were merged in teh great trauma of christmas 2009 To create the new forum I had to create an uber administrator .. and because this admin had to be different from all other users I found myself in the unusual situation where
BAJR = Uberlord of the forum
and
poor BAJR Host is a mere moderator

ps.. I should add that record shots are indeed record shots... not every photo has to be a stunning composition. But... there should be some that capture the essence in image form of the site / feature/structure being investigated. It does mean that at teh end of the day we are no longer working to minimum standards, but to standards.

DIgital photography should really be no different from traditional - whereby the same care and attention to exposure, composition etc is applied. REmember when every shot counted? Where you had to take care because you never knew until the developing was done.. did you set your ISO too high?

The panic when you realise that the exposure was all wrong... Treating digital photography in teh same light, as with the graphic record.

[Austin Ainsworth]

Vulpes notices my split personality

poor BAJR Host is a mere moderator

OI, ya black and white stripey rodent - "mere moderator" *goes off in a huff* }:face-stir:}

[Unitof1]

thats right mere

[SIZE=3]Is that an unusually pointless watching brief you're undertaking? Or are they all similarly dull.
[/SIZE]

Pointless like all watching briefs but not dull. Had the whole property to myself and dogo found a few bones to chew on.

[SIZE=3]DIgital photography should really be no different from traditional

.[/SIZE]

Sorry but digital is massively different and tradition is the problem which a lot, if not all, archaeological practises are blinded by and desperately holding on to. Black ink drawings are a total joke so is also most site photography and recording. The original of my so called snap was a 12 megabyte file, most reports on oasis are little over a single megabyte. At every point in the record archaeologies should compress information but also expect that every method will at some point in the future be redundant.

Like the k1000 even when it was first designed it was pretty much redundant. And so will paper reports and books. We live in a funny time at the moment where people create virtual magazines and put images in them that mimic what old magazines used to look like and put features in them like….cant think where have I seen that. How about we just video everything using the phone-camera and put it on utude. I would have no problem doing it that way but I can imagine all the ranting but one day it will be acceptable.

[kevin wooldridge]

Can I just say Unit of One that your comments of the last couple of days have been particularly lucid. Are you putting your posts through Google translator before posting...Whatever - it almost makes you seem - well - normal......