A crazy interpretation

[SkedAddled]

This just in from the MFLenses site, and I'm baffled by it:

Came on a few photographers websites a category called "Mood". I have never seen it on photo websites before, or .. have I missed it somehow ? It looks to me as a very much 'stolen' thing from the modern whatever quasi-creative thing terminology .. anyone familiar with this phenomenon ?

Some responses followed, and I replied with this:

There is certainly a 'mood' to photographs,
whether it be a 'Golden Hour' of light during sunset or sunrise,
or evoking memories of a childhood lazy summer, or prompting
an emotion/feeling in the viewer.

Yes, certainly, I've experienced certain 'moods' just by looking at many photographs,
and I'd chalk it all up to a feeling of nostalgia in some way.

I'm nearly 60 years old and my childhood was mostly crap,
but I've come across many photos which stir a 'mood' from my childhood
which provoke fond recollections in my mind, and I love to see them.

I will always feel a 'mood' or a wistfulness when I view a photograph
if it evokes memories I am fond of. This may be the literal definition of mood.

When I see a photo which is a literal definition of 'perfect' I can recognize
and comment on it. When I see a photo which has me reflecting on my past,
it has done something to my mood.

 

[gjl711]

Isn't that pretty much the goal of many types of photography whether it be street, fine are, G/N, and others?

 

[SkedAddled]

Isn't that pretty much the goal of many types of photography whether it be street, fine are, G/N, and others?

Yes, it should be that, JJ.

 

[StephenM]

I'll have to see this in situ, but it seems to me that the poster has no concept of photography other than as a recording medium, and no appreciation of the fact that camera angle, choice of what to include or exclude etc. etc. can significantly affect the interpretation of the image.

I wonder -seriously - which web sites he looks at.

 

[gjl711]

I'll have to see this in situ, but it seems to me that the poster has no concept of photography other than as a recording medium, and no appreciation of the fact that camera angle, choice of what to include or exclude etc. etc. can significantly affect the interpretation of the image.

I wonder -seriously - which web sites he looks at.

It's not just photography though. Paining, sculpting, any art really, movie making, writing, story telling, all share mood as a component. In fact, it seems that if you are successful in setting or capturing a mood, whatever your medium, it will work better.

 

[OhLook]

I'll have to see this in situ , , ,

I'd have to as well before I tried to reply to its writer. Maybe he or she meant that "mood" has become a genre of its own, alongside still life, portrait, sports, and the rest.

 

[StephenM]

It's not just photography though. Paining, sculpting, any art really, movie making, writing, story telling, all share mood as a component. In fact, it seems that if you are successful in setting or capturing a mood, whatever your medium, it will work better.

I think it might be the without "mood" there is no scope for audience participation - it just becomes an academic exercise with the intellectual involvement of appreciating e.g. the particle in a box calculation that beginners see in wave mechanics. Interesting, fascinating yes - but emotionally detached. Some involvement from the viewer will always (?) result in a better viewer experience.

OhLook may well have hit it though - that the author is seeing style before substance rather than substance with style.

 

[ShipleyNW]

I'm on another board (they're getting confusing) where there's a thread called 'Dramatic B&W.' I'm not sure what that means, and I'm not sure that I, as the photographer, get to decide which of my images are 'Dramatic' -- or for that matter, 'Moody'. Those are adjectives that need to be bestowed, not claimed. There is no one technique that yields a mood.

And yet...

The shots in the Dramatic B&W thread tend to equate contrast and contre jour with drama. I'm not sure I buy that. But I bet there's more than one software preset out there called 'Dramatic' that enhance those characteristics. Probably the same idea with presets called 'Moody.'

It comes down to humans' need to name things. All art lives on a spectrum, but we want to group and name the components. It's like wine; a moody palette with hints of leather and black cherry, and a surprising contre jour veering into the dramatic.

So I think moody in this sense is less about art that evokes mood, and more about a technique that some have dubbed 'Moody.' I can see where someone might get tired of seeing 'Moody' shots if they're becoming cliche in his world.

 

[Skygod44]

I'm nearly 60 years old and my childhood was mostly crap,

Oh man
Don't say that.
Makes me wanna

But yes, the poster's comment is just plain odd.

Anything creative can-and-should result in various changes in the viewer/listener's "mood", be it profound or subtle.

Regards,
Simon