Nice image, radz ... and this is interesting, this line of thought of Ganesh's
Is our ability to respond to non-human life forms is limited ?
Radha: you and i have watched elephants together and seen those "looks" which we have instantly connected with, drawn parallels to - either motherly or playful, or angry, or resigned (remember the look on that baby aaney's sister whose head the baby tried to sit on?)
i would offer this, as my take. It is not that our ability to respond is limited, but more that with non primate forms, the skill and "art of seeing" to evoke such responses needs to be honed. I am sure you have all seen
TIM FLACH's work - yes, it is in studio -- but the "expressions" or the gestures and the evocativeness of the images is of a kind at least i had not seen before. especially the BAT. i really connected with the bat, processing its expression in my own way - in the absence of anthropomorphic labels. Can we see the BAT's expression in the image not "us in the bat?" ... why do we look for us? why cant we see the animal's emotion in the image? this is something i am pondering.
Note: i am not saying Flach's is creative photography or not - just focusing on the "emotions" and "connecting with" other life forms.
Personally, the naturalist in me is still unsure about *loosely*
labeling expressions in animals which may have nothing to do with their current behavior, but rather just the way they are - or indeed other particular-to-them behavior. Sometimes we use words in order to evoke ... this is easier but has caused much harm in the past. For example, labeling expressions of predators as "evil" has contributed to a thinking that has led to local extinctions of wolves, etc. Given that, mis-ascribed labels when it comes to behavior, personally, i find unappealing
. I stay away from it.
But maybe that is my limitation. [and maybe it also begs the question - is the evocativeness in the label or in the image? does a truly evocative image need a label? or does a label guide and induce what you want the viewer to see? i dont know. i know i write a bunch on my images and label all my images - ... so
hahaha dilemmas]
To *capture* or portray a
truly evocative expression, or gesture - sans word labels? or leave it open to interpretation as the image itself is what it is, i find much tougher. maybe it is my own limitation.
but it is a wonderful exploration.
thanks for sparking this discussion Radz!