Sorry for abandoning you... But I had my reasons :)

[Irakly Shanidze]

I just got back from Toronto, where I taught the craziest workshop ever. After lecturing students on lighting, content and other stuff, I offered them a collective assignment, which was to com up with an idea for a group photo as different from traditional boing group shots as it could be... I was almost a by-stander in the process

[natatbeach]

Didi the blue cheetah inspire the shot....? cool shot..LOl ;)

[Trevor Ash]

Oh man! That cheetah is awful. So what are you? You look like a sloth to me

Great exersize Irakly! Looks like it was fun too.

[natatbeach]

my guess was a " peacock"..

[wposloski]

Irakly,

I first noticed this photograph when checking out the “Gallery”. Even as a small icon on my screen, I immediately recognized the photo as one of yours. It seemed that this belonged to a group you have posted including: Hay-day, Careful Zu and The Tamer of the Male Fruit (gelu-zulya) and Quartet of assorted instruments (trio-med).

The fact that I could immediately identify it was not so surprising. All these photos picture a variety of people who you wouldn’t meet on the “average” street corner. These people are not “wall flowers” but instead people who have a statement to make. It might not be clear what that statement is, but they are shouting it at you. The scenes have the feeling of being “choreographed”. My favourite is the Quartet of assorted instruments. All the photos have a certain level of sexuality, one so much that it was deleted from the web site. I think it was because of the embrace between the two women.

Please understand, I am not an artist. I have never been formally trained how to appreciate other people’s art. This has not prevented me from enjoying the fruits of others artistic labours. A visit to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opened my eyes to the limitations of photography as a medium of artistic expression. No photograph could ever hope to capture the detail that Rembrandt displayed in his portraits. Students of Rembrandt produced works that many scholars have mistaken as works of the teacher.

Now on to Photography as Art. Your student’s collective assignment resulted in a photograph that looked like (in my opinion) one of yours. It was not the photographic technique but the composition that has your fingerprint. No years of study to get technique down pat, a few lectures on lighting and content and “presto” a “Shanidze”, immediately recognized by a compositional style So, and I hate to be so straightforward, and please don’t take offence because it is a serious question, but does that make your student’s work ART or CRAFT?

Bill

[Irakly Shanidze]

it's a valid point... first of all, i am showing a picture that i directed, but all animal theme was not my idea. students came up with quite defferent shots. secondly, people do not come to a seminar to create masterpieces, they come to learn and hopefully use their new knowledge later in their own projects. unfortunately, not everybody is able to do it creatively, at least on the first attempt.