MSA O/N April 2025 - "Form Over Content"

[Don_ih]

I have a tendency to take photos of singular things. So I will have a photo

and that's a leaf. But what I like and what I'm looking at is more the way it looks, its arrangement within the frame, the lines and textures. It's still a leaf, so it's not a complete abstraction, but I put more emphasis on the form.

Another example:

Sand (and a shutter issue). All there is to see about this is the arrangement of the sand.

Another:

That one is much less of an abstraction but also is only interesting because of form. It's an anonymous broken wall with a door ajar. But what there is to look at are the paint texture of the door and the jagged crack running through the block. (Also a shutter issue)

So this month, I'm proposing people post photos that emphasize form - shapes and textures and arrangements - more than content. So, heading toward abstraction but maybe not quite getting there.

 

[MattKing]

A very interesting theme indeed.

Here is a copy of the rules for the MSA:

[UPDATED] Monthly Shooting Assignment Guidelines

Here are the guidelines that a number of participants in the MSA put together over a number of cycles. They have been recently revised
MSA Guidelines
For first-timers, the following summary of standard procedures should help (we are indebted to Ken Nadvornick for putting most of this together, and not objecting when this Member activity's moderator proposed to re-use [aka borrow] it):
(1) Take note of the MSA assignment, which you will find inserted into the title of the thread.
(2a) For the NEW Category, take your photo(s) according to the assignment guidelines. You are expected to shoot something new rather than grabbing from your archives. The exposure must happen during the period of the current MSA theme - usually one month - and must of course be submitted during that period.
2(b) For the OLD Category, you can use thematically appropriate Photos that you have taken in the past.
2(c) For either the NEW Category or the OLD Category, photos must originate as something that is consistent with Photrio's Analogue only section principles - i.e. using traditional (non-digital) processes. Scans from prints, slides, or negatives are permitted, but any digital adjustments should be strictly limited to what would be acceptable in the Photrio analogue only galleries. Please be sure to label which Category (OLD or NEW) your submission belongs in. Film and exposure information plus any special technical information is also good.
(3) You can post your photo in the MSA Gallery, or you can host your photo elsewhere and link to it in the thread, or, you can post it as an attachment to a message in the thread and it will show as a clickable thumbnail.
(4) It's all for fun, there are no prizes.
(5) at the end of the MSA, the previous winner who chose the theme:
(a) is encouraged to nominate from each of the "OLD" and "NEW" categories one photo that is the best photo in that category that illustrates the theme; and
(b) in any event, will choose (from those category "winners", if applicable) the single photo that is the best photo submitted as part of the current MSA that illustrates the theme.
The member submitting the "winning photo" will be declared the MSA "winner" and will have the opportunity and responsibility to choose a theme for the next MSA, and then choose a new winner from the submissions that follow.
Additional hints about uploading your photographs...
(6) How to upload to the MSA gallery: You perform the upload in the same way you would upload to the standard gallery, except you press the "'All subscriber galleries", you find a drop-down menu and press the Monthly Shooting Assignment, that's it.
(7) You can instead, attach your image to a post in this thread. Or you can link to an image that is hosted elsewhere - please be sure all members will have access to such images, and that the links remain current.
8) Most importantly, have fun!

I'll do my mini-moderator bit with updating the list of themes to date and the Sticky Thread designations.

 

[chuckroast]

[OLD July 1997] 6x9 negative taken with a 2x3 Graphic - Pittsburgh, PA waterfront. Scan of silver print:

 

[chuckroast]

[OLD Nov. 2021] 4x5 Negative - Near the IL/WI border - Scan of silver print:

 

[chuckroast]

[OLD - Aug. 2023] 35mm negative - My front porch - Scan of silver print:

 

[chuckroast]

Looking at these as I posted, I realize I need to do more in this general groove. Thanks for a great topic!

 

[dourbalistar]

For the the Old Category, taken in 2020.

Nikon FM2n, AI Nikkor 50mm f/1.8S, Ultrafine eXtreme 400, developed in LegacyPro L110 at 1:31 for 5.5 minutes.


2020.09.21 Roll #258-05304-positive.jpg by dourbalistar, on Flickr

 

[MattKing]

From 2014 - Ektachrome:

{10A-2014-08-17A-Resized 1036 (Ladner Cars)}

 

[Don_ih]

Excellent submissions!

 

[jeffreyg]

Love the theme Here are three. Old tree trunk in Palermo, Sicily on Ilford Delta 400 120 , Old some kind of a machine (somewhere ?) in Egypt also Delta 400 120, Old again curved agava on Ilford HP5 4x5.

 

[chuckroast]

Love the theme Here are three. Old tree trunk in Palermo, Sicily on Ilford Delta 400 120 , Old some kind of a machine (somewhere ?) in Egypt also Delta 400 120, Old again curved agava on Ilford HP5 4x5.

That last one is especially cool. Well seen and executed!

 

[Don_ih]

Those are really great!

 

[What About Bob]

Hasselblad 501C with 80mm lens. Tri-X rated at EI 800 and developed in D-23 stock for 9:15 at 73F/22.7C. Stone and wood.

New image: 04/03/2025
"Experimental Smiley - 1 "
250th at f/16

New image: 04/03/2025
"Experimental Smiley - 2 "
125th at f/19

New image: 04/03/2025
"Knobby Tree"
250th at f/16

 

[Don_ih]

Good ones, @What About Bob -- do you write down the exposure or just recall it? I usually can't even remember what film I used...

 

[What About Bob]

Good ones, @What About Bob -- do you write down the exposure or just recall it? I usually can't even remember what film I used...

Thanks, Don_ih. I carry a compact Sony voice recorder to log notes. These things are life savers.

 

[David Brown]

OLD: Minolta Maxxum 7

 

[David Brown]

OLD: Minolta Maxxum 7

 

[Don_ih]

OLD: Minolta Maxxum 7

View attachment 395539

Ominous....

 

[warden]

The first one is "old" (last week).
The other three are from today, walking in Midtown Village Philly.

ZM Ikon/50mm Sonnar/HP5

 

[Don_ih]

@warden - very cool. The second one is pretty confusing to look at.

 

[warden]

@warden - very cool. The second one is pretty confusing to look at.

Yeah that’s an odd one. Three or four wheat pasted posters are on top of one another and they’re all falling apart. There is a man, a dog, and I don’t know what else with all the layers. It’s a mess.

 

[jeffreyg]

Relatively new from Jan and Feb all on Delta 400 120. Negative scans slight cropping and minor contrast boost. 1 succulent, 2 palm frond and 3 (not what you might have been thinking at first glance ). exposed roots of a large Gumbo Limbo tree in my yard .

 

[Sirius Glass]

Relatively new from Jan and Feb all on Delta 400 120. Negative scans slight cropping and minor contrast boost. 1 succulent, 2 palm frond and 3 (not what you might have been thinking at first glance ). exposed roots of a large Gumbo Limbo tree in my yard .

View attachment 395637

View attachment 395638 View attachment 395640

The third photograph can be construed by some as both interesting and provocative.

 

[Don_ih]

(not what you might have been thinking at first glance )

But it does make the photo grab your attention.

 

[chuckroast]

[Just Barely OLD - March 2025] Upward Mobility

Leica IIIf - 21mm f/4 Color Skopar - Fomapan 200 - D-76 1+3 - 45min EMA - Scan of silver print