pathways (1)

this is one of the early pieces in a man/nature series that i've been

working on for some time. it's tentatively called "pathways" and is

devoted images of paths, trails, and the like, especially those that

are limited to non-motorized travel.

what do you think?

My only suggestion is a question: would including a person on the trail help or hinder? More solid subject?

I'm doing a similar project.

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=492469

You look like you are a few "steps" ahead of me though! Love the contrast and simplicity of forms that snow creates! You've got that.

The footprints give the shot an adequate sense of scale -- I don't know that an actual figure would be needed for that.

What's lacking for me is contrast -- the whites reach close to true white but the blacks never drop below gray. Without a range of grayscale values, the result is unduly flat.

i don't think that a figure on the trail is needed. i'm really more interested in the impact than the actual figure, since i'm working with the notion that wherever you go, someone's walked there before you, even in many places that are considered "wilderness". i especially like the irony of trails in designated wilderness areas.

as for the flatness, that's sort of what i was intending. was trying to make a photograph of a particular feeling one gets sometimes in the woods during or shortly after a new fallen snow, when all the light is muted, and the sense of detail and depth gets, shall we say, confused. besides, this particular new snow was very wet, and the trees did turn pretty much black where there was no snow. (in fact, i only desaturated it in PS to get rid of some annoying scanning artifacts; it was basically a B&W taken with color film.)