Wind Draperies

Paul,

 

No one "manipulated" your picture for any other reason than to try to UN-manipulate it, in order to figure out what the original landscape looked like before you manipulated it beyond recognition. For me the image was never a work of art. It was always and only a puzzle to be worked out; i.e., to figure out precisely what degree of vertical exaggeration was used.

 

I never had any interest in the image beyond figuring out precisely what degree of vertical exaggeration you applied. I would still like to see how it looked in the original.

 

 

Giuseppe Miriello was speculating as to how the landcape might actually have looked prior to manipulation. I can be interpreted as going a step further, since I stated more than once that I would have preferred a more natural treatment. Therefore, in my own "variation," I was approximating that which to my mind did indeed look better. Thus, in my quest to approximate the original, I was searching for a version which would be an improvement over what you posted, in my humble opinion.

 

 

I would have liked it better if it had been nearer to nature--in this case. That is my final judgment on the photo, but not because I reject all manipulation. I do plenty of manipulation. I simply do not care for this degree and type of manipulation--manipulating a single variable to extreme. It is a bit of a puzzle (at least the precise extent of manipulation was), but nothing more for me. As art and photography, you have a lot of things that are a lot better, in my opinion. Unfortunately, most of them are not posted to Photo.net.

 

Would you please show it (or a portion of it) to us here on the forum so that we might appreciate your workmanship to an even higher degree?

 

Thank you.

 

--Lannie

"Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may include brief quotations and thumbnail images in your submissions that are permitted under the copyright laws as 'fair use', provided you correctly attribute these to their authors. Furthermore, when commenting on photos in the photo Gallery, you may include a version of the photo under discussion in your comment, altered or marked up to illustrate your comments. By uploading photos to the photo Gallery, you grant to other photo.net members permission to copy the photo, to make such alterations and markups for the purpose of commentary as they see fit, and to attach the modified photo to their comments on the photo."

It took me a moment to realize that the photo could not be real, sand will not stay put at those angles, but nonetheless it's a beautiful photograph. It reminded me of a surrealistic painting, something by Dali perhaps. The colors, the shadows, even the harsh light at the left margin all lent to the effect. I also liked it because it reminded me of another planet, one without as much gravity as ours, perhaps, a place where sand could rise up in such Wind Cathedrals. Nice work. I like the light by the way, it's different from so many photographs that only capture the two magic hours that bracket every day. Again, nice work.

Thanks for shiming in with this interesting conclusion. You said, taht you "can appreciate any kind of expression, especially when carrying a strong message." Same goes for me - or at least I hope so... Andyet, I don't see a strong message here.

 

So, this image is the result of a technical accident, which you thought, suddenly, could express well "the magnitude of these gigantic sand dunes." My opinion about your explanation, if I may, would be the following...

 

It takes more than an horizontal squeeze to communicate the "magnitude" of a desert. It takes a real understanding of visual communication.

 

To communicate the relative magnitude of a mountain compared to a car, for example, you could go to the top of a dune and show its slope down, right till the very small car down there: that's exactly what very wide angles are meant for, by the way - even though this is no absolute recipee of course.

 

Imho, the present manipulation suggests: instability, or a miraculous growth, or a miraculous (andfragile) balance of elements, which, due to the laws of gravity, shouldn't be able to stand on their own.

 

That's at least how I personally related to what I saw, when I discovered this POW. Magnitude ? No, that wasn't the message I received.

 

And you add this: "Although I love these images which portray my photographic style and carry my message across, almost none is giving me the same sense of magnitude that these huge sand dunes provoked in me."

 

I'd just like to say that this sentence baffled me a little.

 

Firstly, I don't think that images can portray any photographic style. To make it clearer, I mean, that pictures are not there to portray their photographer; it's the other way around. :-) It's the photographer who is supposed to portray his subjects. This may sound like a silly remark, but the danger I'm hoping to alert you (and other photographers) about is the danger of trying to "have your own style" too early, before your vision reaches its maturity.

 

And secondly, saying that your pictures "carry my message across" is a bit like saying, that communication was successful. But don't you think this is perhaps for the recipients of this message (i.e the viewers of your images) to assess ?

 

Third and last observation: you are still saying something probably very true and very important, which is that "none" (of these pictures of Namibia) is giving you "the same sense of magnitude" - you mean: AS THE REAL THING OF BEING THERE, right...?

 

Well, that's the tough task indeed: trying to convey exactly, precisely, the sense of MAGNITUDE OF THE REAL THING...

 

Rather than making the place unreal, and rather than letting the technique employed (PS distortion) be the first or second thing we see when viewing the image, just sit down and think of the best possible ANGLE to express THE FELT MAGNITUDE OF THE

 

REAL THING.

Title well fits with the image. Never been to this part of the world though I can feel the wind from here

I was quite disappointed with the 'discussion' that was just a below average trial to the photographer IMHO.

When I saw this image I was just thinking 'may be that's the way horses see the world'...

I thought I would attempt to repost this. Somehow it makes more sense now.

As my philosophy teacher used to say, " The best answer to "why" is.... Why not. The

image

either works for you or it doesn't. Each of us has a different interpretation all of which are

equally valid. That is why interpretations are so much more interesting to hear on a forum

like this. Why does how the picture was made have any relevance on how we interpret it.

Who cares. All that matters is what the photographer has presented to us, I think. Instead

of remaking the picture in our own image,

why not interpret Pauls conception as it is. It is important that we understand that the

final, presented image is what is important. Paul can't be spending the rest of his life

explaining his motives. To me it is enough that he was satified with the work and that it

spoke to him. That in it self qualifies it to be viewed and understood in our own ways. It is

never a pre-requisite that the viewer agree with the Artists motives. In our differences,

hopefully a civilized discussion can take place, regarding our interpretations.

just print it out and look at it from a 45 degree angle, and enjoy your new UNMANIPULATED photo!

WOOOW, so incredible! cheers Jana

I was born in Namibia in 77, but we moved to South Africa in 81. So I have no actual memories of Namibia.

 

Over the last couple of years I have had a growing urge to return to my place of birth, and this feeling has only been compounded by this photo.

 

I do hope I can get back there some time in the next couple of years.

Manipulated it may be, but none the less a stunning work of art! Brilliant!

Hi

 

you captured the beautiful curvers ang colors.

This is so intersting and thanks for sharing your nice photo. I think I could never see such a place

This is one stunning photograph. I am planning on going to Namibia in 2009/10, and if I even get a chance to photograph sand dunes as half as lovely as this I will be happy. Cheers. Helen

Well Helen, don't expect to see these sand dunes in Namibia unless you are on copious amounts of hallucinogenic mushrooms, because they don't exist, at least not in this form....;-)

"Photoshop" would be more appropriate than "Namibia".