THE RAPTURE

It is difficult to show the things that attracted you to such a scene because all those items are far apart and none is in a primary position in the image. Could you have taken the photograph from a different view where most of the items would have been included and you could have shown some of the primary ones more close up? Or for another suggestion would be to compose the items into a shot that would show them but would not be representative of what you actually saw. But forget that second suggestion, I think I know you well enough to say that you would never do such a thing.

 

It seems that you have a knack for bringing controversy to the pages of PN with some of your images. Keep up the good work, we could use more such as you!

There was nothing else to be done with this. It was shot through a window of an abandoned bunch of buildings. No way to access it. On the left, I had severe glare, and that made cropping that out mandatory. Fortunately there was not much there except the ice machine, of which I have just the corner.

 

As for controversy, I don't know if I like that, but I do feel really satisfied that I have on occasion been able to have a good intellectual discussion with some fellow Pnetters. If it were all "attaboys" and "nice picture" I think it would be much more boring. That's not to say I don't like the good rates and attaboys, but I think if that was the whole thing, I'd be left saying, "Is that all there is?"

I've enjoyed reading the comments on this one but enough has been said already so I'll limit my own two cents worth. Whatever your subjective feelings about this abandoned store, what really comes through is your own superb sense of composition which here has imposed order on a scene of long neglect and chaos. As much as your pictures serve as documentary studies, you are not really a realist and as much a message as you may wish to convey, it is always trumped by an extraordinary and over-riding sense of beauty, even here in the leavings of a failed enterprise. Everything in the store glows softly and seems hand-tinted in colors that today's art directors would sneer at. The red container, the blues and gentle greens of the table and plastic bottles, that strip of orange on the counter and the sooty blacks of the deep kitchen evoke a feeling more of nostalgia than of hopelessness.

Thanks more than you can know for your comments. As you can tell from my comments above, I was bitterly disappointed with the reaction to the image. I felt it was some of my best work, and it seemed that nobody was even going to look at it, much less rate or comment. Sometimes I'm a real stooge. I stand up, only to be punched, and then stand up again like I forgot what happened a minute before, only to be punched again. I know you know what I'm talking about, although you labor in relatively more glory than I (not undeservedly). But finally, some thoughts that were really of value to me did trickle in, and that's all I wanted. Not undeserved or unreserved praise. Just some thought provoking interchange of ideas and concepts. So, after all is said and done, it did turn into a valuable exercise. I'll admit though, that I'm still pretty pleased with this one, but now I'm not so upset when others are not. Thanks for adding your thoughts on this. I've always respected you as much for your artistic knowledge as for your artistic works.