Yucca

The weather this past week in Toronto made too good an opportunity to

pretend that I've been visiting White Sands NP. ;)

... sophisticate, aesthetic & fine ...

 

Hi

Excellent work , Very interesting and unique

Ian, it is a very nice minimalistic image that has a lot of srories to tell. It looks a dry land/sand, lonely, lacks of water, DRY ! and still there is a sort of life in it, by the Yucca. Looking at them they are having a sharp end, so they look like 'arrows " breaking out with force to the earth space. some of them are bent , like still trying to go back for look of water...I like the color , and their placement on the edge, as symbolic to the condition they are really existing in. Very nice touching inage.

I would never mistake this for sand, even with the toning, which I incidentally do like. The lack of tonal variance and detail in the two distinct bands of snow makes the slightest shadow or change of light significant. Against all that softness the sharpness of the Yucca is dramatic. I think the placement of the Yucca in the frame is well chosen and the choice to cut off the right side of the plant is intriguing. The image taken as a whole leaves me with a Zen kind of ambiance.

Reading your evaluation, Gordon, I understood my mistake. Fanny how we percive images connected to our life surrounding. I'm not coming from a snow culture, but we have sand hills that looks like this( in the desert but not only, and when there is no wind the sand looks completely smooth.The yucca looks like it can be seen in the desert, looking for water...

 

Sorry Ian for the mistake, but at least you will know how similar it can be if it was sand....;-))

I had based my response on Ian's comment with his posting regarding visiting White Sands NP

Now having read your second comment I realise that you had made reference to this being sand in your first comment. I agree it is interesting how the environment we live in effects our perception. I would be much more likely to mistake sand for snow than the other way around :)

Thank you all very much. I actually a little surprised by the nice response this has received!

 

I took this shot on a bit of a lark. Oh, that's a particularly colloquial expression to use isn't it? Let me rephrase.

 

I took the photo on a whim. I was out shoveling the snow off of my driveway (for the first of three times that day!) and saw the part-buried Yucca in my yard. It immediately reminded me of the photographs I have seen of partially buried Yuccas in White Sands National Park in New Mexico. I took a few frames and tried to capture the idea. I worked it up in processing to have a similar look of sand-buried yuccas. I found some photos of White Sands at dawn and tried to copy the toning of the image to them. I even toyed with adding grain to try and mimic sand -- but backed off from that idea in the end.

 

So, I take it as a great compliment, Pnina, that you were so happy to see this as sand. It means my efforts were successful. Also, Pnina, I'm thrilled with your interpretation of the bent and straight blades. It makes this shot seem so much more thought-out! ;)

 

This shot is the one image that was specifically in my head. I quite like All three of Michael Reichmann's shots from White Sands -- they have a subtlety that many others lack (even other notable photographer's portfolios from there such as John Shaw's).

 

I have been looking at some of the more iconic places in the American west recently as I have been planning a late spring (June-July) trip out to the American West coast. I'm still deciding where to go, but White sands was on my list (except that June-July will be VERY hot there for a poor Canuck like me).

 

Gordon, I am happy that even though you knew it was snow, the toning didn't bother you. I was afraid that if the illusion failed for the viewer too quickly, the toning would become undesirable.

 

I was also concerned that you can actually see the falling snow in the image (some darker-grey against the top portion and in front of the green blades of the Yucca). But, this plant is now fully buried under about a metre more snow (because my neighbour shoveled some of his driveway on top of it too). So, no re-shoots.

I noticed the snow streaks but was uncertain of whether these were striations on the yucca leaves. This does not have to be perceived as sand for the toning to work.Thanks for posting the links to LL and John Shaw. I am curious about your statement that Shaw's images of White Sands NP lack subtlety.

Yes, I thought you wouldn't let me get away with that statement unexplained!

Well, let's start by saying that I think many of his images of White Sands on that page are great. In fact, they are all strong images definitely worth their place on a professional portfolio. These comments will reveal my personal taste not my views on whether these are 'successful' images.

I should also admit that I was way to general and oversimplifying in my comments before -- or more particularly in linking my comment with Shaw's page specifically.

There are some subtle images in his portoflio (for example, but not limited to, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Moreover, 'subtle' is a VERY difficult term to objectively pin-down. What I find subtle, you might not and vice-versa. This is really all about personal taste.

But, as a whole, I find his portfolio to be focused on the dynamic quality of the dunes. They play up the frozen movement embodied in the s-curves on the dune-ridges and they often focus on the contrast of the sand-ripples in the early directional light of dawn. The colour palette is often punchy too. Most of these images have a fantastic visual impact. I would love to have them in a travel brochure or book, in a magazine, or even as a print in a workplace or meeting area. But, I don't find them the sorts of images I want to return to over and over again over time. Particularly stunning in this category is THIS one.

I personally respond better (as a print for extended viewing and display in a personal space) to softer treatments of dune structures. I don't know if it is because I have seen an awful lot of hard-contrast B&W dune photography (usually of Death Valley or the Sahara) and have tired of it or if I just think of sand as a softer element and wish for a similar portrayal of it. I find the bright-white sand of these particular dunes makes contrasty treatments of the them all the more tiring on the eyes. I find a hard contrast approach much more visually tiring here than with other less inherently 'bright' sands. For example, I don't mind THIS image by Dionys Moser as much as THIS one of White Sands by Shaw.

Given this preference, I think that the white sand from this locale gives the perfect opportunity to find a more delicate approach and I wish I saw more of it. Alan Briot wrote an interesting article on the changing light of sunrise while shooting at dawn at White Sands (while there with M. Reichmann). In it he shows five images as the light changed. For me, the first image is by far the preferable one. I think that helps to reveal my personal biases here even more clearly.

Returning to Shaw's work, in fact, I think that it his colour palette that fails him (for my own personal tastes) in a couple of the approaches I would say were attempting a subtler rendering. For example, HERE I think that the fill-flash is just the tiniest bit too strong and the colours are an equally minuscule amount too saturated and intense to convey the grace and softness which I think should be the dominant quality given the soft silhouette of the horizon-line mountains and the simple composition. This is really, really close to what I want. Just not quite there for me.

I have similar thoughts about THIS one. Although, I suspect this achieves exactly what was wanted by Shaw.

This one is just about perfect in colour. But, I find the composition too cluttered for the mood of the light and colour.

The one 'subtle' photo that really works for me is THIS one. What a unique and refreshing view on these dunes. Plus, it is calm enough and graceful enough to provoke and reward continued viewing. If I was going to buy one image from this page as "fine art" and hang it in my room, that would be the one.

I also really, really, like THIS image. While I'd certainly call it dynamic, it has a more graceful and subtle quality that I respond to.

Anyways, I feel like I have trashed a lot of photography that I both admire and envy. I want to reiterate that I really am trying to highlight and emphasize my own personal tastes here and not actually argue that any of these images is unsuccessful in a broader sense.

But, if I was making a short list of White Sands images to buy for my own home, THIS one and THISone by Michael Reichmann come before any others I have seen. I am not always a fan of his work and usually can think of another photographer's approach to a subject that I admire more than his. But, these particular images work very, very well for me (as do many of his recent Pacific Redwood images).

I want to thank you for that involved and well illustrated explanation of your comment. I do agree that the typical, punchy, high contrast, oversaturated, dune image is a tired cliche. I find many of Shaw's photos avoid those pitfalls. The ones you used to illustrate your point are his most conventional for sure. Of the other my favourite , 7,18, and 23 are all quite subdued. Some places like Namibia or Death valley, White Sands NP would offer a huge challenge to photograph in an original manner after the miles of film that have been taken of these places.

Gordon, you sir have good taste! LOL

 

Those are my favourite three too -- in exact reverse order (23, 18, 7).

Well, good morning ( here), because of hour difference I was sleeping... and came to the rest of your conversation just now.

Ian, usualy I read the first explanation of the photographer, but as it was late I somehow did not read yours, so my evaluation shows that you have succeeded in your experiment ;-)). Even after Gordon's comment that it is snow and not sand, I still though about the color( before falling asleep), and wondered why is the color so much similar to sands in this image and not the snow colors. well this morning I read your first comment and all the rest with your examples of J. Shaw, and everything became clear. My dream was to go to Namibia( and I may do it if it will be possible) but that thought of the sands was in my mind, and I tried it here too, years ago.

 

Thanks for the links to Shaw's work especially, it was good to see his work( my favorite is 23, and 20....) and the article of white sands that I will read later on.

 

About your work, I'm the " walking evidence" that your aim was to the point, as I realy thought it was sand! and now I'm glad I have slipped your begining explanation.....I like as well the way you have cropped it, and placed the Yucca, where it is placed .Also the subtle difference of FG and BG. nuances of color.

 

I like that image delicate and significant appearnce, of plants in dificult weather and environmental conditions.

 

BTW,where is death valley located in USA( OK, found it, and I was some days in New Mexico... pity. ) and what does it means NP? thanks

'NP' was my short-form for 'National Park'.

However, I was wrong. The American Parks system is quite odd in its various terminologies. It is actually a 'National Monument' (so, I guess 'NM' would have been the correct short-form). National Monuments are one step below National parks in the levels of protection and management they are given.

As for Death Valley, it is in the state of California in the American South West.

I'm going to attach a .pdf map of California here and a .pdf map of Death Valley National Park on the next post.

Oh well, it didn't work.

Go HERE and download the first map for the location of Death Valley within California. The second map is a detail map of the Park with most of the principal locations labeled -- you'll recognize many of them if you follow Landscape photography. Many instantly bring to mind iconic images by photographers from Ansel Adams onwards.

You are a "fast worker"... I'm still was trying to better my English sentences and your answer was already there,( so read my comment again ,Please...) Nice.

 

Thanks for the maps, I have to go out so I will look at them later on.I love traveling in general, and this kind of natural special phenomenon are especially intetresting, not only as a photographer's delight but as a way to see and absorbe Our glob's sights.If you look at my portfolio, you will see some of the places I bring my impressions from, but my interest is wide and I concentrate on various ellements of the culture I'm traveling in. Usually coming to a new place for a short amount of time, your senses are attacked with so many impressions...

Pnina, thank you for your further comment.

 

I really appreciate the way you manage to capture something of the culture of the places and people you have visited (I'm thinking most particularly of your Japan images here). In many ways, traveling to experience the differences of culture and customs is more inspiring than traveling to see the natural wonders of the planet (but, I sometimes think exactly the opposite).

 

One last thought, if you have Google Earth, you can clearly see the white sand of White Sands in the satellite image. It is a fairly isolated clump and stands out clearly from its surroundings -- neat!

 

 

 

Ian, thank for 'Google earth", a good revelation for me! the white sands looks a real fascination of nature phenomenon, and looks a real photographic worth of " research".

I don't separate nature from culture and people, coming to a new country, as I think that the kind of nature, weather conditions etc, are influencing parts of the culture of the people( Fugi mountain Japan, cherry blossom period).As another example, people that are living in the desert( like parts of Mali) are different from people leaving in a snow culture ( like Eskimos) or surged country( like Iceland as an example, all places I have visited), It is also a factor of nature resources that give a country the level of everyday life. There are so many parametters of evaluations..

I love google earth I can see my friends apartment building in NYC and I can even see my trout pond out in the woods here. Sometimes I just cruise around the planet looking at places I've been or places I wish to visit. The pyramids in Egypt look pretty cool from space.

Very clean and eye-catching. Great shot.

 

very nice minimalist image.