Spiral II

Marc, I agree about keeping the image accurate to the original scene. Carl, yes, that's what I meant by the details... the railings, ect. Dennis, as much as I like this image, it is a good example of why images displayed on screen may not hold up when presented as a big print. Too bad, really, I'd like to hang this one on my wall. Photo of the week is for the purpose of discussion, and this one is a winner (to me), but many images just won't hold up at larger sizes (of course, nobody says you have to make big enlargements to have a sucessful image) Kenneth, I haven't checked out your portfolio yet (prefere to concentrate of Photo of the Week on it's own), but I do look forward to it.

It is a great photograph Ken! For most of us who read from left to right, the orientation that you have in this photograph produces the maximum tension, and concomitantly, the maximum interest. It is a tried-and-true cinematographic tool; directors will use it to increase the dynamics of the presented image. And in my opinion, you used it most effectively. Regards.

Kenneth,

Awesome pic. No matter which way people want to turn it,

the picture was well thought out and a beautiful image.

Congrats!

You wrote: "Sometimes when a subject becomes very much a cliche getting a truly good shot like this one is more difficult than being original. We have all seen some really original really terrible stuff haven't we?"

 

Interesting statement, worth discussing a little imo. Yes, we have all seen some really original really terrible stuff indeed, but it does not, logically speaking, lead to the conclusion stated in the first of your 2 sentences. You know that, anyway. Now what about the first sentence? I'd say it CAN be true, but it isn't true for all subjects. Being original - and doing it well! - is extremely difficult; and even more so when difficult techniques are involved. Taking a simple yet outstanding portrait or picture of a tree is indeed very difficult. But in the case of a staircase, what is the difficulty, honestly? Finding a nice staircase, and that's it. Composing properly is of course necessary, but I believe 9 bearely decent photographers out of ten would have composed this particular POW picture the way we see it: you don't need to be a genius to try avoiding disturbing elements in the corners and to align the floor-levels in such a way that the spiral doesn't break along the way. And really, there is absolutely nothing else you need to do well here. Doing something unoriginal well CAN be very difficult, but it is absolutely easy in this case. Saying this, I am not at all trying to denigrate that Kenneth is a very good photographer - he is -, but I am just saying that I see no reason to be in awe for a photo like this. It is well done, but it is EASY to do well in cases like this, when there's only one angle to go for and no lighting issues. Kenneth has demonstrated his talent on many occasions: here, he came accross a nice staircase, adjusted the camera to meet the obvious good angle - which lasted 3 minutes at most - and went home.

Its awesome!! I hope I could get into that mood!

Offsetting the image, brilliant color sats, gives a feel of floating spiral. I guess a subject was intentionally avoided, but would it have fostered interest? I don't know, can somebody comment on that.

Seem that the infinite debate over Originality in photography is not... over yet. Indeed the spiral staircase is very attractive for many photographer because it offers an architectural as well as a spiritual dimension rendered by the infinite effect of the view of a concentric ring ... does it mean it's boring or not original? ... I would say it depends people (some like some don't, some who enjoys to see hundred of stairs pictures will always find at least a detail that make it original and different from another one, this can apply to nude, portait, macro, rust,...

So, here we have a colorful one (may be too 'united color' IMO in that respect I'd preferred a more tired wall), a rustic handail (a bit out of focus IMO), the angle (fine IMO), a choice of composition inside the frame (working well IMO

Just to allow comparizon and as reference to the world of Spiral Staircases at PNet here as some different approaches of the same subject, each of them similar and original in a sense: color, angle up/down, from inside, from outside:

Jari Tähkäpää

pingu pingu

Andrea Taurisano

John Orr - a previous POW

its simply beautiful.....wonderful pattern...colours.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I said "is more difficult" when I should have said, can be more difficult, poor choice of words on my part.

 

You wrote "Being original - and doing it well! - is extremely difficult" I completely agree.

 

You wrote "and even more so when difficult techniques are involved". Degree of diffuculty has no bearing on wether or not I like a picture. In most case (not all) I don't care what the photographer had to do to get the picture. The picture is all that counts.

 

You wrote "Taking a simple yet outstanding portrait or picture of a tree is indeed very difficult. But in the case of a staircase, what is the difficulty, honestly? " What is the difference?

 

You wrote "Composing properly is of course necessary, but I believe 9 bearely decent photographers out of ten would have composed this particular POW picture the way we see it" Maybe, for barely decent photographers they are probably all going to come away with nearly the same shot, maybe not this shot above but all looking much alike. Don't you agree that 10 really good photographers would come away with 10 very different pictures?

 

You wrote "Saying this, I am not at all trying to denigrate that Kenneth is a very good photographer - he is -, but I am just saying that I see no reason to be in awe for a photo like this. " I completely agree. I am certainly not in awe of this picture either, but I really do like it, I like almost everything about it no matter how simple or how difficult it was to take. I've seen what I think are better staircase shots. One of my favorites that you seem to be fond of as well Marc is right here http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1033880 in Kenneth's own folder.

I think it IS well found and well executed. Perfect composition and interesting subject matter.

 

The only thing that bothers me is the digital representation of your image (which is originally on film). I think taking care in this step can be easily neglected, but when you are presenting your image in a digital showroom, its quality as a "digital image" should also be evaluated. Specifically, I think the compression artifacts, blurring, and (un?)sharpening are distracting and were, quite honestly, the first things I noticed about this image.

 

Other than that, congratulations on a great photo.

@ Steve Pennington,

 

Agreed for the most part of what you wrote... Only 2 things:

 

1) I personally care to SOME extent about the difficulty liked with the action of taking a particular photograph. I am not saying, that a picture MUST be difficult to take in order to please me. I am just saying, that if a picture is very pretty, but generates no emotions for me, and if at the same time it seems to be made of obvious decisions, I may still like it - I do like this POW to a certain extent -, but I will never consider it as particularly worth of attention. But that's just me.

 

2) You wrote: "Don't you agree that 10 really good photographers would come away with 10 very different pictures? " I suppose you are here talking about 10 great photographers shooting THIS STAIRCASE. If so, then no, I do not think they will come up with very different results. (But then again, at which point would we call a result "very different" from another result...? :-) As John Orr wrote above in this thread, I believe it is true that we tend to consider "all the same" most pictures that belong to a genre we are not very interested in; whereas we see fine differences within pictures of the genres we like most.

 

Finally, I am glad you brought up this 2ND picture of a staircase I was refering to in my earlier post. I personally find it EXTREMELY original, and much more original than this POW. I did explain why in the thread regarding this other picture, and when I saw this week's POW, to be honest, my first thought was: how sad that we will not discuss this other picture by Kenneth instead of the chosen POW...

Congrats on your POW. As per usual keep up the good work and enjoy your 20 minutes of fame! :-)

I disagree that the *other* staircase image is stronger than this one chosen. By comparing the ratings between the two, most others feel the same as well.... by a mile.

 

It takes a great eye to actually recognize the potential this scene offered. And nothing less than an outstanding photographer to maximize on it's potential, as has clearly been done here. Kenneth has done this same thing over and over wherever he happens to pull out his camera. In my opinion he has a natural eye for composition and detail that you simply cannot teach. You are born with it or not. Most, if not all of his work has this same level of quality. I've said the same thing to him many times, it's a shame he does not do this professionally... because he surely could!

Benoit Mandelbrot will be proud! That's what I thought when I first saw the thumbnail.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I apologize that I can't address each comment individually.

 

Marc is pretty much exactly right about how I took this photo. It was really easy. After checking in at the front desk, I was waiting for the elevator and saw this staircase. I took out my camera, pointed it up, set it to f/4, focused, held my breath, and released the shutter. Marc's estimation was generous. The photo took less than a minute from conception to "click". The viewfinder was oriented exactly as the photo is presented: horizontally. It has not been rotated. The composition just felt natural to me and, as some have pointed out, is probably the composition that most photographers would have chosen. I wasn't trying to be original with this composition. I just thought the lighting and the pattern would make a pretty picture.

 

Steve & Marc: Thanks for mentioning my other staircase shot - Semi-circular. Interestingly, that photo took just about as long to shoot as this one and was just as easy. But there, I saw an opportunity for what I thought would make a unique abstract and I was definitely trying to be original.

 

Carl: Regarding your thoughts on the direction of entry, I tend to find lead-in lines from the bottom right and top left more effective than the other two corners. I don't know if other photographers feel this way but I checked previous POWs and leading lines come more often from the former corners. But apparently, an individual's preference plays a central role here. Also, I tend to like leading lines that take the eyes to the area of most contrast, not necessary the brightest spot, although that's often the region of most contrast.

 

Michael & Claude: Thanks for your in-depth analyses. I think the preference to read and write from left to right is based on a practical consideration. As most people are right-handed, writing from left to right avoids smudging the ink and allows one to see what was just written. Since writing involves declarative learning, the preference for left-to-right might be one that is acquired. Whereas deciding whether one likes a particular composition or not is something that cannot be taught. Learning may be involved, but it's certainly not procedural learning. So I don't know whether the same predilection can find a parallel in looking at a photograph and considering the composition as a whole.

 

Regarding the color, the intense yellow is the result of tungsten lighting on daylight balanced film. The greenish parts of the wall came from daylight through the windows. It's the same color of paint. Also, I agree that the depth of field is shallow and wish I had used a tripod, which I actually carried with me. Regarding the digital quality, some of the compression artifacts came from photo.net's old compression program.

 

Cheers,

Kenneth Kwan

It is an eye catching image, I like it very much.

hackneyed: To cause to become banal and trite through overuse.

 

Other than that, it's an eye pleasing picture.

"I wasn't trying to be original with this composition. I just thought the lighting and the pattern would make a pretty picture."

 

A skilled photographer (obviously the case here) can do this when presented with an 'opportunity' such as this stair-case. It is indeed a pretty picture. But I think photographs like this are ultimately somewhat disposable.

 

To me the interesting question is: once you have the skill what are you going to do with it?

 

Congratulations on the pick.

 

Cheers,

Eric

...could have been picture of the year if a nude could have been placed on the stairs...

 

I should apologize though, my gripe is with the subject, not the execution of this lovely photo. I will admit it caught my eye. Technically it's almost a perfect photo. I think I need to shut up and shoot!

Above all, I envy Kenneth's steady hand....

For me this is a combination of beauty and originality. Excellent image and congrats!

When I first saw the picture, I wondered, 'what is it?' I stopped and looked closer, and it started to make sense. I agree it looked like a fractal at first, but not quite.... The intense yellow is part of the appeal, as well as the interesting sculptured railing, and the tilt of the flat part. I prefer the original view. I didn't like the flat part presented in the lower-right because then it resembled a series of doorways. (anyone else think so?)

 

Simple? Yes. Original? Probably not. Eye-catching? Definitely! Great picture? You bet!!

Wow! What a great image! Didn't know that the Mandelbrot figure really exists ;-) This is mathematics come alive.

Fantastica!!! i have no-other words! good prospective, colors and excellent perpspective!!

Brilliant shot! Fibonacci would have been proud!

I can appreciate this picture, having been to so many countries that know how to utilize bright colors like this, unlike the Washington, DC area where everything is either white or red. I need to begin taking photos like this one.