Climb

All comments welcome. Does this work for you? I'm a little undecided

about the composition but haven't found a crop I particularly prefer.

I very much like the composition. My eyes tend to start at the top of this photo, and the various elements lead me all the way to the bottom...the tree, the boy (?), the roots and vegetation, and finally the markings on the hillside slide down into the right-hand corner of the frame. This is a very successful photo that I like very much. (I don't know that this next bit will sound like I intend it) I wouldn't say it's pleasant to look at, because it's better and a much harsher reality than that. I think the person in the photo is an element that would be very missed if it weren't there. JR

I like very much the infrared effect on the clouds, makes them look like smoke. It is a very creative and interesting shot, very well done. As far as composition, I wish the cloud did not mix up with the tree branches. All the best

The wizard's eyes ~

 

 

 

Excellent composition and capture! Very fine work 7/7 Best regards,

 

 

Perfectly presented artistic b/w image.

Creative composition and rich grey tonality. Congrats.

 

This is truly a complex image! I find the mystery of the story compelling. Who is the boy? Why is he climbing that unusual terrain? Where is he headed? What's he looking for? The imagery is powerful. The bright promise in the sky beckons him, but first he must traverse and escape the tentacles of the monster tree. That tree, so deceptively frail and helpless on the surface (trunk and branches) is coiled, powerful, and threatening (the roots). All this perched atop the fable "slippery slope."

 

WOW.

 

Now, it leaves me tense, unsettled and leaning forward in my chair much as a film in the "thriller" genre would. The visuals -- worth repeating -- are powerful and have great depth. Generally I wouldn't like the "blown"(?) highlights in the sky but here they increase the impact of the "light at the end of the tunnel" mood. (And, I'm away from home on my laptop so the brightness of my monitor is questionable).

 

After looking at it a bit, I want to run away from it. Had enough. So...is it good?

 

VERY! It meets and then some my criterion for "art:" It evokes emotion, and it has that quality I've yet been able to verbalize.

 

Some day you're going to be famous. Will you remember us little folk? (Ha ha!)

this is an exceptional, lyrical image.

I have been exposed to your work through FredG. and have been impressed with your versatility and developing technical prowess. This photo adds an emotional element that is captivating. One of my personal favorite photos is a Kertesz sometimes called ' my brother as Scherzo" (not a technically accomplished image).... Your photo has a similar poetic impact on me. Throw in a Jerry Uelsmann tree (technically skilled) and you have accomplished a special photo. That's to say, you made it your own.

I find myself wondering about the print of this image. My gut tells me that this would excel has a fine print. The backlit monitor suggests an extremely refined, rich image but i think the print would be amazing.

I am curious to your reference to the cropping.? Are we being treated to the full frame? or were you considering tightening this crop? also you have made a notable and interesting choice of green/ir... filtering and or post treatment choice on this 'out of sight' collection. It especially works well with this image, where it seems organic and integrated to the content.

A very fine imaginative capture. I look forward to more, josh

My appologies for the long delay in replying to all of these wonderful comments. I have been on the road without access to the internet except sporadically and only for a few short hours at a time. I will be back at home shortly and promise a thorough read and response to some of these comments.

 

For now, I want to reply to your comment, Josh. Your comment really struck me for a variety of reasons. First, I was completely unaware of Kertesz and only really knew of Uelsmann in passing -- largely due to the photograph of him by J-P Caponigro (a photographer whose work I have studied at length and admire).

 

Second, and more provocatively, I have never thought of my work as having a lyrical quality in the sense of it being flowing, or melodic. I do aim strongly for my photographs to "expresse a subjective, personal point of view" -- even when the photographs are studies of cacti (to name a set of my work that I feel has a strong "subjective, personal point of view"). I wonder at what exactly you meant by lyrical. Can you maybe elaborate on that?

 

I wonder on this because this image is a fortuitous happenstance. I took the shot solely on a whim as I waited for the image I had planned to take. You see, I don't photograph people often. I don't why I don't, I just don't feel compelled to do so. I certainly don't think of photographing people in the landscape. That feels odd to me when I first think of it.

 

But, here I was having brought a friend to a location I had previously visited. I had brought my new IR camera and I wanted to try a new take on an old subject of one of my previous images. So, I had the composition all set up. I had my camera on a tripod with my infrared converted camera set and my focus and exposure preset and my filter in place and I was waiting for some women and children in the background to move out of the way. I was also waiting for the clouds to part a bit. Then, this child climbed up this hill and I instinctively tripped the shutter and thought `this might be interesting`. I was surprised I thought to take the image; and more surprised I worked it up; and even more surprised I like it as much as I do. I am still trying to understand my response to the whole situation from beginning to end.

 

As for how this prints, I have only had time to make a small, rough 8x10 before I had to pack and go on my trip. It was certainly promising; but, I think I can get more out of this. I plan to exhibit this image along with a series of others from these Cheltenham Badlands in the local town hall in the month of September. I hope to make 16x20 (or the the closest correct ratio) prints and have strong hopes that this will make an excellent final print.

 

Lastly, you correctly noted that this is an infrared image along with the others in this folder (hence the tongue and cheek folder title -- these are all images beyond what we can see with our eyes). I have given technical details in the `details` section.

 

I have recently converted my older D80 DSLR for use for IR and, eventually, UV imaging. I had been working with Kodak HIE until it was discontinued so I already had the filters. I had enjoyed the experimentation with that film. But, the high cost of the film ($12 a roll for processing and a fair bit for the film itself) was prohibitive and the graininess never really suited my style. But, I didn`t like any other IR film I tried more (except the discontinued Konica IR film which I absolutely loved but only ever shot two -- expired -- rolls before never seeing it again).

 

I have been trying to use the IR effect to create strong images irregardless of their IR origins. I want to use IR as a tool and not as an `effect`. Much like a polariser can create great images where only a talented eye can tell a polarizer was used, I hope to use IR in much the same way.

 

I encourage you to check out the IR and non-IR images of the American southwest by Mitch Dobrowner either on his website or in print (Lenswork no. 69 or B&W Aug. 2007 Portfolio edition). They are inspirational in their careful use of IR and simply as outstanding high-drama images.

 

Thanks again Josh for your insightful comments. I hope you will stop buy again when any given work particularly strikes you. I have thoroughly enjoye going through your website and many of its images. I find much to admire and be inspired by there.

 

I was particualrly struck by the beautiful light and the compositional brilliance of the man in `19th St.`, by the impressive stares and unnerving eroticism of no. 32 of 105, by the odd mix of nostalgia and desire in 57 of 105, and by the unique and effective landscapes of 78 and 79. I would be happy to go on about any of those.

 

Once again thatnks to everyone else who commented. I will get a chance to read and respond in a few days time. I am particualrly intirgued by the tension you see in this Rachel. I can see that too. I also see something in the upward struggle of both child and tree -- one alive and one dead.

 

 

 

 

 

Good god, I did babble on didn`t I?

Due to challenges that the internet and written word pose, let me be presumptuous, in hope of starting on the same footing. To insure i had used the word that i intended 'lyrical', i searched and collected some definitions for lyric and lyricism, both as adjective and noun.

...an artist's expression of emotion in an imaginative and beautiful way

...unrestrained

...suitable for singing to the lyre or for being set to music and sung

...of, relating to, or being drama set to music

...of or relating to a category of poetry that expresses subjective thoughts and feelings, often in a having a singing voice of light volume and modest range.

...in the modern sense, any fairly short poem expressing the personal mood, feeling, or meditation of a single speaker

...rhapsodic

As these selective definitions read, i feel i did use the appropriate word.

 

As in Kerteszs' 'scherzo' i hear music playing when i view your image. I often use music to suggest and inspire imagery. Sometimes i directly capture what i am hearing ie; if there is jazz playing i create a jazz photo that reflects the particular qualities of the structure. or, if i am listening to a driving Peter Green guitar ballad, i will capture the motion that it inspires. When i view Sudeks poetic images i am sure that rainy day classical music is in the air. With 'scherzo' i imagine that the subject has music in his head (not Kertesz). In your image i imagine you have music in your head (not the child). In this moment, this day, you are wearing an ipod and listening to whatever music has magic for ya.... and i am hearing it, a Hungarian rhapsody or Gypsy Roma. I truly enjoy hearing music in a photo... right up there with seeing a sensual print.

In addition, the ir, (beautifully non effectsy here) has a lightness of being quality (as does the childs footing) that enhances the Sisyphean story unfolding, or perhaps nearing completion.

Serendipity can be a wonderful teacher

 

Finally, what takes it over the top is the poetic expansiveness. You have combined a vast number of interpretive elements, the youth, the beauty in death or scar, the motion of child, clouds, hillside, roots, new life in the saplings, is it spring or winter, sunny or overcast, dark or light, grand or microcosm ..... and yet it does seem to have a viewpoint. if you want.

 

I did not know that Paul Caponigro had a well known son, JP. When you used the name in your post i assumed you meant the father, Paul, an accomplished and recognizable photographer. I took a few minutes to clear up the mystery on google. I saw JPs work and saw some similarities to what i knew of Pauls work, but it didn't seem like what Paul would be doing. Aha... father and son. Same voice, yet different. Like Edward and Brett Weston. Like John and Julian Lennon. . Paul (the father) is reminiscent of another photographer that came to mind when i saw 'climb', Wynn Bullock (and Oliver Gagliani)Bullock added the human element to his landscape work in a similar way to this image. Two of his most recognizable images use a child in landscape. I found a link that has both on one page 'child in forest'1951 / 'child on forest road' 1958

 

Ian, I recognize that this is not your usual capture. a people, and a people in motion. your birds, insects are in motion, but mostly appear to be at a moment of near pose. Climb has opened the door to another realm that you seem to have something different/additional to say.

 

iam still curious about your crop dilemma..

i am running out of monitor space. take care, josh

Thank you very much Josh for coming back to this.

 

A few responses:

 

1. I'm afraid I don't currently share your level of connection between music and photography. I am an avid music lover and have an extensive collection of my favourites around me most of the time. I also have sung or played instruments in the past. But, I have never directly heard music in an image of my own or created from music directly.

 

Although . . . As I typed that, I am forced to recall that I was, once upon a time, some 10 years ago, inspired to paint a huge canvas in large swathes of intense coloured blotches in direct response to hearing Ravel's Bolero. I bought the supplies, made a preliminary sketch or two and then never made the painting. I still have the (huge) blank canvas. I had been inspired by some Bertram Brooker paintings based directly from music (he was an early Canadian abstract painter and had been inspired by Kandinsky's writings including "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" to try and paint directly from music).

 

I do not why, really, but, I then stopped being personally creative for a number of years until I picked up gardening and cooking as outlets a few years later, and then photography only a couple of years ago. Although I look to that blank canvas with a sense of melancholy, I do know that I am far the better gardener, cook, or photographer than I ever was a painter or drawer.

 

2. You said: "enhances the Sisyphean story unfolding, or perhaps nearing completion."

 

I really like that take on this image. It isn't quite how I saw it. My mind was more in the realm of transitions and growth from one stage of life and death to the next. I was seeing in this image an exploration of that transitional state. But, I also enjoy your closely related thought.

 

3. "Serendipity can be a wonderful teacher."

 

I agree wholeheartedly. I have been reading Alain Briot's Luminous Landscape essays (I actually bought the print copy from RockyNook publishing). He speaks at length about the fortuitous accidents, the serendipity, the luck, which have transformed his photography, his life, or his career at times.

 

4. I do like Paul Caponigro's work too. The pears, the cosmic apple and the running white deer all leap to mind and show how embedded into my mind they are. But, I had recently been thoroughly investigating JP Caponigro's work. I am not such a fan of the bi-laterally symmetrical images and/or the suspended rocks. But, the suffusion series and the Antarctica images are very compelling.

 

5. If you have some time and have an interest in some great B&W and colour landscapes. I also recommend David Burdeny http://www.davidburdeny.com/ . His Greenland/Antarctica series includes the BEST images from that type of landscape I have seen and his earlier work from his book Shorelines is exceptional B&W, long exposure work. It is Michael Kenna inspired, but more than that.

 

6. Thanks for the Wynn Bullock suggestion. I have only cursorily investigated Wynn Bullock's work and I am grateful for the prompt to dig deeper.

 

7. The crop.

 

Well, this is the full frame (except maybe a small nudge to correct tilt -- I don't recall if I had to straighten or not).

 

I was worried about the very centred horizon but liked the small root bottom right too much to crop it out. I have since decided it is another 'happy accident' and actually strengthens the message and emotion of the image (the ying-yang balance of top and bottom would be unbalanced by a crop I think).

 

8. This is a very satisfying image for me now. I feel no hesitations that I could have changed something and done better. The images from my recent road trip are mostly of an entirely different sort and, although good or maybe even great images (see sample), they leave me a little unfulfilled. I'll have more to say on that when I start posting them in a little while (I want to live with them a bit first).

 

 

 

I have returned to this image on several occasions and continue to be surprised by how complex something which outwardly seems straightforward can be. This is one of your best images IMO. In fact it is one of my favourite images seen in a long time. If I ever get around to creating a favourites list this will be among the images I will choose. I have read through your exchanges with Josh and that in itself has been educational.

 

This image hits me on so many levels I am unsure of where to start.I love that tree and recognize it from your previous shots at this location.It speaks of struggle, and tenacity against all odds. Finally it speaks of death and the beauty which death can reveal. As a result of the IR, the living foliage of the saplings, competeing to see who ultimatley claims this now vacant refuge , takes on a ghostly feel. The IR also makes the trees in the background fade and merge with the sky. Between that effect and the whiteness of the clouds the dead tree takes on a wonderful almost surreal presence.

 

As a slight digression, I have been noticing while look through IR images lately how effectively pairing live trees with old and dead trees can be using IR .This ties in nicely with the quote from Bullock's " The Enchanted Landscape" which I read from Josh's link.

 

" One of the many ways to emphasise both space and time is to develop your sense of opposites. If you skilfully photograph an older object together with a younger one, the qualities of each are enhanced by their contrasting characters. As soon as I became aware of this, I became aware of the difference between seeing and perceiving. Seeing is an automatic process, perceiving is a mental, more complex process. Out of perceiving begins growth (Wynn Bullock: The Enchanted Landscape 1993). "

 

Well before reading the above quote, it had struck me that this juxtaposition of the youthful child scampering up the hill and the wizened skeleton of the old tree had a strong emotional impact which the tree on its own had not elicited. It is the yin and yang as you noted that adds so much to this image and I feel the IR is working very much in your favour in that regard.

 

From a purely subject point of view this image transports me through time to my youth. I was raise on the top of the Scarborough bluffs and spend much of my childhood scampering about on those bare exposed cliffs and hills. The energy contained in the child's pose, the way that energy has been capture by the mid stride as s/he is about to make the top, strikes a chord in me and I feel that rush of youthful energy that always came with getting to the top of the hill. That moment when, heart pounding from the exertion, I would look around and survey the new world.

 

In terms of crop I think it stands well as is. I would not want to see you come in any closer on the sides and would hate to loose the bit of root on the left on start to cut in on the foliage. I suppose you could cut a sliver off the top and bottom but it would be inconsequential IMO.

 

I have always believe that life and art are driven forward by fortuitous accidents much more than our ordered minds would like to concede. Certain seemingly random and sometimes hastily considered actions at appropriate times have sent my own life careening off in directions I would not have anticipated. Quite possible I have tossed myself to the wind more than your average person but I believe much of what governs our lives springs out of the chaos around us and it is more what we do with the moment when the moment presents itself than planning the moment itself, which ends up being of consequence. In this instance I am happy that you pressed that shutter when you did.

 

Well, look who is rambling now :-)

Gordon, thank you so much for leaving your thoughts on this.

 

I really love how you phrased your impressions of this tree. "It speaks of struggle, and tenacity against all odds. Finally it speaks of death and the beauty which death can reveal." Those are exactly the thoughts I have had working with this tree. Moreover, I have been more widely interested in the "beauty which death can reveal" and that has permeated many of my images of dead-trees and marsh/swamp environments.

 

I also appreciate your comments on "fortuitous accidents". I was struck reading the interview with David Clapp who now appears as the July 2008 Featured Member on the front page by his comments on "My signature editorial image, a combination of luck and persistence. Rain and low morale at the start of my semi-professional career nearly forced me to abandon this shoot. Its stands as a reminder that my own localized judgment is somewhat of a hindrance, that I should stop rationalizing, and listen to my intuition."

 

This shot was very much intuition alone. I had no real time to compose the shot, or analyse my selection of focal length, or second-guess the exposure and yet, I am as happy with the results as any of my more carefully considered images -- maybe more so. Perhaps I need to stop thinking so much when I am creating and just let things happen? I am a person for whom that will be a very difficult endeavour and it is the exact opposite of my life in academia where every piece of minutia is analysed in the extreme.

 

Thank you again Gordon.

 

P.S. I love the image of little Gordon scampering over the bluffs. I take it they were a little less precipitous in your youth than they are today? I think they are too steep to have children climbing them these days.

 

Superb!