Cemetery Angel, Charlottesville, VA

is this treatment too simplistic?

It may just be that I see squares everywhere, but this should be one, IMHO. All that sky to the right is superfluous.

jeese, why didn't I see that?

 

I guess I thought the jet vapor trail would be enough to validate all the space.

 

thanks Jeff, I needed to hear that.

 

Doug

 

 

This is just a reflection my personal persuasions, but I respond to the aesthetics of a 16 ton weight hanging by a thread, which is what you have here. It's a David & Goliath contest between statue & vapour trail, but an interesting one. Perhaps the quality of light doesn't let the composition express itself to the fullest, but it is rewarding to see a photographer's thought processes in action.

Jeff has a point, but he might be suffering from squaritis, that affliction among hasselblad shooters where only square images look right. I acquired it, too, but have been cured after the recent sale of my own hasselblads.

 

Unfortunately, I've now developed a Nikon variant, not sure what it's called, but I find myself cropping everything at 1:1.5.

 

 

In light of Leigh's commemnt on thought processes, which are sometimes more interesting than the final result, I offer the above: At the top are two consecutive out takes featuring a high-flying visitor, a turkey vulture, or buzzard. The third one is a doctored version of the second out take: the buzzard was moved closer to the statue. The fourth one (the first vertical) is a variant on camera angle, but was actually among the first exposures of the scene. I immediately disqualified this angle of view and moved closer because it felt too straight forward, and because I didn't like the abundance of brown. The last version (the second vertical) features the addition of the buzzard from the second out take pasted onto the first vertical.

 

 

 

I like the contrail. I think it was created by the angel.

Hi Hannah! I like that interpretation.