Out through the inside!

Joker? Only if i squint real hard, and definitely not unless somebody suggested so.

I think the strengths of the photo are pretty obvious. I like the way the surfer looks like he's in a very tense pose as he heads towards the "infinity point" or horizon of swirling waves. FOr me the only question is the border, the darkness of which I find distracts from the concentrated darknes of the surfer. I'm not necessarily sure that the image with no frame would be that much better, but it would be different. For me the border keeps me more "out" of the image and makes it more decorative, an object. No frame puts me more in the action.

This is a beautiful shot! Never see that view much and it is awesome! Liked everything about this picture!

Believe me when I tell you that when the image was originally

viewed on the top pages, I had to work hard to see the surfer. I

can't help but see the joker as a first interpretation.

 

(Run with this, if you must . . . .:-))

"perhaps you should have got a few of your mates to body surf through the tube next to you holding lighting, reflectors, and softboxes!"

 

Good one Doug!

 

I am in favor of your crossprocessing choice. The border, well, I don't mind it.

Well technically you did well here, hell I can't surf.

 

But, I find faces more interesting than the back of someone's head.

The cross processing doesn't do much for me, because Australian surf looks like this anyway, a kind of tropical cyan, so I didn't really notice the processing.

 

I would of liked to have seen a self portrait of yourself, if that's possible.

 

As a 'tube shot' it's a great success, as a Photograph I don't find it very interesting.

Blah!

Mediocre!

Bad choice!

 

 

Thats it! I give up! Ill never figure out these elves.

I thought the purpose of picture of the week was both to generate discussion and make the web site look good, but at this rate photo net has a lot of growing to do. Maybe the staff doesnt get paid enough? For me personally, the REAL P.O.W. is THE BOX or WATER TROLL; how about CLEAN WINTER GREEN.

 

To the photographer, congratulations on the photos that didnt get chosen! Im sorry man, but I cant find anything about this particular photo that I like, not even a single thing. Please keep in mind that Im judging the photograph not the difficulty in taking it, nor the uniqueness of it. Neither am I judging your personal experience (or anyone else for that matter) in surf photography.

 

David, just out of curiosity, would you be so bold as to tell us which is your favorite surfer photo? In the past, when you showed your pictures to your friends, did you at any point in time actually brag about the one chosen this week as POW?

 

If I were forced to rate this photo Id give it 3 for aesthetics and 3 for originality. On another note: if I were to judge the box I would give it 7 for aesthetics and 6 for originality. If I were to judge either one on sharpness or vibrant color that would be another story but the POW would still rate low: but in this particular case Im judging aesthetics and originality and in both these the picture truly sucks. I dont mean to insult you at all; Im only saying that this particular photo is almost below average in the library of surfer photos. Perhaps this is why Im interested in knowing which is your favorite photo? There is no easy way to dislike a POW and state it, so I'll retire now and take the heat yet again.

Isidro,

 

I'm not burning you here but merely trying to point out what makes this shot a good one. As you are aware ther are certain things is specialised photography that make a good shot and these may not be clearly evident to the non-participating photographer. In this shot David has composed the shot extremely well and has captured all the elements of a good tube shot. The surfer is not centralised and blocking the view of the wave and you can see the 'eye' of the tube which gives us a good feeling of the surfer being able to 'make' the barrel, ie actually have a chance of coming out the other side. Getting good composure in a tube shot is extremely difficult as you only have a split second to compose and shoot, sure a certain amount of luck is involved especially when it comes to getting a shot without water drops on the lens distorting the image. The colour didn't grab me as was mentioned earlier as I am also from Australia and am used to these colours.

"Gloria Joker? Only if i squint real hard, and definitely not unless somebody suggested so."

 

Yea, I can see him. But I'm one of "those" who likes to find stuff in clouds - especially if properly fortified ;)

Whew! Dave, you blew me away with this shot. In 30+ years of surfing and trying to take the perfect photo of the perfect wave, you captured it. Great shot!

Not sure what Isidro's deal is....

 

This is a great shot, and could otherwise care less what the technical details are. I look at this image and feel spray hitting my face while my ears are full of the roar of the water dragon.

 

Would have given an internal organs to be there even if it meant 'eating some reef'. Yeah....

Excellent image,well worth the work you put into the capture,so far from the point and shoot crowd!!!!!

Nice effort, hope it makes you plenty of money! :)

Troyer--an amazing shot! You are my hero. I just don't know why you couldn't get a shot of me doing the same at the Box. I'll be back to California soon and I'll give you a chance to get one of me flying over the falls, head first! Tim

Great shot. To tell the truth I've never really been drawn to surfing

photography. I do realize how hard it is to get great surfing

shots, but I never really payed attention to it. This shot though is

great. I also know how hard it is to get great fisheye shots, but

this is one. Over all great shot.

I dont have the time at the moment, but sufice it to post the first surfing photo I came up with without having to look real hardyou have to go no further than your last Popular Photography issue to find a good surfing photo.

Those are your opinions, and they are certainly valid. Perhaps if you'd tried surfing... anyhow, this encapsulates a feeling which may take an individual months of practice to achieve. BTW, if one would care to see what surfers risk for this feeling, check out http://www.sharkattacks.com/bites.htm

As an accomplishment this is great.

As a photo it doesn't do that much for me.

Congratulations though.

I have to disagree with those who don't think this is a GOOD photo, although a good achievement.

 

Anyone who has been dumped ('over the falls') will know how much elemental force a big wave has in shallow water. I don't think you can eliminate that from the discussion...otherwise, nearly all outdoor/street/spontaneous photographs could not be good because they are not as technically 'perfect' as a studio shot 8 people have spent a day setting up.

 

But, that said, I think one of the reasons it is a good surfing photo is that it IS good photographically. I think that it is well composed and that a similar composition would be chosen even if not so transient (surfers move fast!). The 'vanishing point' of the tube opening is perfectly placed.

 

It must be an Aussie thing, as a poster above said, as I did not recognise that the film was cross processed at first. The water colour sort of looks believable from my experience, but maybe with slight underexposure. If it has given the figure that dark look and added the cyan touch to the water, then it is probably beneficial. Not as keen on the magenta frilly outline, though.

I must say this is a great shot and one many could never manage to take so I think that makes it extra special to get right in there with a camera and take this was really something. Nice work and congrats.

Cheers.......

Perhaps what makes this photo special is its grade of difficulty and the achievement in capturing an almost impossible shot, but here we are judging aesthetics and originality, and on these categories, I have seen hundreds of better photos. You cant deny that most of the praises come from surfers themselves, reason being, is that they relate to the grade of DIFFICULTY in capturing this type of photo much more than the average viewer. I myself have said that the folder has much better photos then the POW. What makes this picture unique is the moment captured and not the beauty of the photo (aesthetics). perhaps I was a little conservative or cheap in my rating of 3 for originality, but by that I meant that I have seen this type of photo hundreds of times before and in a much better rendition.

 

Here is an on line example of surfing photography.

 

http://www.wetsand.com/redirect.asp?ResourceID=806

 

You can find this image and many other excellent photos in this link:

 

http://www.wetsand.com/channel.asp?CatId=31

 

Make sure you check all the pages; Mike Peralta has a few excellent ones.

Very Strong picture. The composition/color/moment you took the

picture is exceptional. I have to side with those who dislike the

border though.

 

 

Isidro -

 

"What makes this picture unique is the moment captured and

not the beauty of the photo (aesthetics)."

 

You seem to forget that the point you brought up is a huge part of

photography. Photography isn't just about "art shots" of classic

still lifes on some fabric backdrop. Photography is about

conveying a message or a feeling. Capturing a specific, unique

moment has propelled many photographs into legends, not

because they are a half eaten apple lit by a softbox in a studio,

but because they are an event; one that makes the viewer feel

like they are there.

The waves on the Chesapeake are less than impressive, so I can't speak

from experience, but the impact of this photo is that it literally

puts you right in the action. The aesthetics of the composition are

quite good no matter how difficult it was to achieve. As for

originality, the in line image puts the viewer at a safe distance and

is far more common.

 

If you can find a better shot by someone else ON PHOTO.NET that

achieves what this one attempts to do, then maybe this is a '5' or

'6'. If this is the best on this site, then it's a '7'. .

You guys are making me feel bad!

 

OK, Ill concede a little here, I do like the moment captured but, for the life of me, I just cant cheer over the posture of the man. You have to admit that had he both his arms extended (somewhatI know the objective is to not touch the water and loose your balance) the picture would have won the audience by far. This always seems to happen to me: at first sight, I determine whether the picture is a winner or not; but for some unknown reason, I always end up liking the POW a little more towards the end of the week. Who knows, maybe by Sunday Ill be scolding those who dislike it. Not really, but my mistake I guess, was not explaining my point of view from the get-go.

 

As much as the picture relies in its unusual perspective for impact, it looses this very impact because of the abstraction of the human figure.

The tip of the wave touching the ocean is what makes the photo unique, but at the same time, this is what closes up the rest of the world away and confines the success of the photo to whats inside the tube. And in this case, the figure is too difficult to discern, and thus, appreciate, and we are left with having to settle for the decisive moment captured, and that alone, is not enough for me in this particular case. Reason being, that the key decisive moment here is for the wave and not for the man.

It's a good shot, David, because it's a great performance to bring it back home at all given the shooting conditions, AND because the composition is very good. BUT I sincerely don't think that cross processing this film was even half a good idea. The colors end up okay, but not what I would expect from a water shot: basically, everything is either this blue-green or is dark. Wouldn't we want to keep the real colors alive ? You said the weather wasn't great, but then what about next day...? I can't be convinced that shooting under a cloudy sky is good for this sort of photography. Finally, that red border is imo awful and eats up a lot of attention, so I'd honestly crop off all borders.

Despite all the above, we can't deny that this picture is quite unique, so I'd rate it high in originality and average to good at best in aesthetics - if atings still made any sense, that is.

I'm not really a surf buff at all, but here is the picture of yours that I would have considered an excellent choice:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1503173

I don't think the timing is any less spectacular, and in "Water troll", we can really feel the *weight* of the wave. Besides that, we can see a bit of a face, and the colors are wonderful. The composition seems about as unique to me as your POW shot as well - though it may be a bit more difficult to take the POW shot, I suppose.

End of the day, it's not how difficult the shot is that matters, it's the result, and "Water Troll" is imo the winner in your folder. Regards.