Float

If you spent more than 30 seconds with this photo and have treated it

as more than a gimmick, I'd love hear your thoughts -- good or bad.

Thanks.

Well, I have given it a couple of minutes; and it is clearly more than a gimmick. Pretty minimalistic. If I'd been there, I'd have probably tried something like this too, Ian. Whether this is wholly successful is probably your call; but an interesting concept well executed. Cheers! Chris

Thanks Chris.

 

I've been sitting on this one for about a month now. I really like it. I mean I really, really like it. It has me considering actively pursuing decidedly more minimalist compositions in the future.

 

I am not sure it works online. It is hard to really feel enveloped by a 900 pixel wide, low-res image. I made a print when I went to a camera club meeting and it works much better in print.

 

 

Very interesting Ian. The image has all the elements of a great photograph. The carefully controlled DOF, excellent exposure, detail, but seemingly lacking a subject at first glance. After further examiniation it appears that the subject may in fact be tranquility. Certainly further examination is required at least...

All the best,

Neil

I love it, the more I look and think the more I like.

It would be good to see a big print on a white wall, you could really get lost in that.

The complete lack of a focal point doesn't seem to matter, it's like the blankness gives you space to think without distraction.

 

Simon

Neil and Simon, thank you both so much for your comments.

 

I am particularly pleased that this image has found appeal with photographers such as yourselves (and myself) who usually/often work with landscapes full of intense light and colour.

 

 

Great title. The wealth of visual information with nothing vying for attention does in fact leave my mind in a meditative " floating" state. I have done a number of minimal compositions out on the bay this summer many of which I am quite pleased with. I have uploaded few to PN making the assumption they would be poorly received, so kudos for posting these.

 

Again with this image the lack of a clearly defined horizon line is working in your favour.

Thanks Gordon.

 

I had another idea for a title -- but, had the nagging thought that I'd heard it before and eventually remember that it was used by another (much better known) photographer for a series of minimalist and computer enhanced images. It took several hours of reflection over a couple of days to come up with this. I went through dozens of titles that were alright before this one came to me and then I knew instantly that was the name by which I wanted to know this image. I felt it was important not to be too suggestive -- but, still, to offer something to the viewer and 'float' can be taken in a number of ways.

 

I am also glad you think the absence of a hard horizon is working here. I wouldn't have been sure of that in this case (while I was sure of it in the case of Transpire).

 

 

 

one of my favorites, if not the favorite.

i'm sure you've seen and read about sugimoto's work, it's hard not to think of him when looking at a photo such as this one.

 

the beauty of it, in my opinion, is that i don't have much to say about it, if anything. it operates on another level.

 

 

Thorir, thank you. That is just the sort of response I hoped this would generate.

 

And, yes, I do know Sugimoto's work. I had the distinct pleasure of seeing his seascapes (and some other works) in person at the Royal Ontario Museum. They have a certain power in a magazine (or album cover); but, nothing compares to standing in front of the 3 metre square prints. They totally envelop the viewer.

 

I'm not usually a fan of the "everything huge" trend that seems to have taken over in photography. But, Sugimoto's prints benefited greatly from being seen large. I've also seen Burtynsky's work at that sort of 3-4 metre scale and they also had a whole different power at that size.

 

 

 

interesting,

 

the only prints i've seen of sugimoto's work are (relatively) small, perhaps 40-45cm high. which was partly what i liked about them, the quietness - so to speak - of their physical size. in fact, i don't think i'd want to see those photographs printed large. i might take it as an element of noise.

 

not that i doubt the least that they must be quite powerful at those sizes you mention...

 

none of them were square though, i thought all of them were shot (and printed) 4:5 proportionally.

 

but now we're topic drifting, - i hope you've printed your own. and when i get rich again (hahhha) i might mail and ask you for a print..

 

best

th

You're right, of course, they are/were 4x5. I'm not sure what made me think of them as square.

 

The exhibition hall was kept very dimly lit and each print was individually illuminated by a (not very bright) spot light. You really felt adrift in each scene and that you could reach out and touch the water – but that you were totally lost.

 

The friend I went with seemed totally uninterested and kept trying to hurry me along.

I can´t come up with much to say, except that I like it a lot, that I can look at it fore much longer than 30 sek, and that I would have liked very much to see the big print. There is something monumental about it, which must suit the big size well.

 

Lesson to be learned: do away with this idea of needing to have subject !

 

Re.: Lars

 

Thanks Lars. "Nothing to say" is just about the perfect response.

reminds me of the work of Sugimoto...i believe he used a large format camera with slower speeds though...nice work

I keep coming back to this photograph, Ian.  I think I've finally figured out why.  It reminds me of a William Butler Yeats poem--

 

His Dream

 

I swayed upon the gaudy stern

The butt end of a steering oar,

And everywhere that I could turn

Men ran upon the shore.

 

And though I would have hushed the crowd

There was no mother's son but said,

"What is the figure in the shroud

Upon a gaudy bed?"

 

Though I'd my finger on my lip,

What could I but take up the song?

And fish and crowd and gaudy ship

Cried out the whole night long.

 

Crying amid the glittering sea,

Naming it with ecstatic breath,

Because it had such dignity

By the sweet name of Death.

 

(from The Green Helmet and Other Poems)