Nuclear trees

Not to be rude, but the picture is called nuclear trees. The purpose of the pictures is to invoke thought about the affects of nuclear power. I don't think it is under landscape where a lot of the criticism would be validate. I don't it is fair to say the picture is bland and not worth looking at. If you are intellectual this picture will raise may question and have you thinking for a while. I think that this is excellent picture and the photographer should be praised.

I too like the idea but find the execution could be better. It would have been much stronger in color in dramatic light. The towers have very little dimensionality as is. Their form has been largely negated. Also the negative space on the left is too strong, too large. The whole composition is unsettling and the light and tones dull. Kudos for finding the subject and capturing it in any case. I think if the photographer had revisited the subject a few more times there could be a much stronger interpretation. I think landscape or environmental statement, a photo is a visual object and aesthetics are a big part of it.

I like the idea less than the photo. The concept is  cliche and just plain seriously overworked. The obviously extensive manipulation of at least some portion of  Marcin's portfolio makes me wonder if the trees were an afterthought or if they were actually growing in that spot.  I find the title annoying.

The image itself  is interesting in a two dimensional graphic way. The flat tonality removes any sense of depth. I know the stacks to be conical yet they lack any sense that they exist on a plane beyond the frontal view I am looking at.
 
For a black & white image there is very little black or white, outside of those two sad little trees. I suppose you could read something philosophic or metaphorical into all that gray but to me it is merely drab. This may have worked better in colour.  Many of Marcin's colour photos have this same blandness, however in colour it reads more as  a heavily processed stylistic choice and as such the pastel colour result is more pleasing. I expect B&W to have a much more nuanced tonal range.

Hi Marcin:
This is truly interesting - if you have not titled this as "Nuclear Trees", given that the three structures in the background are so vague in form, I will probably let my imagination run amok.... hmmm... I could call it "Aliens have landed", or "Is this life on Venus", or Pretty little Joshua Trees".
I like it that this composition could possibly tell countless abstract stories, thanks for sharing your wild and raw creativity with us. And the B&W is great to depict the "nuclear" trees.

Hi Marcin:
This is truly interesting - if you have not titled this as "Nuclear Trees", given that the three structures in the background are so vague in form, I will probably let my imagination run amok.... hmmm... I could call it "Aliens have landed", or "Is this life on Venus", or Pretty little Joshua Trees".
I like it that this composition could possibly tell countless abstract stories, thanks for sharing your wild and raw creativity with us. And the B&W is great to depict the "nuclear" trees.

This is one of the photos, which loose a lot when reproduced as small as here. It is certainly capable of being a very strong image with a convincing message. I like it a lot.

Reading Gondon's comment I started to read more closely the picture and I feel that all the picture could be a fake. I mean:I think it's not what it pretends to be. How can energy plants have these chymneys so closed and how and why should they be that different in height? (the rightest one, that seems very closed to the central one, seems as tall as twice the latest) and why the cables are perfectly horizontal without any pylon to sustain them considering the great distance that must separate the left from the right border of the picture? And why there is nothing than grass surrounding the plant? and the two trees?
But, even if everything were false and doesn't exist in this reality, the global effect is good and I read in this photo what I said, in my previous comment. Yes, should it be a non-photo...
Mauro

To turn back to basic compositional features (and perhaps to the thematic significance of those features), I find the horizontal lines (power lines?) really make the image. Not only a counterpoint to the vertical masses, but also a hint that everything in the imege, organic and inorganic, is contained in "the grid."

Having seen some of Marcin's work I can accept this photograph as a stylized image. The caption could have been more imaginative perhaps but the real point of debate here is the photograph. For me the question is, does it succeed in making its point?
It seems the photograph was submitted for critique in the Landscape forum. Perhaps the photograph is just that, a landscape as interpreted by Marcin. Whether the trees are real or a creative addition I cannot judge as I have no exposure to trees with white blossoms (white bougainvillea is the only white-blossom tree that I can recall seeing). So I will accept it at face value as real. Its proximity to the nuclear power plant is quite acceptable as I suggest these are not chimneys but cooling towers. I would give Marcin the benefit of the doubt and suggest that Marcin encountered this sight on his photographic forays and rightly judged it something worth photographing. The placement of these relatively miniscule nature-made creations against the backdrop of these mammoth man-made creations is definitely interesting.
I like this photograph for its stark simplicity. It seems stylized as Marcin's chosen view-point has flattened the scene dimensionally -- turned it into a graphic symbol. The power lines serve a very useful purpose in the composition, breaking up the monotony of the verticals in the otherwise featureless surface of the cooling towers. In conclusion, for me it is not a great photograph but a passably good one.
In my opinion this presentation would have failed were it in color. These towers would have appeared in a dirty gray, the sky would probably have been whitish; the only small bits of color would have been the tree and the thin strip of ground.
I would expect this shot was taken with a powerful zoom as I cannot imagine a photographer being allowed near a super-high-security nuclear power plant. If I tried a comparable shot in my country I would no doubt be arrested and grilled very very severly. Of course they would have to catch me doing it...

I guess we should know whether the trees were really there, or else how can any of us make meaningul comments. For POTW we should always know the nature of the image. I don't think images with an "unknown" manipulation status should be eligible.

I don't think we NEED to know if the image is manipulated or not for it to be eligible. That said, I think it would be important to know if the trees were added. If they were, then the image is a metaphor, valid in its own way, but would lose the sense of irony that would have been obvious, were these trees dwarfed as they are in this image by the massive nuclear silos. As the image is, even without that knowledge, I still think it is an impressive image, and well worth its selection.

out of millions of photos, POTW is a big honor, I think we need to know, otherwise our understanding of and reactions to the photo are uninformed

This image is unmanipulated. It is nuclear power plant in Dukovany near Brno (Czech Republic) and blossoming trees.
Marcin Sacha

Marcin:

Mine is at the end of a long line of comments. I hope it does not repeat too many of those already stated.

I love the concept, the composition, and the story of the photograph. It reminds us very powerfully in symbolic fashion of the dangers of nuclear power and its impact on our world. It also tells us that, despite nuclear waste in the air, soil, and water, life finds a way, and nature prevails.

Having said this, I think there are a few stylistic flaws in the photograph, which have been enumerated above - not enough contrast, flat, uninteresting sky, etc., etc. But, in my humble opinion, dwelling on such considerations is a matter of form over substance. The message of the photograph far outweighs them.

Thanks you for sharing such an amazing photiograph with us.

michael

I didn't think for an instant it was fake because of the powerlines. A fake would't have included those, I wouldn't think. No, the perspective issues raised above are due to the compression effect of a telephoto lens. Attached is a google map of the location.

Wait! The plant has 8 towers! Here are the other four, on the eastern side of the compound. The first attachment is on the western side. One of the red arrows might be the "nuclear trees"

ok, here it is again, this time showing the nearest roads where a bold photographer might pop out of his car to get the shot before being chased away by security guards. Again, red lines indicate possible camera angles.

Ah HAH! Powerlines on the eastern boundary! See the support structure at the shorter, yellow arrow. Therefore, the most likely camera position would be where the longer, blue arrow originates, shooting through the power lines and into three of the towers. If that's right, we can conclude that this was a sunset, or afternoon shot. That's my final answer.

i mean blue, not red. Sorry. I got carried away.

Here's another view from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukovany_Nuclear_Power_Station
The photograph is in the public domain.

Compliments to Doug for the efforts he has put in.

Uhhhhh ...

Marcin:

I can appreciate that fact that the image is not manipulated, but I am going to judge it as such, at least aesthetically.

The title works. I like the illuminated trees, and it seems as if they are radioactive.

As many have said, the simplicity of the image is what makes it work. The curves of the towers are striking, and the illuminated trees provide focus and contrast.

The powerlines are VERY, VERY distracting. They detract from the simplicity, they just shouldn't be there. I know it's not manipulated and I'm sure you take pride in that, but clone them out and you have a MUCH cleaner image.

Thanks for sharing, and congratulations!

--Ryan

I couldn't agree more with Ryan Aldrich's views above. Get rid of the power lines. They are to me, a major distraction. I love the shot otherwise. Good crop. "Lit" up trees. Massive towers. Best of all, a sensible and sensitive title. I so strongly disagree with those who feel titles are not the photographer's job. Without this clever title one might not know just what the photographer was stating. Besides, it is an artistic form of completion to the work. Granted, some photos don't absolutely need one, but often they improve the work in my humble view. No cropping needed here.

Willie the Cropper