Scenes from Postwar Bosnia (Protected with a digital watermark by Digimarc ®)

Tom, do not tell us about prints comparisions. Going this way you will leave outside all the digital row guys with 1K X 1.5K pixels images. What should we compare in this case, 2.8" x 4" 360 dpi prints?
Printing is another art, that some of us can do better than others. Two prints for this POW may look very different and can still be beautiful, both of them. Nobody can compare the prints that he never has seen.

What you see is what you get (if you monitor is set properly).
This is the only acceptable criteria.

I like this picture. It not only shows the after effects of a local war but also demonstrates the results of tectonic uplift in the region as a whole.

I prefer the color. Very simple and minimal. In this shot dead center works well. One can take the many scars on the wall to mean several things

Congratulations John! This is a very strong image (color

version). Perfect contrast and colors. Maybe the unique trouble

is green part below. Try to cropp it, I think will be better. Very nice

work anyway.

The photo is best in color, and it's good even without the bullet holes. In fact I would prefer the photo without the title.

Colour or black and white? Why not ask the owners of the house the next time you pass by? Oh, and ask if they enjoy the new ventilation system. Better hurry, though, those bullet holes might get plastered up, and bang goes a great photo-opportunity. Sorry to be so frivolous about such a serious subject, but its so easy to be insensitive (as I well know) to other concerns in the quest for that picture. This is a really fine image, John, and I congratulate you on your well-deserved accolade. I was just a little saddened though that you thought you might return and take the same scene under more favourable lighting conditions.

I'd like to see the view shifted to the left just a tad. The center post of the stairs running directly centered in the photo bothers me. Other than that, this is a fine photograph (and photographer).

Color wins. It tells a stronger story. For me, the color version tells a story of redemption. The scars are there but life goes on.

 

A simple but great image.

The appropriate version is the colour one in my opinion. The vivid colour as a backdrop throws the staircase forwards and enhances the depth of the bullet craters. Here was a real target. The b&w version on the other hand is easier on the eye I think, almost relaxing to look at, and in my view, if Im looking at somewhere in a war zone the picture should shake me for my immediate and wide-eyed attention. The flat on symmetry works well and I suspect was the only way to capture the staircase and its environment as a design. Of somewhere apparently windowless and uninviting whether inside or out. So too the flat lighting. I reckon the intricacies of shadow lines from sunlight would merge unhelpfully with the design and unbalance the symmetry.

If Ive got a nit on this well observed piece, it is that the tall thistle has been allowed to encroach the line of the lower steps. I wish it didnt and that the lower steps just hung there six inches from the floor.

I guess this is what Bagdad is gonna look like in the near future...And in 5 years somebody will take a picture of a red or orange or yellow wall with bulletholes in it, and everybody feels really touched by the strong image of the scars of war. Time to protest is now. Let's hope nobody will be able to make a picture like this in Bagdad in 5 years time. But it's a great picture, and I also think that the color version is the better one.

Hands-down my favorite POW choice ever. Hooray for the elves. I prefer the color version. The pleasant composition of the spiral stairs against the sunny yellow wall sets off the grim reality of the bullet holes. The effect is unusually thought provoking and emotionally evocative. A beautiful photograph that, on second glance, reveals something quite the opposite. There is a lot going on here. Compositionally this shows a case where centered elements do work. The picture is clear, direct, and presented with great simplicity. I disagree with the gentleman who suggests something inappropriate in the photographer considering other shots in different light. That's what photographers do if I'm not mistaken. It's part of the process in communicating the subject of the photo. Or should we only photograph flowers?

I'm not sure why you'd even consider this image in Black & White. To me the

color statement is obvious. Yellow is warm, inviting, open. Riddle it with the

gross reality of bullet holes and you have powerful meaning within the

image's context. Of course, you need context to understand what's really

going on which IMO lessens the photograph's overall power as an image

(unto itself).

 

If there was no description, how would this image be rated?

 

I'd love to see a classic Ilfochrome print of this. Printed properly, the color

would carry a subtle depth beyond digital's current capabilities.

Dean Granros said:

 

"I disagree with the gentleman who suggests something inappropriate in the photographer considering other shots in different light."

 

Same here. This isn't photojournalism. The war is over.

and I mean that in a nice way!

 

This scene is as much of a subject as a tree. It's there and open for interpretation 365 days of the year. Let's not get confused in our rush to controversy.

I remember seeing this one some time ago, and my feelings towards it have since not changed. I still find it as compelling as I did before. At first glance, you see a beautiful arrangement of color and line, with a closer examination reveiling the structure peppered with bullet holes. Contrast (in every sense of the word) is observed in this photo. The color also brings it to life. Yellow is one of the happiest colors we have, and here it's juxtaposed with one of the most detrimental situations humans can bring upon themselves and their neighbors. Great POW choice Elves, and wonderful shot John- congrats.

There are few images that can break the "rule of thirds" and get away with it - but here is an example of how it can be done. The spiral staircase leads your eyes from the middle of the picture up, but when it gets there, the dozens of bullet holes evenly spaced out around the wall direct your eyes in a clockwise motion around the rest of the photo space.

I love the contrast of the bright, lively yellow being the dominant colour in a picture that obviously brings to the veiwer thoughts of death, horror, isolation, etc.

This is one great photo of many in your folders!

Having foolishly written my post first and then returned to read the thread afterwards, I notice my comment closely echos another towards the top. Sorry for the repetition, I'll blame it on the old 'great minds' saying. :)

John McLaine said: "The image saddens me intensely. I'm so lucky to live in a place where you never see bullet holes in the walls, and yet I take it for granted. It makes me feel deeply for those who must exist in places of conflict, and that is the power of the image, in my opinion."

This statement sums up my sentiment on this photo completely. Congratulations John.

I like the black and white version better, but, that said, I really like both--they seem like two entirely different photos somehow. The unconventional composition works, in any case, and that single staircase is really a unique image that will stay with me for a long time.

Perfect, beautiful, terrifying,...

After looking over your larger version of this image, I came to notice that this was really an environmental portait.

If you look carefully just below and to the left of the stairase you can see a little Liliputian gentleman in a blue shirt and brown pants!

Some may mistake this for a flower....but really, what's more likely - a flower or a Lilliputain man?? Exactly!! Poor little man.. I hope he is sill alright!

When I first looked at the color version I went wow, then I looked at the BW version. When I looked at the BW version I did not go wow, but I could sense agony. The bullet holes just appear holes in the colored version, but the BW version, each holes seem to have a story. Both pictures are excellent, but the BW is definitely deep.

Congratulations on the choice of POW for your photo, John.

The thing that I like most about this photo, is the graphics. The S curve of the stairs. If in color, I would agree, the light could be better. The yellow brighter, somehow. I cropped out the bottom and most of the door and the sides of the photo and tried to end up with just the S of the stairs. The lines of the stair rails do not seem strong enough, to hold the S up, in graphic terms. The curve of the stairs is what makes this photo, though. The bullet holes to me are secondary and almost make the nice clean yellow/gold of the background a bit too messy. I guess I want happiness and lovely golden light and an airy staircase going up and up in a pleasing spiral. I try and ignore the bullet holes, they mess up the pretty picture.

This is nice! The first POW that has inspired me to comment in a long while. Both versions have their strengths, but in the end, I'd have to go with the color version -- as others have said, for the juxtaposition of "happy" colors with bullet holes. The nice thing about the B&W is that the bullet holes and graphic patterns are a little more clear, so it's kind of a tough choice for me to pick one over the other.

I dont think that your photo will arise much discussion, at least not about essential dimensions of it, no doubt it is an excellent photo with a clear content, well done in B&W as in color, interesting composition in its simplicity, all contributing to a statement that I share completely. What strikes me is that the esthetical qualities dont hide a deep meaning. Bravo