Foetal...

Great and original composition...good decision in B&W...

There's not much else to say that has not been already said...many congrats on this production....Regards

Great composition. Regards.

Instantly a favorite. Hands and feet, struggling to break free. Reminiscent of all our struggles to break free. She is looking not at herself and her own struggle, but outside of herself. May we always keep our eyes outside of our own little world and be aware of how our struggle affects the world at large.

Even before reading your title I saw this as some form of emergence from a womb or shell , as if witnessing birth or the hatching of an egg. In nature, feet first is usually the hard way, but then for some nothing comes easily, including birth. The differing qualities of light and clarity within ( the body ) and without ( the feet ) is quite striking. The rather flat and narrow quality of the tones within the veil , implies to me a dimly lit interior, which speaks perfectly to my interpretation of the photo. The wide dynamic range of the feet also plays well to my notion of the clarity and brilliance of the new world beyond the protection of the womb. The camera angle and how that angle positions the clasped hands behind the feet is effective at pulling me into the veiled, embryonic interior. From the photos you have thus far uploaded of this dance with veils, I find this one gives me the widest flight of imagination and interpretation. Beyond that, it is an outstanding B&W rendering.

 

As for the suggestion to include more veil at the bottom, I like that you have cut the veil on the left side and the bottom. For my own taste, I would consider slightly cutting through the edge of the veil on the right side as well, primarily in the interest of consistency. I would also give some thought to cloning out the broad diagonal line in the background in the upper right corner. Also the vignetting in the upper right corner could be removed or balanced with some vignetting on the left side. All small suggestions and very much a matter of personal taste.

 

Congratulations, Pnina, on this very artistic and interesting shot!

Thanks to all of you. Really appreciate your Impressions and suggestions! was interesting reading for me.

 

Guiseppe, thanks for your suggestion, I don't think that it will change a lot the composition ,but thanks for your offer.

 

Jeff, Interesting point of view, I like your way of thinking and your wide interpretation of her outside look. It really corresponds to our inner and outer life experiences.

 

Gord, I went to the dictionary to find the meaning of "Hatchling", great title of your whole evaluation and impressions.

 

Your evaluation is nearly similar of my connotation when "cutting" that part from the dance sentence.

 

Being as well,in my past, a supervisor in a maternity hospital, you are very right that starting out from the womb with feet first, is very bad and with many complications.

 

The dim light inside the veil, and the hand form have really reminded me a fetus scanning....

Your evaluation confirmed my line of thought on this series and the dance series all together, I mean connecting both fraction of seconds of stage scene with real life of human being.(" Life as a dance".... )

 

 

 

I wondered about your offer about the diagonal line and vignetting on the R, that I did not see on my monitor, I enlarged the Tif version a lot until I saw it and deleted both and changed it , good eye to observe it ( will take time to show...). I liked the triangle done by the net, but I understand your suggestion about the R side of the veil. Good suggestions.

Thanks especially for that interesting commentary.

 

 

Again, thanks to all of you for commenting on this photography scene.

Very strong, consistent image. I am grabbed by the feet, pushing out at me from the frame and drawn to her face and hands, their very expressive gesturing, the passion in the tilt of her head. It's amazing how stiffly she can hold her body. I can feel that tension even through the grace of her pose. Her eyes reach us, even while looking away. They are strong, intent, and her entire face, though far in the background, comes through very expressively. This is very involving.

Thanks for your very nice "involvment" of your impression and feelings.It enhances my aim to continue my travel and search, in the realm of movement on stage , with connection to human life.

Pnina, I like this interpretation very much, her envelopment in a fetal membrane, and the crossed legs highlighted. The blurred face enhances the fetal impression. All that is missing is the amniotic fluid, and I think that the featureless background conveys thet effect. Very interesting!!

I'm not quite sure I understand what you mean by "connection to human life." Do you mean the connection of dance or theater and human life? Dance is not human life but is connected to it? Dance is a different kind of human life and is connected to the human life outside of the dance? What exactly IS the connection for you? How do you try to express that, visually, in your photographs? Do you intentionally try and show the dance as if it is not a dance and just part of untheatrical life? Or do you intentionally make the dance seem unnatural so as to contrast it with human life, thereby actually making a connection? Can you point to examples in your work where you use a specific visual mechanism to convey this connection you talk of and explain what exactly the connection is?

Roger, thanks for your commentary and relating to this specific detail.

 

"All that is missing is the amniotic fluid,"....

I really liked that a lot, you have been the only one relating to this part, and in your point of view have found the answer.....;-))

 

 

 

 

Fred, It is very hard for me to explain the " mechanism " of my imagination, how it works and how it helps my intention of expressing myself, but I will try....;-))

 

I think that most creative visual works( ( but not only), in most domains, even abstracts( color, movement ,shapes) , be it literature, poetry, painting, sculpture, dance, theatre, photography, movies etc.,are quarrying from the accumulative life experience and knowledge of human being, in the universe ,and in the creator's own life and culture. Dance is not life, but expression of the human body, using the body as a tool , many times with other means( the veil as an example) to express an idea which is connected to human life outside the stage . it is very hard to explain ,as two people can see the same scene , read the same literature( as an example), and give it a different commentary, and being impressed in a different way.

 

I love the performing arts , I think that they are connecting real life to human imagination, feelings , psychology , ways of thoughts, and are a trigger of expression, to these who feel the need to express themselves ( of course it is my way, each of us has his own way) in an individual form, what they feel, think ,and imagine. One will do it in writing , one in painting, and another with a camera...

 

It is for me part of my "quarry". I see a dance which is an abstract expression, and I "cut" that fraction of a moment that connect it, for me, to life outside the stage. This foetal work ( as an example again) is an abstract fraction of movement under the net , it is that fraction of a whole dance sentence ( movement) that did not have any connection to a fetus, but I saw the fetus in it. My past work as a supervisor in a maternity hospital probably made the imaginative connection, with my past life experience .I hope I succeeded somehow to explain how I see, observe, tell little " stories" , in my commentary as expressed in my photography .

 

Thanks Fred for asking, it is thought provoking, even though not always easy as an explanation., because seeing a scene , a lot is a gut feelings which are thought provoking in myself as well.....;-))

Love the composition and play with DOF - well done.

Excellent tone, can be use like an example for zone system by Ansel Adams, nice details in black, and in white also. Regards.

Yes, I didn't want you to become a philosopher and try to explain the mechanisms of your imagination and how they work. LOL! I meant it as a more down-to-earth question about how you work and what you were after.

 

I know what you mean, but it was strange to read "Dance is not life." It feels better thinking of it as a staged performance, as you've said. As for it connecting to all of human life, hey, what doesn't?

 

Toward the end of your post, I think you're saying that you take an abstract movement and make it literal. In that movement, you find a connection to something in your life or life offstage. It's an interesting approach. Often, we talk about an artist abstracting (not in the sense of "abstract art" but in the sense of thinking abstractly, non-literally, symbolically) rather than specifying meaning. Here, you are taking what begins as a universal gesture of dance, an abstract dance movement and giving it or finding in it a fairly precise meaning. I think you have succeeded in capturing a foetal moment.

 

When I first opened the photo and saw the title, I laughed a little because I immediately took it as a pun, because the English words "foetal" (Americans use "fetal") and "feet" are so connected by how the words look and sound and one can't help but be confronted by the woman's feet as well as the position which does seem foetal. For me, that pun added more emphasis to the strongly-emphasized feet. This photo has a push-pull feel I find compelling. The feet seem like a barrier, confrontational, as if made of stone, and her head and hands are passionate, human. I sense some sort of moving struggle between them.

Dale, thanks for your feedback

 

Thinh, Ansel Adams zone system was referring to film, but I think that it can apply to digital as well. In any event thank for thinking of the analogy.

 

Fred

 

Reading your answer, it was my turn to smile... I understood how much more I need ,for better elaborating my English expression and thoughts. What I wanted to say is that dance is not regular life..... but connected to human life, and that's what I have said about all form of creating mediums.

Quarrying from and connected to human life, imagination, thoughts and life experience....

 

"As for it connecting to all of human life, hey, what doesn't? " exactly, so of course we are aligned here....;-))

 

 

I would like to explain to you, and give you a small lesson in Hebrew...;-)) so you can understand better how it works for me. In Hebrew fetus is "UBAR", I did not want to call it fetus ,but say that it reminds a fetus, so in Hebrew it can be UBARY, means has a characteristics of a fetus....I looked at the dictionary to find the word that is parallel to UBARY, and Foetal was the word.....

 

I think that if we could talk face to face, we would be aligned in more points of view ( with my English, even though not with cropping....LOL.. )

 

I think that human imagination is not having one constant direction, and imaginative minds has a lot of surprises, ideas, and turns. that's what I like in the creation process, even though there is a line of thinking accompanying our imagination and creation ( ufff,.... it is so hard to explain in another language...)

 

Interesting the pun you describe, which was not familiar to me and is an interesting description of your impression. To have a "play" of words, one needs to know the nuances of a language, thanks for your interesting explanation.

Lovely pic. Lack of DOF gives it the charm.

Very good idea, so sensual and beautiful. Vraiment magnifique. Regards, Frédéric.