The last year's snow fell

My first reaction is to laugh. Not at the photo, but at the thought of the anonymous Elves -- after having read months of complaints regarding their selections -- sitting back and saying, "There! Maybe this selection will silence those whiny SOBs for a while!"

As for the photograph itself, some of the comments have already stated my own thoughts. I appreciate the grittiness, and the geometric interplay of lines and curves mixed with the human element of the car and the pedestrian. (As Fred said, the geometric element is just so...not dominating.) And I also agree with Alex S. comment that the photographer has turned a dark dismal day into something of pleasing signifiicance. I always appreciate when a photographer makes beautiful that which by all rights should under most circumstances be considered ugly. Nicely done by Svetlana, and a nice choice by the Elves.

One other comment I forgot to add -- not that it contributes much in terms of a critique: Svetlana's image stands on its own, but for me it also has subtle echoes of Coburn's 1912 photo, "The Octopus".

http://www.theslideprojector.com/images/photo1/chapter10-modernism/theoctopus.jpg

Very good picture and excellent framing/composition. Black & white suits the image perfectly and shapes out better the lines the objects...it really enhances the visual quality. A visual game for the viewer and a puzzle to keep him going. All that as a result of the photographer's imagination and technique. Not much to add, the previous comments said it almost all, eventhough you can sit down and discuss further, but the outcome is always the same, a great effort and a very pleaseant image. Thanks for sharing and congrats on your POW.

The vertical perspective works well and the composition is strong. Like some others, I wish the snow had been "printed" whiter.
There are some classic photos such as some of Rodchenko's work that this reminds me of.

As I said before it was chosen, wonderful achievement. Im glad this particular photograph was selected, it has a subtle beauty and texture that I really like. Well done Svetlana :)

Hello Svetlana.

I am very happy you were chosen as POW. Congrats.

The fascinating with this image is the dynamic. We see

back in time. Our imagination is activated by the

different tracks. We suddenly see a story which is

passed. The person crossing brings us back to the

pressent again. The point of view gives us control over

the scene. The lines leads the eye to explore. The aspect

ratio is well chosen to the different angles in the image.

And today I am happy for you.

Kind regards

Bela Dick

Svetlana,

What a wonderfully complex photo from a compositional standpoint. It has a very precise geometric composition, with the triangle of the upper right set 'just so' and same with all the rest.

Look at this photo for all the various geometries that must align for it to 'work'. There are corners, right angles, rounded right angles (corners but rounded), and circles made by tire tracks, and even a tire track in the process of being made by an ephemeral car, made ghostlike by a slow shutter speed, but at the same time a pedestrian is frozen in his blackness as he attempts to make his slower crossing.

This is a photo that required very precise timing, even though on first glance it appears to be a 'still life' or 'urban landscape' because of the tire tracks and the placement of the car, the ghostlike moving car, and the more still car.

I can only wonder how long you studied this scene or how many exposures you took before you came up with this precise exposure . . . . I suspect a great many, and that somehow it was taken from your own flat or that of a close one, where you knew and/or had access to a continuing view to study over a long period.

If you just arrived at a friend's house, pointed your camera out the window and took this, than I'd quintuple my bravos . . . . and bravo is the word!

Well deserved choice . . . . . a fine . . . . even wonderful photo . . . . with remarkable complexity . . . . . . and strong oppositional forces acting somehow together to create a cohesive whole.

with respect,

john

John (Crosley)

As Wouter said, Svetlana's portfolio is well worth the visit, and for me one that is one of the best reasons to follow the POW forum. Art is not a "cookie-cutter" process. What is interesting about a portfolio like that of Svetlana, with it's always interesting and sometimes remarkable photos, is that a photographer has to feel the need to experiment to take himself or herself off the beaten path.

It may not have happened in this case, but one possibility to create such a mysterious scene, would have been to orchestrate the simple movement of the car we see to produce the three or more wheel traces n the snow, some of which have continuity and some which don't. Of course the image may simply be the result of a simple photo of a well perceived view of an enigmatic happening, which it is, and which is further promoted by the "Kertesz" like choice of an angular composition.

Finally a good photograph and photographer are chosen for POW :).
Keep up the good work Svetlana.

Arthur, I have one small quibble with you've said. I don't think this is a photo of an enigmatic happening at all. I think it's an enigmatic photo of a scene and event. The photographer created the enigma with her photographic vision. The enigma was not already there, IMO.

I haven't read the other comments but did catch the "Kertesz" reference in Arthur's...and that was my first thought when I saw this image.

The image is well seen and I like all of the geometric shapes and then the one patch of "contained" organic disorder in the lower left corner. This keeps it from getting too sterile, although that would not have been wholly a bad thing in and of itself either. The motion of the second car is a nice discovery. While the pedestrian is obviously moving, he is "still" in the photo, giving some sense of the speed at which this blurred car must be moving. I like that detail and the thought that there could be a potential for a fender bender in just a moment--I have been in that "lost control on ice" position before, thus my reference.

Svetlana does have a lot of nice images in the portfolio attached to this image--I will have to look at others later. What I noticed was a sense of "distance" kept from many, if not most, of the subjects, a sort of voyeuristic style which I thought was nice as well as interesting.

I did just go back and read the comments here and would take exception to changing the tonal structure in this image. I think there is a wonderful balance between the tones of the various patches of snow that relates to their level of use and their angle to the light. I think any attempt to lighten it would disrupt the sense this image imparts as it is, which is very nice. JMO.

John, as one who suggested a lighter tone might be appropriate, I have rethought this too and tend to agree with you that the somewhat depressing ambiance is in fact important to it (Living in Quebec allows us lots of similar toned winter scenes, when the cloud cover is less dense, when the light levels are low or when the sun is not shining on very white snow).

Fred, I'm not sure what you mean by the enigma "not being there". Whether Svetlana composed that or not (i.e., waited for the cars that made the tracks to leave the scene and the other to enter, or even had the tracks made to evoque the enigma they present) or just stumbled upon it and was good enough to perceive it and compose it with odd angles to accentuate the enigma and linear contrasts, the enigma was IMO there to a large extent in the scene before she clicked.

I guess we disagree, Arthur.

Much of the enigma happens because of how Svetlana saw and framed the scene, including her perspective. Imagine a much wider framing of the scene with more included and without the diagonal geometry. Would be much less enigmatic, IMO.

What appeals greatly to me in Svetlana's photograph was already stated by Bela Dick: "We see back in time." The photograph contains the present as well as several previous moments that extend back perhaps over a couple of hours. I find that intriguing. I think there is but one car in the photo, recently arrived, and the driver got out and walked away. The other space is where a car was parked, it left earlier, and the space it occupied and its tracks have been partly obscured by more falling snow (the footprints of the more recent driver go through that space). The pedestrian, of course, puts us in the present, perhaps like no other dynamic element in the scene (the other cars were all parked long ago). There is much to see, and many stories can be put forth by different viewers. I think Svetlana has shown us time as well as motion, even if the motion is only implied by marks in this snow-covered landscape when the shutter opened very briefly.

I knew this would happen. What should a person do when a "gateway time out" occurs? Is there a way for only one comment to be posted? Or is it inevitable that 2 (or 3 or 4) duplicates will be posted, and one then has to go back and apologize for the duplicates? Sorry.

Stephen, nice image evaluation. Perhaps the gateway timeout can be overcome by copying your text into, say, a word document, to be returned later to Photo.Net for posting, after first checking whether the original post got through to the forum.

Not sure we are talking about the same type of occurence, but what happens to me is that after posting the comment, a long delay occasionally occurs (usually up to a half a minute), which I sometimes think is due to my not tapping the submit button hard enough. I sometimes tap again. The delay may be due to my server getting overloaded and slowed up, but I'm not really sure if the trouble is there or at Photo.Net. I now just wate, while making a copy, just in case.

Address its strengths and weaknesses: First of all I think its dull, grey and unsharp. The snow is more like slush or wet fallen snow. The car tracks form an interesting pattern but other than that, this photo is flat and and in my opinion uninteresting. There is no clear subject, no detail, no light or interesting technique, not especially well composed.(sorry Svetlana, you have other more deserving images). But it is a street shot and it made photo of the week. Kudos on choosing a street shot, Elves. Congratulations Svetlana. There may be hope yet ;)

Stephen, I wondered if the "ghost" car was where one had been for a couple of reasons, but came back to that something is there. My reason is partly because of the shadow off what I would assume to be the front--based on the tracks. I can't explain the darker shadow there. Second, the tracks disappear, to me anyway, where this mass exists. That said, it is a very odd shape but it doesn't seem like where a car was parked to me. I have seen that quite a bit and this just doesn't resemble that to me.

Not saying I am right, I just pondered what you suggest and couldn't reconcile it.

John, what strikes me are the ghost car's tracks -- they aren't nearly as dark (or as "fresh"?) as those of the other car. I'll admit that it does look like something is there rather than just a darker spot on the pavement. But if it's actually there, it should show up in this simple trip of the shutter (just as the pedestrian is seen). This doesn't appear to be a long exposure, so it seems to me to be an "either-or" situation with respect to presence. But again, it was the tire tracks of the ghost car that really caught my eye and told me they were old tracks. I think we have an enigma here. ;>)

However, I can't explain the two sets of car tracks in the lower right -- tracks going only one way and without any evidence of a car. If they were coming in, we'd see the car. If they were leaving, we'd see the spot where the car had been parked -- if the snow filled that spot in, it would have also filled the tracks. Very puzzling.

Also, how do we account for six separate tire tracks in what is supposedly a single vehicle? A truck with dual rear wheels would do that, but this doesn't look like dually country.

I really love your job Svetlana.

At a second look I noticed the car at he upper left edge of the image, it blends in with the grassy area and its barely identifiable as a car covered in snow. I have a good hi-def screen. The image has very poor resolution from what I see of it here. So much debate on tire tracks.... Photography. I am lost.