The last year's snow fell

HI Svellana. i think your photography is very original and artistic and i am glad that your photo has been chosen. The photo for me grabs my attention possible because of your perspective. Technically i wish that we could see more detail. Perhaps with a slower shutter speed you could have captured the snow? all in all for me the photo needs more texture and seems to lack a focal point. the idea and artistic approach are great but i think this particular photo doesnt reflect the talents of the photography.
i dont think those are footprints leaving the car? they are probably tractor tire marks? and i dont think anyone
has left the car as i think it isnt stationary i think that it is still moving its way thru the lot.
congratulations Svetlana

Hi Stephanie,

I appreciated your take on this. You might be right about the footprints, but the thing I also noticed was that the footprints diagonally in the image are quite odd as well, as if the person was careful to place one foot exactly behind the other (possibly those of a woman pedestrian). They also seem to have no issue. I recognize more those that are emanating from the car (if they are footprints, which would be reasonable to suppose I guess) as I have a similar rather degenerative pigeon type walk, with the toes pointing out sideways. The trouble with those here is that they are not spaced in the forward direction as one might suppose. Is Svetlana undertaking changes in post exposure?

Everything that is a trace in this image is for me enigmatic. If the abrupt ending to two of car or truck traces are due to those vehicles having been parked there during the snowfall and before they left, why do we not see the snowless shadows those vehicles left when departing after the snowfall, as in that of the upper space previously occupied by a car?

How much of the scene is as seen and how much has been cut out or modified during post exposure? Whatever the creative process of the photographer, the result for me is amusingly and satisfyingly surrealistic and I don't need to analyze it to death, simply only absorb what the photographer is showing me, with her well chosen angular composition and choice of inclusion of elements (the parked static cars being a foil), some of which I believe are meant to dupe the viewer.

As for a main subject, for me it is very definitely this enigmatic picture of traces that help to defy the viewer's perception of reality. I think it is one of, if not the best, of POWs in donkeys' ages, so thanks to both Svetlana and the also enigmatic, but in this case very astute, elves.

Congratulations!
In my opinion this photo has a lot of strengths and (just) a weakness.
Strengths are the visual patterns: lines and shapes are mixed in an excellent way; the contrast between sharp objects and smooth shapes; the human figure driving your attention.
The weakness is the top: I really don't like the cars cut on top of the image. a different framing would enhance the image (IMHO).

Best regards and congrats,
Alberto

If all it takes to make a photo interesting is some strange footprints and tire tracks, I should go do and photo some crop circles. I wonder if some of the snow has been cloned over the tracks or tracks cloned in to cause this confusion. LOL If that's the case, job well done Svetlana. LOL The joke is on the critiquers. critiquiees? ;)

Marie, we can each have our own opinions on the interest of an image but I was interested in your comment regarding the composition here, that it isn't particularly well composed. Maybe you could expand on this comment--what is want here? I know that I think the image is strongly composed--as I believe others have suggested as well. There is a very nice order within the image with plenty of leading lines bringing us into, and holding us within the center of the image where there is a hint of some disorder. While I like the tonal range here and think it has a very elegant nature to it, I also think that the central area, which is the darkest is dominant and becomes the main focal point. In fact, it is the car tracks and footprints that create the interest that goes beyond just surface and become what gives the image a life beyond just technique--it brings in a level of human interest.

The image has a bit of a soft feel to it, as you suggested, however, is that necessarily a bad thing? This image may have been made through actual elements of snow or rain and that is the way it feels to me. The nature of the feel of the resolution also gives the image a character that I think adds to the mood of the image. Would I feel that same at a larger size or....I don't know, but as presented, I personally think it adds to the substance of this image.

Anyway, I just thought maybe we could talk about photography a bit.

<<<If all it takes to make a photo interesting is some strange footprints and tire tracks . . .>>>

. . . that would be strange indeed.

There is an element of trompe l'oeil in this photo. I perceive a slope to the bottom of the image created by the perspective; but, there is no evidence that one really exists. That's part of what makes this image noteworthy.

Well done Svetlana ! One of your best. I would be proud to hang it on my wall.

First, I want to thank everyone for a very interesting and useful comments. I am very glad that my picture was chosen for discussion. I took this shot only once. I was interested in the traces of machines. I could not guess their origin very long. But I think that these tracks were left by one car, which we can see in the photo. I think that the driver of the car mastered reverse parking.
I want to once again express my gratitude to all the participants of the discussion
Svetlana.

Apologies for the long first post, but I thought I might shed some light on the various tiremarks and footprints in Svetlana’s excellent photograph. Snow allows one to see both the spatial pattern and relative time of prior movements through a scene (called “a feeling of transience” by Laurie T) and this feature of snow makes it very useful in forensic investigations I am occasionally asked to perform.

The dark tiremarks appear to be from two vehicles. The simplest set is the four marks leading to the parked dark vehicle. These marks indicate that the vehicle pulled into the lot, turned initially left and then swung around to the right to its location in the photo. The footprints from the left side indicate an occupant exited the vehicle (more later) and suggest the vehicle is stopped.

The second set of dark marks is related to a vehicle with dual rear tires (a truck of some kind?). The off-tracking of the front and rear tires indicates that the vehicle drove straight into the lot and then turned 180° to the left. It then reversed straight back a short distance (perhaps 3 meters), turned its front wheels to the left and drove out of the lot.

An interesting feature of the truck’s tiremarks is visible before it stops. The dual tires transition from tracking inside the front tires to outside the front tires. This indicates that the rear end of the truck “fishtailed” into its stopped position. This is consistent with the loss of distinction between two pairs of rear tires just before the point where the rear tiremarks cross the front tire marks. One last thing about the truck tiremarks: both the incoming and outgoing marks were created after the car tire marks. Look at how the lines of snow between the rear tires are intact where they cross the car tiremarks. This supports the idea that the car is stopped.

The “faded” tiremarks and the “ghost” vehicle are evidence of a vehicle that was parked at an odd angle before the photo was taken and while it was still snowing. The vehicle is no longer there. The light/dark fluctuations could be caused by heat from different components (engine, exhaust, etc) on the underside of the vehicle differentially warming the ground. These “faded” tiremarks were also made by a vehicle with dual rear tires. The absence of tiremarks behind this vehicle suggest it was there before the latest snow. The outline of the white snow around the ghost vehicle and the tiremark leading from the right rear wheel suggests that the wind was blowing from right to left in the photo as the snow fell.

The footprints contribute a little more information. There do not appear to be any footprints near the location where the first truck stopped. The area to the right (below in the photo) of where the truck stopped is not entirely visible, so it is possible that someone entered or exited the right side of the truck.

The footprints leading from the left side of the dark car do not represent a normal gait. The side-by-side location of the left and right feet look more like hopping (called a bird walk by Michael Howard), but could be caused by the asymmetric gait of an elderly person who leads with one limb and then brings the opposing limb even with the leading limb during each stride. Distinctive gaits like this are very useful in forensic work.

The single set of diagonal footprints across the middle of the lot is more indicative of normal gait. Our feet tend to land along a line rather than staying hip width apart when we walk.

Too much science can sometimes diminish art, but I also find that reading the evidence in a photograph can lead to new deeper mysteries. Rather than thinking only about how certain marks were created, it leads me to think about the people who are no longer in the photograph, but left their traces nonetheless.

<<<it leads me to think about the people who are no longer in the photograph, but left their traces nonetheless.>>>

The beauty of photos and photo appreciation is that sharing one's viewing, as Gunter just generously did, opens us up to a world of possibilities.

Though I have no formal forensic training, photos often do guide us into a forensic state of mind. That's one of the unique aspects of photos compared, say, to painting, and so we often do wonder what "in the world" caused a photo to look as it does. That's why an "accounting," as Stephen referred to it, can be inspired by photos, sometimes more than paintings or other forms of expression.

That being said, the framing here, the cutting off of the cars at the top, the seeming-to-disappear footprints, the tire tracks feeling as if they trail off into nowhere, all conspire to suggest possibility and, as Gunter so nicely says "the people who are no longer in the photograph, but left their traces nonetheless."

I tend not to look at most photographs, especially one such as this, as forensically as others. Nevertheless, I often get a sense, as Gunter did, of what's NOT there, sometimes a more powerful sense than what IS. That's so much a part of a photograph. The periphery we exclude, the framing we do which, by leaving things out, puts MORE in, the "traces," as Gunter so nicely puts it, that are now gone but have left their mark.

I had mentioned that I felt an open-ended story, which I still do, and I'm content to live with that suggestiveness rather than trying to fill in the blanks. Gunter's analysis, though, is fascinating to me and, while filling in certain blanks, surely does not attempt to dictate a particular narrative either.

Not only has this been one of the best POTWs in a long time, it's also been one of the best discussions as well. We challenge each other often enough for various elements of our critiques, and I appreciate those challenges. Some have even berated the regular contributors to this forum. In this case, I'd like to say a hearty "bravo," first to Svetlana for both a good photo and one that has stimulated thoughtful responses and then to all of us for helping to make the POTW discussion a significant one.

@ Gunter...

Thanks for clearing up the "logic" that I initially found distracting 3.06.2013 at 10:46 AM.

With or without the technical explanation I still love the image... Mike

very much like a drawing, Sveta. you've done many very interesting scenes from this bird's-eye perspective, but this sort of drawing illustration is a new aesthetic for you, and with your sheer artistry you've turned a common scene into a sophisticated and inventive work of art. Mike said what is so true of all your work "The scene is infectious with a desire to muse over all of the elements", because as a photographer you're very much a perfectionist in whatever category you're working. a toast to you, dear Svetlana... you're a consummate artist, an always humanistic and a frequently spectacular one. a cool piece of art here.... brava! ;-} dp

Gunter's analysis is astute and explains most the origins with time of the fascinating traces. I still have a bit of trouble reconciling some of his excellent observations to the traces of the truck(s) that created the dark tire marks in the lower half of the image. If it is just one truck (or vehicle) that entered and exited the parking area, as I think Gunter suggests, it would be expected that we would see in the snow the traces made by the rear wheels in their transition between the two senses of its movement in the area (in versus out of the lot) and those are not apparent to me, although the front wheels can be consistent with that. If, instead, they are made by two independent trucks or vehicles, at different times, it would be expected to see the traces of the reverse movements of each of these vehicles (which may be the same vehicle of course) and that is not evident.

What is more important is the effect of the mystery and the wonderful total composition of the POW. Thanks to Svetlana for her explanation of what appears to be a case of an unmodified (by post production) original single photo. She was very adept at recognizing the potential of this scene and the apparent enigma that it suggests, and that, together with the dynamic choice of framing and composition, is what to my mind makes it art as well as a recording.

Such perception, and often by chance, of intriguing subject elements is a lot of what photography and art are all about. The perception may come from the photographer exploring intensely the potential of his or her subject matter and showing it in a new light, or it may be, as here, the ability to understand and use the potential of a scene like this and turn it into a compelling image. My own ability in that regard is limited, or maybe the chances do not appear too often, but I can offer the following image as an example of subject matter that is common at first sight, but which provides some elements of mystery, albeit different and perhaps not as intense as those of the POW.

Images that tickle or challenge the perceptions or the values of the viewer, are of a special kind, and perhaps reflect a particular quality of the instantaneous photograph.

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=10193910

I would not be surprised at all if Svetlana looked down at the patterns of tracks in the snow, liked what she saw, and made a photograph of that, only to later find she had also photographed a mystery of sorts regarding the tire track (I also appreciate Gunter's explanation, I have a small degree of satisfaction that I had correctly [apparently] identified the source of the six-element tracks as dual rear wheels, yet despite the expert explanation I, like Arthur, still can't completely reconcile the vehicle movements with the tracks -- but this is just an enjoyable sidelight and mental exercise and is secondary to the broader attributes of the photograph). I think many of us have made a photograph, only to later learn there were elements or attributes that we didn't fully see or appreciate at the time. I don't know if that was the case with Svetlana, but if it was, I can certainly identify with it.

since Svetlana has admitted that this is an original untouched shot of the tracks, i think it's fair to say that these tracks have no practical purpose to them, which is to say they make no sense. perhaps the car in the photo or some other car had some fun (for a "joke" as Marie suggests) and produced, intentionally or not, a sort of abstract design. it seems to me that Sveta, seasoned stylistic artist that she consistantly is, noticed the abstract nature of the tracks, of their tracks by design, movement by design, and cleverly placed this bit of chaos smack dab in the middle of an otherwise ordinary scene. artists are known to choose to make strange designs; and although the driver who made the tracks may not have intended art, nonetheless some driver made art by design. i find no other reason why such impractical tracks would be there. the tracks create a weird chaos... Sveta noticed the (unnatural?) (abstract?) nature of the design and framed it within an otherwise static and ordinary scene... to question, as artists often do, why an action happened. ;-} dp

On reading and thinking on it. This is so reminiscent of Montreal in February and very similar to a view from the hospital window where I work and spend so much time that likely, its affecting me negatively. Its not my most pleasant association! It gets dark by 4pm I see people leaving for the day, and I have several hours yet to go. And the tire tracks and birdlike footprints do nothing to interest me. I guess we relate to a scene in conscious and subconcious and even visceral ways.

On reading and thinking on it. This is so reminiscent of Montreal in February and very similar to a view from the hospital window where I work and spend so much time that likely, its affecting me negatively. Its not my most pleasant association! It gets dark by 4pm I see people leaving for the day, and I have several hours yet to go. And the tire tracks and birdlike footprints do nothing to interest me. I guess we relate to a scene in conscious and subconcious and even visceral ways.

gateway time out..sorry

As I told you in 2009 , very good shot !
Congratulations for the star !
Greetings, Mircea

Blanking off the top 1/3 and the left 1/3 of the photo, makes a tight, meaningful composition. Good capture.