Heavy horses --------------- v-IMG_6209_b_4w

Dern! [casting a baleful eye at John A]

I was counting on Stieglitz to save me if (when!) I got in too deep ...

How do we know the man isn't a eunuch? Adds a whole new complexity eh? :)

Back to the image, it's nice, one of the better POTW we've had. I like the color and the sharp and unsharp areas. I think the angle of view makes it quite compelling.

Excellent work! A very strong composition reinforced by the interesting POV. I like (and prefer) the dramatic tones of the color version. Compliments and best regards.

There sure is a lot to like in this image; strong composition, narrative; a subject that doesn't try to be glamorous, pretty or necessarily pleasing to the eye. To me, the image works very well in transmitting a sense of hardship, real work, blister-on-the-hands realness. Which to me overall makes me really like this photo.

I am more ambiguous about the styling of the image, though; while I can understand Fred's comment as it being an unimposing comment, I find it imposes itself a bit more than I'd like. The blur not so much; it actually helps center the image around the man, though the composition does that well enough on its own. It doesn't get in my way. But the relatively bright and happy greens to me contradict the narrative; it doesn't strike me as organic to this image. Darker, more muted tones would seem more suitable to me.

Anders, please refer again to Julie's comments of 12/10. I was not the one to use terms such as 'gelded', 'castrated,' 'groin,' or 'private parts.' I do understand that they may have been used in a tongue-in-cheek way simply for the purpose of encouraging discussion, and that's fine. For me, though, the discussion should focus instead on the manner in which the photographer used the image to convey impressions of backbreaking toil and power.

,As I do it with my left hand.. it will be shorter. i like the lines of the harness ,corresponding to the horse's tail .The difference between the horse's "cut" body vs. the nearly full man's one. My only nit is the lower green earth color that IMO is a competition of the rest , as it takes my eye from the central subject. A nice touch of color though, is the redish " belt " around the man's mid body.
A nice composition in general. A refreshing chosen POW .

Anders said: "Michael, don't worry, noone is interpreting the POW in a sexual manner."

The man is plowing the ground with his sharp blade so that he can plant his fertile seed. Probably not for fun; it's, so that he can support the generation of his own seed. Except if Patrick S is right; then only the earth is fecund.

To my eye, Michail's photograph shows that less can be more with respect to composition. My imagination has to be involved to fill in the areas outside the frame, and that draws me in more completely. The photograph also shows that more can be less with respect to processing or whatever techniques produced the blur on the body of the horse -- I'm not crazy about. However, at the same time, perhaps this blur is just another expression of my first point: leaving some of the image, this time within the frame, to be interpreted by the viewer's imagination, thereby further drawing the viewer in. I think it's an excellent photograph that really communicates the act of plowing by using horse power. Just imagine if Michail had been standing 20' further back; so much would have been lost.

Quite the wordsmith, Julie . . .

""Quite the wordsmith""

Michael, it is not only in words, that smithmanship is mastered, but in the minds of certain gifted people. Julie is of course right, that the POW is an allegory of fertility not to mention the sheer potency of males. Thats why the choice of the blurred groin area of the horse is not innocent. It is certainly not made just to prevent getting a "nude" stamp on the photo, banning it from the view of many. I also come back to my reference to the red cloth around the waist of the man.

I would agree with the comments made above concerning the "too green" areas and the less obvious need of blurring the greater parts of the horse.

I see your point, Anders. Please understand that I am not denigrating anyone's giftedness. But I still contend that the primary reason for blurring the horse's genital area is to emphasize the power of the horse's left rear leg, especially in tandem with the determination displayed on the man's face.

So, I guess we can agree to disagree.

"Julie is of course right, that the POW is an allegory of fertility not to mention the sheer potency of males."

No one is ever, of course, right when they interpret a photo. There is no right interpretation or way to read a photo. Even the photographer doesn't own the rights to how to interpret his photo.

I recently talked about creativity being in the viewing of photos, not just their making. It would be a shame to turn a creative or imaginative interpretation into something that is either right or wrong. That would undermine the joy of being an appreciator of art.

A variety of interpretations and ways of viewing is part of the mystery of photography and art. People aren't more or less gifted, or right, in their viewings because they happen to agree with us.

Julie is as right as you are, Fred, as far as I see it. It happens that sometimes we are all wrong, however.

Top notch photography, really impressive, this is work with passion. Compliments Michail!

I really like the smudge around the edges in this particular photo. For me, thats dirt kicked up in my face from the horse....and spots of rain in my eyes from those grey skies. It may even be sweat flicked out from that horses tail.I think its been used cleverly here. It has put so much more feeling into the photo. Given it movement & substance.Sorry I cant contribute more from a camera mechanics point of view as I have only got my first decent camera today & only understand the creative side at the moment.

Tracey makes a really good point -- about sweat and dirt and rain, of which the picture's coloring and blur are expressive. Farming without machines is humid, sweaty, squishy, moist, germy. "Dirty" in the sense of crawling with life. As opposed to farming with machines which is "clean": bright, hard, in a more sterile environment.

I think the overall effect created by the blur, which looks a little haphazardly applied, and the unnaturally amped up green color, is a messy looking picture, and I wonder why Michail used these effects, which don't seem particularly in line with what he does in most of his other pictures, many of which I like a lot more than this one. If it's me, and I'm using blur like that, maybe it's to deal with a perceived technical deficiency, perhaps the focus being off a bit, for instance.

Julie, your last set of comments is right on the money. Having grown up in the scrap metal business, the dirt evident in the POTW is what I call 'clean dirt.' There is something perhaps in the earth itself that attracts both people and animals to get covered up in it to various degrees. This, to me, is the real success of the image.

I see and understand what Tracey and Julie refers to concerning "sweat and dirt and rain", but the POW seem to transmit the feeling of it by the color tones and the dark blur areas. What is in focus is bright green grass and not earth and mud and neither a farmer that is not yet soiled by the work. The plowing seems just to be about to start. It is mainly in the movements of the farmer and the horse and especially it's tail, that we see the hard vigorous work. That's where the POW finds it main quality, in my eyes.

Anders' I agree with your last comment.I think that if the green grass was a little less so green, what Tracy and Julie are reffering to ( the clean dirt) which are around the farmer,was more enhanced . As i have written before,IMO , the strong green is the weak part of the composition.

On one level, I do understand the various comments about the color of the grass, we tend to expect a certain level of reality. But here, I think it serves this image very well--as does the overall color treatment.

There is what I would consider an overall bluish shift here, which does, along with his clothing hint at cooler weather(but not too cold as there are no gloves). The pinkish overcast sky certainly refers to rain, but I also think that the lush, rich color of the grass alludes to a sense of fertility (richness) of the soil. This guy is working hard but it doesn't come across as desperation farming--like in the time of the US dust bowl or during drought. His work will pay off, or at least that is the sense of things.

So, to me the saturated and rich green is almost a symbol of the soil there, saturated and rich and I can enjoy it for that (and maybe a reflection of this man's hard work--metaphorically--that the land will yield for him). I think it can be, like we might see in a painter's work, an expressive choice and doesn't have to be "real" or rendered as such. But certainly, just as with a painting, some might feel things go too far but maybe some license should be given to personal expression in that decision.

Fred G (December 10, 2013; 12:53 P.M.) nailed it. (mostly)
I might add my reaction/thought that the lines (aside from Julie's thread) are possibly the essence of the photo. The force transfer from the horse to the plough is the energy and life of the scene; horse and man are supporting characters.
The photographer's skillfull use of high contrast of the lines with their background successfully guides the eye on them.

Nice, dynamic composition of an unusual subject.

Having read all the comments, I really like your original image.  The vignetting focuses us, the use of negative space of the sky brings sets the tone while giving us room to breathe.  Clearly some thought went into this capture.  Great job

Michail, this is awesome! The subject, the movement, the whole feel to this is great. Nice work. Kelson.