Friendship

It all depends what is meant by DARKNESS. If darkness is supposed to be thought of as meaning, or including, night time scenesthen this image fits the bill. On the other hand, if the theme is open for interpretation (even for the elves)as the case seems to be by the choice of photograph (Viking ship)then, one can take it to the extreme and end up considering the occult, or at least some form of evil, calamity, or a situation which is difficult to escape, such as depression, imprisonment, remorse for past sins, etc. In this particular case, the photograph chosen falls short of its calling as this is clearly a casual snap shot of a couple of passerbys near a make-believe boat. The buildings in the background pretty much eliminate any connection to the dark ages; so we cant tie the photo to that era (as it seemed was the intent in the part of the judges). Of course the men wearing jeans or slacks and carrying a backpack, plus the use of FUJI-chrome-VELVIA, is a dead giveaway that this ship rests in marina in a post modern world, and therefore, the only darkness here is that of the setting sun. If this is the darkness we are supposed to judge in the photo, then we have to ask ourselves, how good is the darkness quality of this scene, IMO, it certainly is not one of the best darkness photos I have seen. A much better rendition would have been to change the image into black and white; had this been the case, we would at least be taken back from the modern world into a time past and this, (IMO again), would have fit the bill much better. I agree, and understand, that the photographer got shoved into this darkness theme and that this may work against his photo, whereas, had the theme been: Shipyards, Marine life, History, Dark Ages (or the likes) then the photo would have held together much better.

 

Now for the photograph: I think its an average photo as scenic photos go. Sky is not extraordinary and could have easily been fixed with a graduated filter (any color you like). The framing is good and so is the placing of the boat in relation to the individuals, but that is about all I see in this photo. Its a good photo with that can easily be made better by increasing the contrast a little and burning in the sky. I personally feel that the color is distracting here and if were going to insist in keeping it a color photo, I think a tobacco filter would have done the image some justice. Thats all.

Lannie- great ideas- I'm intrigued.

Isidro- Oh. See- that's just to much work and if Doug expects me to do all that, for one little picture... I think not. If it's purple, and it's put forth as a link- I expect a link. Otherwise- well, I guess I just miss out. :) Thanks, though.

Excellent photo (in the opinion of a complete novice).

 

What I can't fathom though is how you got decent DOF on 50 ASA at sunset

without using a tripod ?

 

As I say, I'm a complete novice so I may have missed something..... ?

"It occurs to me now why this does not epitomize darkness: it represents a view toward the light" --Lannie Kelly

 

That's what I was struggling to say.

 

Below, or above, or somewhere associated with this post are the examples I tried to insert, above, but which were foiled by the system.

"In this case the subject appears to me quite literally to be darkness" --Randy January

 

???? I guess it's open to interpretation, but I think this perspective is off-base.

 

I don't think that the subject was intended to be darkness. Here's why: The title is Friendship, which tells me the subject is friendship, not darkness, and the creator intended the image to be read as Friendship. Unless these two people are the spawn of Satan, then I don't see the Darkness connection. The ship occupies, as pointed out above, nearly 2/3rds of the frame, making it a contender for the visual center of interest, i.e., the subject. On the other hand, the figures represent a human element in both their action and their implied relationship, which, together with the title, make them a strong contender for the center of interest, i.e., the subject.

 

My guess is that the scene presented itself as a sunset with a strong and large foreground subject (the boat) and was later augmented by the presence of the two people who may have been passing by on their way to somewhere else. Baldur was wise to shoot when they were placed just so, but, in my opinion, the composition is still a little too complicated and the two contenders are not congruent, and don't marry well in a framed space.

 

There are two pictures here: A boat with a sunset, or a couple of people walking on a sunset beach.

Sorry Piotr, I keep spelling your name wrong.

Above, below or somewhere associated with this post are a) what I believe the photographer was first inspired by, and b) my opinion of what would make a stronger and quicker communication of Friendship.

I could be wrong in this: Baldur could have been working with the two trekkers, or he could have seen them heading this way and visualized the shot as we see it, but my experience leads me to think there was a great deal of serendipity at work here.

You seemed to jump all over my post, then today you make virtually the same point I was trying to make regarding the photographer's probable goals for taking the picture and why the two separate subjects don't work very well together.

I suppose Friendship might be a play on words. We have the two friends and then we have this ship. Friend Ship. My historys a bit on the dodgy side, but me thinks that for a number of people living by the seashore a millennium or more ago, eyeing one of these things on the horizon had you shuddering and heading for the hills. More frit than friendly. A dichotomy then. A good deal of terrifying darkness can envelope the scene if you imagine the one time invaders aboard this ship marauding through seaside settlements.

 

Thing is I dont buy this interpretation. Meaning I dont think Baldur set out to portray the dark side of Viking sea warriors at night. I think he set out to record this ship against the colour of the sky and in a way where the ship would record as silhouette the better to outline its menacing tusks. Hence no tripod, no ND grad filter. And the friends are recorded sharply in silhouette too.

 

The pics an OK pic and I kinda feel a little like a trespasser to be picking at it as an interpretation of darkness; simply because an elf has pointed me in that direction. No where in his fairly fulsome uploading notes does Baldur make reference to the portrayal of darkness as being the foremost controlling factor or stimulus behind the making of this picture. I guess I feel Im being asked to assess something for a quality that Baldur never put up for assessment. Except for "Friendship". Or, to quote our elves subsidiary "spark of hope. Now I see more than a spark of hope, intended or not. Those marauding times I spoke of were imaginary and I can imagine Baldur's terrified ancestors from the first millennium hoping for a time when there shores were as peaceful as this one.

 

En it great when you get your pickie on a POW page for free?

"In this case the subject appears to me quite literally to be darkness" --Randy January

 

"???? I guess it's open to interpretation, but I think this perspective is off-base.

 

I don't think that the subject was intended to be darkness..."

--The Crankster (pun intended)

 

Perhaps you interpret my perspective incorrectly. I'm not saying that the message is darkness, nor am I saying it's trying to convey a feeling of darkness. All I meant by "subject" was the means in which the message is conveyed. You may think friendship cannot be conveyed through darkness, but I disagree. If I were to photograph a silhouette of a cross(or star of david, anhk, crecent moon, pentagram, whatever floats your holy boat), would that make it evil? Perhaps somber, peaceful, even comforting. All of which is still very fitting to friendship. I simply felt this picture is a better example than most that you presented because the medium is darkness, not a dimly lit subject with a dark background. Sorry if I wasn't clear before.

Well why didn't you say that in the first place? As a visual artist unskilled in the linguistic arts I can hardly be held responsible for misinterpretations of prose. However, I still don't quite understand how this image is better in the Darkness category than any of the fine examples I offered.

Phil, Leave it to you to put everything in its rightful place. Friend + ship==Friendship! OF course. You're a genius.

"Darkness" has been mentioned 126 times, lighting twice, and

composition once! (No I didn't count, but trust me:-)) If the elves

had said the theme was "long walks, conditioning, and how

we're out of shape compared to our ancestors", should we

discuss that aspect of the image even though that was probably

the furthest thing from his mind?

 

"Light", "Composition", "Subject" . . . . come on now. . . . We can

do this! :-)

Hi Baldur,

I`m glad to see, that your outstanding photo is choosen as te

picture of the week. Congratulation! I allways are looking for new pictures on your site.

Greetings Otto

Sorry, this should be titled "The twilight of the Norsemen". It is clearly the preserved bare bones of a Viking Longship. One can picture (and hear) the creak of the oars in unison as the ship passes the headland just over the horizon to the right, as the crew prepares to embark on a voyage of pillage.

The beauty of the photograph is in the contrast between the serenity of the scene surrounding the longship, and the history of it's violent use. Friendship? Hardly

Better is such a subjective concept. I only meant to offer that though I feel the photos you offered are fine examples, this is the one I would choose for the reasons I stated. However, my ears are not in possesion of the pointed status symbols of the elves. I just happened to agree with them on this occation. Anyways, I think we have both made our points quite well and shall spare good Mr. Birgis of further comment save that I enjoyed this photo very much and was pleased to see it featured here.

That's that problem with having two subjects. The boat is by far

the larger of the two and, although this is conjecture, it was

probably the purpose of the shoot. Consider, however, that the

people, not the boat, get the benefit of the good light. So in his

mind, it's now about them, Problem was, he's still shooting as if

the boat was the subject. If you want the people to be the focus

and have the boat and landscape be subordinate, then you have

to recompose to make that clear. It's a bit of revisionism, really.

"I was here to shoot the people. Really." No, it's about the boat.

Having said that, if I've got the boat all lined up and they walk into

the shot, I'm going to take it just like he did.

I have never met Baldur Birgis. However, we have interacted on certain occasions. I managed to witness his demeanor and have to say that from reading his feedback to others, and myself, by watching his work, and by taking observations about his written biography.

 

In my opinion Baldur Birgis is a class act, and I am personally glad to see him gaining the recognition for his wonderful work.

 

Congratulations my friend,

 

Sincerely,

Ringo Taylhardat

Gentlemen, are we not missing one vital point here? The image is a second run postcard that blends in with every other postcard image on the tourist trek.

 

Why is it original. Pretty colors, yes. But is this enough? Who are your heroes? What is this image? Who is it for? What does it stand for? For this viewer it is glossy artiface.

 

Is going "oow it is dark and moody" enough. Where is travel photography going when all it seems to do is present a calender picture vision of time and space? Where is the engagement in this work?

 

Is this the measure of fine work: that it can be proudly pinned up on a garage wall?

Firstly congratulation Baldur, this picture is certainly not the best IMO in your great portfolio, but anyway this is not the objective of POW to choose the best photo of the best photographer,... but still for those who didnt know your pictures yet it is a great opportunity

Secondly as for the darkness, as your photo was chosen among others to illustrate it. I am not convinced at all that this choice was right(although I dont know what were the alternatives, and on top of those Doug mentionned earlier there are quite a few additional possible candidates...). Why: it is quite dark of course, so is dusk, even in Iceland... but there is light, quite bright at some place, darkness is just here a characteristic of the picture, as a natural condition/constraint.

what I see then?

I see a boat, a ship, like viking one, it is probably using a boat like that Leif Erickson from Iceland came once along side of Newfoundland few hundred years ago.... I see the people, friends I am not sure, fellow traveler for sure, one is carrying a backpack and look like a sherpa following the leader... and walking under the diminishing sunlight in a dark landscape

Everything suggest me another subject, certainly not darkness, friendship represents only such a small portion of the picture, ... IMO the subject is DISCOVERY. As if they just landed in a dark and unknown country and start their journey in NEWFOUNDLAND.

And IMO nothing is probably more in opposition of darkness than Discovery.

But may be, and again, my imagination is just playing un-controlled...:-)) a usual phenomenon that occurs when I look at some pictures ...

"Technically I have misgivings with regard to the light. I think it was too extreme for the exposure latitude of the film. Take a look at what's coming from behind the clouds: It's sooo, soooo bright. Any more exposure and there'd be no color. (Is there any color now?) On the other extreme, see how the boat begins to blend into the darkness of the background? Any less exposure and you'd begin to miss the boat entirely. So, being the genius that I am, I would say the exposure was right for the film (to Baldur's credit) but still not optimum for the scene. Perhaps if the sun were a little more obscured then the range of light would have been less and would have fit the latitude of the film. It would follow that the camera exposure would have been longer in time, but it would have captured a more expressive range of tones. Does anyone else think that's true?" - Doug Burgess.

Well, yes. I do think that's true.

As for the title matching the picture or not... well, no, it doesn't really match the picture, but I'd rather focus my attention on the picture itself. Any emotion ? Not for me. Pleasant to look at ? Quite pleasant, yes. Why ? The shape of the boat is very nice.

Talking about the shape, I read with interest Alan Chan's suggestion of a slightly lower camera angle. I agree. Have a look at this:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo.tcl?photo_id=1753407

Okay, this other picture of the same subject is manipulated, but it shows a better angle imo, and achieves a much stronger mood. But then again, nobody knows who's that photographer, so he gets 3 ratings. I think it is worth noting that Baldur's picture, on the other hand, was on monday among the 10 highest rated images ever in aesthetics on photo.net. I'm not saying it's an average shot, no: it's quite a good shot, but imo, certainly not among photo.net's best - be it just for the technical reason stated by Doug, the exposure issue.

I have to agree with Carl Root as well about the fact that this picture has in fact 2 subjects. Not a major issue if the 2 subjects somehow collaborate, but is it the case here ? The 2 "friends" are walking away from that boat and the silhouettes seem to suggest that they are talking together. What story can we make up from this ? Let's see... Nobody so far seems to have mentionned that the boat isn't in the sea, but to me, that's important. The boat is basically a dummy or a statue - look at the base of the boat. Was it really the best to show this much of background and to show the base, which indicates that the boat isn't real ? The other picture of this boat I have posted here a link to, at least, lets us dream that this boat may be real. This POW, on the other hand, leaves no illusion that this boat ISN'T real. The picture has therefore no real story to tell. In conclusion, this picture is a decent postcard showing quite well a dummy on the beach.

I could propose at least a hundred images that I think are great tofit this theme - just see my favorite photos on the site, MANY of them are very dark, and quite a few have an oppressive darkness feeling.

hmmm... looks like a scene out of a dark fantasy novel...like a certain two hobbits on a quest of some sort. :)

Ladys and Gentlemen:

 

First I want to thank for the selection of Photograph of the Week. It´s a great honor.

 

About the title: Phil Morris is right. Friendship is a play on words, Friend & Ship but thats not all. We used to be a Viking nation sailing those Viking longboats, but not any more. We have left the boats, walked away from them like the two friendly persons are doing and become a peaceful and friendly nation. Some say that those Viking ships belong to a dark period of history. You don´t have to like the image. My message by the image is friendship to PN and friendship to the world. About decent DOF on 50 ASA at sunset without using a tripod?: Please pay attention to the high-speed lens. About friendly or unfriendly ratings: I believe that people rate honestly compared to their knowledge.

 

Many thanks to all of you for your kindness,

Baldur Birgis

Baldur, I have just looked over your entire collection on photo.net. Thank you for such a wonderful tour of your beautiful country--and thanks for the friendly message as well.

Baldur

I like your confirmation that the title refers to the 'friends' + the ship, however I think for the benefit of those with less depth (like me) this play on words should have been made more obvious and the image should have been titled FriendShip instead.

The pic' I think is a lovely one to round off an exhibition of a "A day in Reykjavik". I believe (although may be wrong) the 'ship' is a sculpture by Jón Gunnar Árnason called SunCraft and is quite well known, so a silhouette of two people walking together past it at dusk is a great way to end. Going home at the end of a day possibly, past one of the iconic images of the city. When this is considered, surely some of the criticism about the picture being divided between two subjects takes on less validity?

As to whether it fits the theme of darkness? Well it was taken as night was falling and it has a lot of dark areas in it, so in a very literal sense it is a dark picture. I think though, as has already been said by those with far greater knowledge of the pics' on PN than me, there exist many far more worthy candidates to fit this theme.

Anyway cheers, and well done on getting the POW.

I like this, the color and light are very good even with the lighter area. Whether or not it fits the theme of "moody" or not is debatable, I say no, but it definitely fits a "theme" of dark and light, obviously. It's too uplifting to be moody imo.

 

I think this is a better photograph than the other of the same boat/sculpture, that one is clearly still on the land also, and the light looks unnatural to me, perhaps because of the way the two images were joined together. The boat here has much more "dynamic", and the silhouette is more beautiful imo. The curving movement of the boat and figures, the water/land is important. I feel less of a connection psychologically between the figures and the boat and landscape, the people are engrossed in their conversation and seem happily oblivious to their surroundings. Dark = people, boat, land, Light= water and sky. Obvious, but still something to think about, for me anyway. The boat seems to be "rising" from the darkness. I almost prefer the version with just the figures. I also like your other version with the boat alone.

 

If I were the sculptor, I would be pretty happy with this as a representation of my work. I did some searching because I had never heard of this artist, (Jon Gunnar Arnason) and here it is in daylight. It looks quite different. In silhouette you could imagine that it might be carved in wood. His work was considered to be a "pile of junk" when he first started out, which apparently it was, literally, couldn't find any other images.

 

http://home.wanadoo.nl/snowy-owl/images/reyk/html/solfar.html

 

Thanks for this nice image, I was out tonight doing low light photography with lots of problems including getting soaked and unexpected hords of people.

the picture looks like a scene from Lord of the Rings. it has a mystical and magical air. i love it very much. it's so so autumny and octoberish... :-)

 

rio