Flat fences.

It is a very fine image, no doubt. Personally, I prefer the horizontal format--works better for me.

Most b&w negative films may have the ability to produce 10 zones, however most b&w papers do not.

I agree, a photograph isn't required to have 10 zones to be accepted as "art". Simple photograms may be art if properly executed.

I dunno... I read all these posts about film vs. digital, and felt sad. Sad that such a piece of photographic art had been so far analyzed mostly from the technical aspect.

Does (well handled) film give better tones than shooting with a "greyscale" conversion of a color photo taken with digital...? Well, yes, of course. So what...?! By the way, the "greyscale" mode is not exactly the most accurate way to get a good black and white from a digital file, and perhaps it would be fair to give the digital method a real chance if you are starting such a discussion: there are so many ways to manipulate a bw with channels in PS...

But anyway, who cares... I don't. Let's talk about the photo, for a change...

I LOVE IT. Yes, the tonal range is good, but I'm certain it would be A LOT better as a print than as a 100Kb jpeg. But let's leave that aside as well.

What did I see when I first saw this picture, quite a while ago...? Well, I saw a fence that had become a scar, due to its flat position on the sand. I saw death. I saw rivers of blood had gone though the fence - talking here about the waves drawn in the sand. I saw Death. To me, that's the ultimate strength of this image. It is NOT "just" another fence photo. It has a soul, a message. Dave Nitzsche criticized the image as static and would have wanted a diagonal in the composition; I say no. No way. This image is not "just" a pretty picture with a nice but unfortunately static composition: it is a representation of Death, and Death IS static. Therefore, nothing I would change. Would I rotate 180 degrees ? No. Would I present this horizontally ? No. Is the image too flat ? NO !! What means "TOO" flat ? Does it mean that each and every image would need to have a real 3D feel to it and have a huge depth ? Would it perhaps mean that shooting top views of sands should be "prohibited" ?! Of course not. Please note that the picture is flat because the subject is flat. The harsh light nevertheless adds as much depth as you could get from such a subject - and a very subtle & dramatic depth at that. A scar is just the same as this - almost skin level, just not "exactly" skin level. And... Death IS flat. When we die, we fall, and our bodies do lie on the ground, parallel to the ground, and suddenly, we lack depth too...:-) I think there is a danger in photography which is very well illustrated by this thread: we can see the tree and completely miss the forest. The forest is the semantic weight, the symbolical value, the content of a photo. The tree is what we see at first sight - tonal range, composition. If we stop at that and don't delve in the picture for a bit, we see all and feel nothing - and to me, that's sad. Again, this picture is, clearly (imo), about Death, and about a scar. About the sand being silenced and zipped by the Death of the fence. And I find this extremely beautiful and powerful, and yes, no doubt, I'd hang this on my wall.

Cheers, Miguel, and congrats on an absolutely stunning POW - I'd say that to me, it is one of your most subtle images, and one of the strongest.

I get the feeling from this image that the Zen garden has overtaken the garden rake in

retaliation for the rake's attempt to manipulate nature. The conflict of the natural

against the mechanical beneath the purpose of the garden's peaceful veneer has

broken through. Yet in its effort to overcome the rake, the garden has created the

very style of pattern the rake itself sought to bring about. The struggle for dominance

did not bring change, simply variance.

 

A fascinating and evocative image. I enjoyed the stories in your other images as well.

Simple,Bold,Serene,Timeless,Beautiful.... Thank You

Firstly, congrats! Beautifully done.

-

Second, I suppose we should read '*older*' as '*film user*'. Glad

to be there.

-

And: Ah, the 'originality' discussion bleeds over!

While reminiscent of Siskind perhaps, the artist needs no

excuses for this work and makes none. The fence theme has

been made this artists own. Right time of day in the right place.

Right film in definitely the right camera.

 

Would any here with those tools in hand have looked down and

said: "Oh why bother, it's been done."? I rather think not.

Great.

I'm sure its been said before... but this is a really nice shot.

Todd Schoenbaum

Celluloid and Silver