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Excellent...

Thanks!

Well composed.

Mystic scene!

Great "feel" and composition.

A most compelling photograph, conveying desolation. Great technical elements, great management of shadows and texture. A classic of BW good old-school classic Photography (notice capital P). Congratulations.

DG

Lovely.

I was going to say simple and elegant, but it's not really simple and elegant is too bony.

The main content needs no further comment from me (i.e. it's unmistakable and I like it very much, ). I wondered for a while about the distant unattached fence post lower left, but am thinking it's a nice balance to the man. I would also like to say how much I love the really prickly barbs of the barbed wire in this otherwise smooth picture. And I love how the horizon line parts for the man, with a faintly darker shade to his right.

Fog is often very difficult to capture successfully, and this does a nice job. Somehow the broken tine of the pitchfork speaks to me of the disappearance of traditional methods of farming. The jacket is like a giant brooding raven, a symbol of mortality. Sometimes I wish the man was walking towards us, generally I much prefer this to the anonymity of a receding back, but perhaps in this case the man has "finished for the day" and is leaving his doleful task and the anonymity is probably a plus. I like it.

The vignetting is perhaps intended, as it complies with what appears to be the punctum of the image, a man walking away from an ostensibly marginal farming op (everything appears broken, which is the beauty of it). The fog I think could be better, it could be equally dense but less muddy. Not sure what one could do in post from digital files, but a darkroom rat like me would be happy to have a go in changing the light, modifying the visual soup and local luminances. Fine concept, excellent composition, but a perfectible tonaity. A little bit of spark might counterbalance the total gloom and add depth to the content.

Shadows and fog. A reminiscence of German expressionist film. Something sinister is going on. Strong image with simple elements that balance.

Very motion picture- like and seems like something bad has or is going to happen, as above sinster and beautiful.

Arthur, although I agree that the fog's appearance may be muddy, I think that it works perfectly in conjunction with the other elements of the image, which already have been mentioned. It's a matter of atmosphere.

Just a little, it reminds me of the FSA photographs of the 30s.
All in all, I think a successful image in its own terms.

Perfection :)

However:
All elements in the composition are supporting the scene, making it very predictable. I'm missing just a slight indicium (misstep) in the frame, that can make me become convinced that, this is real life.

To paraphrasing Oscar Wilde: The very essence of art is its unpredictability.

The slightly ajar thing, Anders, if something amiss is called for, and second glance might be the broken fork. Poseidon needs a new tool..

Graphically it is nicely balanced, but overall I find the scene uninteresting: a guy walking in the fog along a dilapidated fence. I find the broken pitchfork somewhat distracting as well.

The broken fork is for me in line with the symbolic language of the image ,together with the tha falling fence and the o left hanging. I'm convinced, that the man is off too...

I find the broken pitchfork somewhat distracting as well.

strange, it is the pitchfork grabbed my attention. however, i'd remove the broken prong to leave a two-fingered salute to compliment the "i've had enough, I'm off" message. Very Brexity.

Achingly symbolism-laden.

The broken pitchfork seems part of the incessancy to me, longing for a heavier interpretation.

The fog seems fine as is.

For me the pitchfork dominates, and yeah, there is fog and a receding figure as Fred say's: "longing for a heavier interpretation." I becomes for me kind of cliched for that reason. It is a nicely arranged photo with moody features. I guess if you are into symbolism this is a more interesting picture. I have to admit, I'm not usually into a lot of symbolism, but I realize it is a main point for a lot of people. So, I have to "own" my take on it.

Steve, I hope you're not taking me the wrong way. I was trying to communicate I find it way too heavy with symbolism. As a matter of fact, that's all it is, a bunch of symbolic elements perfectly placed trying to elicit a heavy interpretation, in the fog no less! Rather than finding the fact that the pitchfork is broken to be slightly ajar, as Gerry suggests, I find it fits into the perfection mentioned, perfection have been used as a criticism already. Other words I used that I thought would suggest my tone of voice were "achingly," "laden," and "incessancy" but I've learned the Internet is a tough place to communicate tone of voice so now I've spelled it out.

I don't find the specific symbolism overdone, although the multitude of symbols does complicate or obfuscate whatever message the photo is intended to give, and in that sense makes it more difficult to appreciate. So, take away any of the multiple subjects, or even two of them, like the man, the fork, the garment, or the broken fence, and you still end up with an image dependent upon its symbolism. The latter options might well be more forceful, because they would be simpler. Provide a variable and more translucent fog rather than the uniform muddy rendition, remove the unnecessary vignetting, and the image might be equally if not more interesting.

The essence , Anders, is always how I mentally read a work and the last book I read or film I loved. I mean this only..What if , say , this spare image, focused on the coat on the fence post as " a tattered coat upon a stick." I mean could we hang an interpretation on that alone. A broken fork that can't be mended. A fence in disrepair.

True. Like Haiku, it's not for everyone.

Haiku is a good image. Of a kind of verse that is spare. And what to make of the way the pitchfork is placed. I have been raking gravel. No rake goes face up. And no blade face up. Something is wrong here. Disturbing the peace.