the foreigner

Lars, one of the best images I've seen on this site. Congratulations !!

Dreamy very good

What I think ? This conservative man is just of of his tilbury... or... he has gone out to have fresh air from his unfresh bride. Anyway, fun is in the air, with a little help of alcohol. The photographer and the man are just joking only like danish can do, the atmosphere is inforgetable, and... it's time to piss :-)

 

Strong congrats for that picture, Lars ! I ligge må det ! En gang til neste ! Uten ramme...

To an Italian, this moody photo is surely reminiscent of the surreal atmosphere of some of Federico Fellini's movies (e.g., the final scenes of "8 1/2"). The forrest, however, has a more Northern look, and might well come from a movie by Ingmar Bergman... Another obvious Italian reminiscence is the "man in frac" by Domenico Modugno - this beautiful song is about a gentleman who wanders past midnight through an urban landscape (cats in love, lamp posts, cafè signs) just before taking his final dive into a river. Had he wandered past the city's limits, he might well have ended up in a place like this. And, perhaps, might have changed his mind...

Superb imagery, but i have questions....

Is this a composite? If not, how is there so much light on the near (shadow) side of

the gentleman's face? Hard to imagine you could have dodged so much to retrieve

that much information/detail....

 

Either way, neat picture.

Apologies to go against the flow, but I find the whole image too contrived - it has no impact on me at all. Hats off technically, but emotionally I can only speak as I see ...

Very impressive. But the lack of detail in the shadows takes away from the picture.

The only thing that bothers me is the extreme contrast, and it could be a bit brighter (hard to tell on my aging monitor) I know the contrast helps define the rays of light, but I don't like the dark feeling. Another thought: how about some motion blur to the subject? If you can, take some more at the same location. I usually like an image to stand on it's own, without any support from text, but in this case, the poem really helps.

I agree perfectly with Michele Ciofalo and with the elves... this shot tells a story of magic and mystery of which we cannot be sure of the end... I feel a sense of estrangement looking at this photo...

Maybe he is going to kill himself or maybe he left his little princess in the forest to live with the ancient ones forever... and goes home alone, torn between sadness for the loss and happiness for the princess... everything is open to interpretation.

A really good shot.

WARNING HARSH, BUT HONEST OPINION ALERT: I'm afraid I too find it too contrived. (In addition to too dark and contrasty). I mean, a guy in tux, white gloves and tails in a forest? What for? Why? (Part of me thinks he's a horse and carriage driver who's returning from a quick visit to the forst loo). Is it one of those art for art's sake things? (Sure, someone will tell me to loosen up but it's just more kitsch if you ask me. Too much of that going around lately with a bit of PS tweaking being mistaken for creating some kind of increase in the artistry). Reminds me of something an art student would do since it fits their definition of what an art student should do. (Anyone happen to view the window display in San Francisco on Mission and 3rd of the Academy of Art photography students? That stuff is the same vein.)

Lars has some very beautiful, very artistic and very imaginative images. Without the formal dude in there it might work as a striking image of sun rays through a dark forest (Amar, who made the first comment, put it best), but as is this one is just a bit too silly and formulated for me.

This one leaves me feeling cold. It is silly. The contrived is going to be used a lot this week. I agree that an art student would try to compose something like this. Scratch the dude in the tux and you have a nice composition.

Folks, he is just my butler. i sent him in to bring me some tea and scones. Seriously, when i first saw this image posted, i thought it was just marvellous. obviously a planned image. but the sun rays make this image work so well. the darkness and the light reminds me of satyajit ray's movies like "pather panchali".

I like the rays of light and overall composition, but the guy in the suit just looks out of place and yes, contrived. Make him running naked with dirt all over him and you'd have something that would make me stop and look and wonder. It does fit the title, however - this guy is very out of place in the forest dressed like that and a definite "foreigner".

He looks a bit like a Mad Hatter to me. Why do the trees in this forest look so bad? Would adding a cartoon rabbit still make this qualify as a photograph? If this photograph were in color would there be moss on the trees? Was this photo taken at sunrise or sunset? Would the moss be on the right side of the trees or the left side of the trees if moss grew on the north side of the trees?

Has anone ever heard of Chip Simons and his bunny series?

This photo does absolutely nothing for me. No emotional impact at all. I think it is just another goofy manipulated image with no direct appeal at all. Technically it is fine. Thanks for letting me vent, Elaine W.

I suppose that this time of year may bring out some interesting emotional responses in any environ...true, a contrived photo may have appeal or not, but, are they all not contrived?...the woman so cleverly posed and framed...the violinist that plays as if nobody were listening...the sunset so deftly enhanced in PhotoShop...the bird in the altered sky...isn't that the beauty of art? to contrive beauty and emotion out of real life or to put real emotion into that which is not real? Yes, this may not be a 'real' event for our today and yet, this may well have been the norm last century, a carrige driver off to the forest 'loo'...but the question as posed is (no pun intended) what do you think, so...I think that the photographer had some fun and got a friend or a model to help create a vision of his idea of art in the photographers present moment and created a photo which caught the eye of a photo-net elf who put it to us as the POW. As an elf instructed me not long ago, ours is to critique, not merrily adulate so, 'well done Lars, I like it as art for arts sake and the rays of light are what has made this photo of any interest at all, without them, there would not be a POW with this photo'....personally, I like that you did the study in black and white but there is a bit too much contrast for my eye. If it had been a softer image, I would have enjoyed it more. Congratulations on the POW, Jos.

"...but, are they all not contrived?"

Yes, Jos, of course they are all contrived. Anything that is thought about with purpose or planning (as most good photographs are) is contrived.

But some things can appear too contrived.

And that's my point, anyway.

"isn't that the beauty of art? to contrive beauty and emotion out of real life or to put real emotion into that which is not real?"

 

Must beauty and emotion be contrived? Does it not exist in a genuine form all around us. Could it not be our task as photographers to show others where it is on the off chance they may not have seen it there before?

 

Note the 'meaning' that has been assigned to the image so far. Doesn't exactly elevate the spirit, does it?

 

How come the hands are so bright? . . . and do you hold your hands like that when you're walking?

It's amazing the stories our minds allow us to come up with when viewing the photo. Are any of them accurate? Who knows? Does it matter? No. The photo has been well put together for a viewing audience. It is art. Our perception has no bearing on it's story.

 

I love the curiosity this photo forces onto our minds. Whether we like it or not, the question still remains.

 

Very thought provoking.

Great lighting, great setting, good tones. Well done!

This photograph is very derivative whether it was intended to be or not. Contrived may be seen by some as another expression for creativity instead of a lack of authenticity depending on which side of the artistic fence you are sitting. The photos by Chip Simons go a step further than this one and leave no doubt as to the influence of the photographer in controlling what we are seeing. The photos by Simons evoke multiple paths of thought (many questions) that this photo does not and are at the same time subconsciously unsettling because of their surrealistic imagery. Bunny rabbits are our friends right?

What Happened to Good old Available Light and Available Situation Photography!!

I don't really a problem with setting up a photo like this. Any photography with a model obviuosly involves some sort of set-up. Also, this is not an extremely edited image in the sense that elements are chopped up and placed in different places. It appears to me that image editing was used much in the same way that black and white photographers use different papers and developers and such. As far as the actual image itself, I absolutely love the way high contrast brings out the rays of the sun. The man in the suit, in fact, does add a sense of mystery, even if we do know that he has been placed there.

I love the cinematic effect due to the ray lights and to the man's dress. Amazing photo.

Technically it's nice but the image does nothing for me.

Been a bit of a slump lately when it comes to POW photos... the dog with the blue eye, last week museum photo and now this one are all photos that didnt do anything for me and honestly didnt made me want to know anything more about them.

Criticizing this photograph to be "too contrived" is like criticizing another for being too realistic... or criticizing van gogh for being too wierd, or criticizing picazzo for being too abstract.

 

Each photograph is what it is because its photographer deliberately composed and planned it that way. That doesn't just apply to digitally manipulated images, because the photographer's choice NOT to retouch his image is also a deliberate and artistic one in itself.

 

This picture has obviously struck an emotional cord in a number of viewers, and has failed to do so in some. But that's the way art works. An artist cannot please everybody and shouldn't even try. An artist - whether an art "student" or professional - lives to create art, in his or her own subjective, personal manner. Who are we to even dare define and constrict art to be one thing and not another? Wouldn't that make us hypocrites?

 

Kudos to Lars Raun. I personally enjoyed this image and found it to be surreal and amusingly quirky at the same time. Keep up the good work!