The Dumping Grounds

All the pics you have post of underwater views are really amazing, I can't tell you about the technic but i cant feel anything but anger at this image!!, how can the man do this in such a wonderfull place like the Red Sea. Great Shots!!

I could be totally wrong, but sometimes manmade items can become the foundation for a reef as the marine organisms build on them.

Hector; This was not voluntarily "man made", of course. The "Yolanda", a cargo ship, sunk here in 1980, and these toilet bowls were part of the cargo. The main part of the ship itself now lies in the abyss after a storm has knocked it over the reef top. Now this place has become a popular dive site. Philip; Yes, I agree with you. I wouldn't be at all surprised if, a few years down the road, this whole area will be covered with some kind of natural growth.

On a serious note.. I too am a diver and I have to say I have seen a lot of weird things but this image is something else. My hats off to you for taking such a simple image and turning it into art. Well done!

I followed your link from John Orban's site and I'm very glad I did. There is something very eerie about these underwater shots and this one in particular oozes a kind of archaic sensibility. I just love it.

 

Sally

sad that mankind uses the seas as toilet...

^_^

 

___________________________________

Mondiani party event photographer

This is among the most unbelievable and weird things I have seen in photo.net and around.

 

Definitly an appalling and ironical food for thoughts about sea as a toilet.

 

Cheers,

whatever the intended theme is ...it seems to be about the accumulated debris of humans. great shot.

Interesting and attention-grabbing. I am thankful that the POTW wasn't chosen from the 'Venice' or 'Nudes' folders.

Very strange, bizzare, and beautiful image. My guess is the photographer was still far away from the bottom when making the shot, which adds to the composition. Wonderful choice for POW.

What Are Your Camera Settings, lens choice, rough distance from the wreck, etc, Film/Digital Choice, Equipment, Etc, (Tripod?, handheld? - Ghiannis D shot).

 

Excellent pictures, well composed and excellent visibility on that shot of the Ghiannis D, I too have dived that wreck and the Thisleworm. I am interested to know your equipment setup that can deliver these results as I have been long pondering whether to enter the underwater realm of photography but a flood would be devastating...has this happened to you?

 

This is one photograph that you will not be flushing down the toilet, top marks, excellent image.

 

Kind Regards

 

David

"even if you can't appreciate this one, then at least we hope it will introduce you to his other work"

 

That's exactly how it is for me. The toilets photo isn't the one, but there's lots more to like in the collection and some beautiful captures there. Picked out several favorites immediately. Very nice work!

While an impressive shot, it's not my favorite of Johannes Underwater Wrecks portfolio. The entire folder is terrific, but there are 2 others in it which I think have this beat. Good to see a shot from this portfolio make POW. It certainly deserves it

Interesting photo, if only for a few minutes, but after that I'm not finding any reason to stick around. Besides the unusual nature of so many toilets in such a strange place, there's not much else here. No sign of undersea life to enhance the composition; no other divers; no interesting light, like perhaps from the back, or side; nothing on the surface, the bottom of a vessel, maybe; etc. A good photo to illustrate wrecks at sea, underwater diving, but, that's about it for me. Amother POW without a spark, in my opinion.

 

However, myself having made enough emotionless photos to distribute widely to the membership here, I agree that there are far better images in Johannes portfolio, but the logic behind selecting an inferior POW for the purpose of pointing to better ones in the portfolio? Seems like it would cause people to avoid the rest of a photographer's work, unless they're already interested in either toilets or underwater photography. Sometimes you just gotta let the sunken toilets go on their own...

While I wasn't exactly, uh, bowled over by this shot it certainly did pique my interest to come in for a closer look. An important role of photographer is to show the rest of us things we've never seen (or would never likely see on our own). Now I'm off to have a boo at the rest of Johannes' portfolio.

It's spooky looking - it makes me think of a boneyard. Decay is usually more difficult to portray photogenically - well done.

Interesting... toilets flush craps to the water... its now theyre retired to where it belongs..

Ditto Doug Burgess' comments. Poor choice. Period.

Well Johannes, I found this image terribly interesting, but of all the comments I'm

surprised noone suggested what should have been an obvious title.

 

The Dumping Grounds

 

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

Yep, indeed there are vastly more interesting images in Mr. Felten's portfolio. At the end of the day, no matter how long I look at it, all I can say is, "Its a pile of underwater toilets." I'm sorry, but ho hum.

Y'all surprise me.

 

I checked out his portfolio and this is my favorite. No, I'm not kidding. Maybe it's because I know some other good underwater photographers, so I've seen interesting fish, and great back light. This is a unique funny shot that's well composed. Yes, I'm always the first one to complain when people confuse aesthetics of the subject and aesthetics of the photograph, but let's face it. There isn't a single one of us who wouldn't have shot this, given the opportunity.

 

Yes, I'd hang it on my wall . . . in the bathroom, of course.

"There isn't a single one of us who wouldn't have shot this, given the opportunity"

 

Carl, that's exactly why this flatlines for me. It's too obvious, without any surprise. It's a pile of toilets in the water. Granted, this may have been a one time chance without an opportunity for a second dive, perhaps with better gear, and I'm not faulting Johannes for it; I can understand the limitations he was probably under. Yes, I would have made the same shot, given the opportunity. As you say, we all would have made this shot.....But that's exactly why it's not special.

 

Show me the excellent shot of the pile of toilets that I (and most of us) wouldn't have taken. That's what I want to see.

I for one would not have shot it. Not at least in the past 20 years of creating. First of all, it has no center of interest, that's why it's so boring. Patterns with no center of interest are amateurish... perfect for a boring Popular Photography cover.

Pattern shots are neither easy nor amateurish. I've seen too many try and fail. Show me a half dozen good ones that you can knock off in an afternoon and then I'll believe it's easy for you.

Doug, that's a pretty tough standard. First we bury all the tripod holes, then forget about flowers. Not to mention most nudes. This is different because it was discovered, not the planned sunrise shot on day three. The bottom line is that neither of us have seen anything like this before. . . . and you can sell it. :-)