Bridge into Silence

Thank you Wilson...

 

 

i love how its symmetrical and totally whimsical at the same time. very...mystifying?

 

i love it.

great job, really suggestive. i do believe as well that extra elements are needed.

compliments

I'd have to say I prefer the 2nd version (this one). I think the tilted shadow pulls it out of the too centred and symmetrical trap. I did like the cyclist on the left of the other version - 'rider of the storm' :)

Great shot. The shadows really add strength to the composition. Detail showing in the right hand mist/cloud though I find distracting.

 

Regards

+ + +

Congratulations, Anthony! Finally, some recognition. . . .

 

Although I only rated the other version when they were posted, I have to say that I do like this one better. It has an airy lightness and a simplicity of composition that the other version lacks, in my opinion. I never noticed this version for some reason, but the amount of dust here provides a greater sense of mystery and helps to obscure some of the background clutter. I see the bicyclist as riding away into the nothingness (or at least uncertainty) of the future, away from the most abstract representation of structure that represent for me the present. I'd like to hear others' interpretations as well as your own.

 

The entire portfolio is really impressive, including the wonderful pictures of winding stairs up the outsides of what appear to be storage tanks. I also like the Burning Man photos that show the human figure more clearly.

Very cool sculpture, beautifully photographed

For some reason this image makes me think "Star Wars" or some other science-fiction movie where people land on different planets or parts of the world...that very nondescript-looking structure behind the dust all the way on the right-hand side evokes thoughts of someone coming from or approaching a space-age, sheltered community. Of course, if an image lets me use my imagination like this, then I automatically like it!

Excellent image. Really wish you had taken this with the sun at 12:00 and the shadow symmetry would have been there also. Yeah, I said shoot at noon. The hair stood up on the back of my neck as I said it... LOL...

 

Great image. Congrats on POW!

Gimme Shelter

 

That is what this image said to me. It appears there is a life coming out of a harsh isolated environment and is looking forward to some semblance of civilization. Great capture of a wonderful moment in time!

 

PS: I also love your photo, Sunday Stroll.

I can see Dave's point, but the other side of it is that the backlighting of the afternoon sun really works well with the dust.

Really nice sense of time and place. There is, however, too much wasted space on both sides. Would do your image more justice cropped tighter a bit, making it square. Keeping the viewers eye in the work, and therefore reiterating the symmetry also, would be your reward.

 

I thought you might have 35mm-itis, but after checking your other work I see you do crop for strength most of the time. Congrats on POW. (By the way, I do like the adjusted image posted above, density wise.) MS

"35 mm-itis"...? He, he, that was a good one... :-)

 

I see this as a fine composition, and definitely better than the other version, the dust on the background makes it a little "eerie", adding to the general mood of the composition; an unnecesary component is eliminated by hiding of the structures on the far background.

 

On the other hand, the not-so-real blue of the sky and the overexposed clouds aren't accomplished in the best possible way. The second issue could be done better with a double exposition, a second one exposed for the sky, and then using digital tools to add only the sky to this one. Just an idea for the next time.

 

Another thing to discuss: to use other's work of art to recreate another aesthetical/artistical image or object, is IMO a valid approach, specially for us photographers. Some people may think something different... What do you mine?

Let's just forget the idea of square for once and for all. Square will not work, as the version posted above will ascertain. Personally, I like fixed ratios... 2:3 or 4:5 and occasionally square. But in this case this is pretty much exactly what I saw and I like that. Higher contrast (as the version posted early in the thread shows) may be more dramatic, but it also presents the image in a way it was not.

 

The reason I left this image as is is because as anyone who has been to Burning Man will tell you, the dust storms are almost as much a part of the experience as the art or the people. This image portrays all three of those elements.

 

This image was not cropped. I did a minor curves adjustment and that was it

And by the way, I do appreciate the commnets and suggestions, and I am not saying that higher contrast and making it more dramatic is not better, or less aesthetically pleasing, just that what I was going for in this case was the actual feeling I got while taking this picture.

 

Dave N... it was taken at 4:22 PM. There is so much going on at BRC that trying to plan to be somewhere, say at High Noon... well, it's not likely to happen!

the foreground shadow which is obviously dropped in digitally is way too harsh and completely impossible. Either the light is coming from the rear left or the rear right but not both unless this is a world with two suns. In my view it falsifies the whole image. I also agree that the blue of the sky doesn't look correct.

oops, 4 pencils and light shows the shadow is possible but it still somehow looks too harsh.

It all looks pretty natural to me. The sun is obviously to the left and still pretty high in the sky, and the fabric could be quite opaque, for all we know (or at least that part of it that is dark).

 

I don't understand the complaints about the sky. Yes, the levels have been adjusted a bit, as virtually always is the case in good post-processing, but the sky is darker as one gets away from the sun, as one would expect, and the amount of dust is substantial, which is consistent with the fact that the wind is usually blowing harder in the afternoon than in the morning as a result of ground heating.

 

Overall, I can't find a lot to fault here. Considering that it is made looking more or less into the sun in very harsh conditions, this is really quite an extraordinary shot all the way around.

 

Although I am not a stickler on aspect ratios, I think that the format here works well. I wouldn't crop it at all.

@nthony, I'm glad for you and this POW. I think you're a deserving photographer.

 

On the other hand, compared to other pictures in your portfolio, one in particular, I don't think all that much about this shot. While it shows attention to composition and symetry, I'm still left with a "so what" feeling. I mean, the lines are interesting, the wind, the light, the dust, all interesting, but there's not really anything here that pulls me back in for the long look. Maybe if the figure were closer, I don't know. I guess I'm in the minority.

I think that it's possible to do a square if a little is cropped from all sides. I like the illusion of an infinite regression that can be created by nipping a bit off of the structure in the fore.

 

I don't think it's *better*... I just think that a square has it's plusses, too. I probably prefer the wider ratio-- but I'm sure tha once I get back in a 6x6 habit, I'll like the square more :-)

Just for the sake of the discussion I am going to upload the image straight off the camera. As I stated before it was not cropped, and only a minor curves adjustment was applied (Enhance Per Channel Contrast). The image above is without any adjustments whatsoever.

 

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Thanks for your thoughts Doug. I can appreciate that comment coming from you. I wouldn't have picked this one myself either. I do like it, but I thought the previous version, which was posted a week before this version (I usually always post my favorite versions first) was the better of the two, albeit by a slight margin.

 

If you place any merit in ratings though, this one would seem to be more aesthetically pleasing to the average viewer. Not only was the average higher but it received about 3 times the ratings. Personally, I'd like to say that ratings make no difference to me, but that would be a lie. From experience, I have to go with the numbers.

This is the original without adjustments whatsoever...

For some reason it is not posting???

Congrats on POW Anthony. Very interesting shot, though I admit I prefer the square format