"An Ocean of People at an Ocean of Water" version 2 The Maha Kumbh Mela in India Allahabad has...

This photo is fabulous as it is, in regards to light and the lack of expressions. The lack of expression allows you to become lost in this sea of people, and lets your eye traverse across the masses. If too many expressions were captured, it would be a totally different photo.

 

What is the comment about the Muslim pilgrimage being larger than this? How is 40mill less than 3 or even 5 million?

Hell! Photo of the YEAR! Photo.net should have a highly exclusive "Hall of Greatness" or something. This isn't a photograph. This is a frozen moment in time that permits us a window to briefly enter into the experience. A master recreation from a montage of different perspectives. It makes me want to travel into my screen to hear, see, smell, and feel what being there was all about.

 

It's a shame that 51 others will share the "same" POW honors. I question whether any of them will be worthy.

 

My heart goes Boem,Boem,Boem...

 

Well folks, how am I suppose to respond to all those comments? I'm really overwhelmed by all this. I feel like flying since the magic still goes on...

 

I will look at them more closely and try to come back to them since for the moment I don't have much time. In the meanwhile I would like to include here the definitive version I made a couple of weeks ago of that same picture. I also put it in this same folder. Maybe you will like it even more, maybe not....

 

Namaste...

The sheer magnatude of this photo is wonderful.I can't imagine being in a crowd like that.The focus,composition and color are fantastic. Five shots then stitching them together is a job in it's self. This is a job well done. ~ Bravo ~

Well maybe 9.5/10, are you looking for a job with the National Geographic?? Maybe you SHOULD!

 

Cheers

Pernel

www.digthatcrazyfarout.com

RienkJiskoot wrote above: "what's bothering me is the total lack of any facialexpression, Almost everybody's face is in partly or total darkness" He makes just a good point. In such a gathering one can't expect anythingpersonal expressed, vise versa it a essentially image of GREAT IMPERSONALITY.Religiously, philosophically this event (as Jean-Pierre says) is time ofconcentration of the cosmic powers (shakti) into your own being. Then it is sortof a feast of the nihilum where an ocean of these people flows. Our present artworkprecisely conveys very idea of an event. Don't leave it behind, being a"uniquely huge", "awful" "amazing","beautiful" and all such, it is first of all panoramic view ofreligious feast. And it is good explanatory picture of such a thing.

Bythe way, I would also consider other shots in http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=161965as slices of that big ham http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=430473 :-).

Elias

Very impressive. How did you shot a multi frame panaroma of a crowd of moving people and piece it together in photoshop? I'd think you'd have to shoot five frames at the same time...

You showed great presence of mind in remembering to take five pictures to later form a panorama. I am sure the sense of moment and crush of people , so early in the morning, must have been overwhelmingly distracting.

 

It is a pleasant surprise to see that the stitching of non-simultaneous pictures of a moving mass of people, with one or two exceptions, has not resulted in any seemingly severed bodies! .

 

I agree with the above posters about these pictures coming up a bit dark in the browser. I downloaded the jpeg and viewed it in photoshop, and with a little tweaking the faces are much clearer.

 

How was the actual light, compared to what we see?

From the picture, it appears to be about 7:00 a.m. or so of a midwinter morning in Northern India. Or was it later?

 

All that aside, this is a terrific picture!

 

 

Het werd eens tijd dat deze POW zou worden... Maar hij is het dan eindelijk toch. Geweldige foto, met een briljante lichtval en in indrukwekkende scene! Daar is niks aan af te doen... MVG Maarten

As an "old India hand", yr panorama took me right back there.

Can't really add anything to Marc Guggenheim's or Tony Drummet's perceptive remarks.

I think any criticicisms are nit-picking.

Many, many thanks!

 

Beautiful, emotive photo. Congratulations. Can you show us the 5 photos without assembling? It would be very interesting. Thank you very much.

I didn't realize the Greatful Dead had such a following in India. An excellent photo none the less. I dont think the grandeur of the scene could have been caught any better. A shot from the air might have done it justice but we would have lost the personal touch of individual people undressing. By the way, how does one find their clothes afterward? "I could have sworn I put it here somewhere......"

I'm just pleased I didn't want to get to the beach that day. Love the undulating mountain (rather than ocean) of people producing a once-in-a-144 year (is it?) panorama. The stitch does seem seamless, and in some respects the lighting has lent the image a "painterly" effect.

 

It's heartening to find a member who appreciates the POW award - and this is certainly deserved : though as already mentioned, any number of your images on this theme would have suited the page.

 

So, please tell, did they manage to part the sea?

 

 

Interesting photo, that's about it. I don't like the colors much. It's just a crowd of people, what's the big deal? But please tell me how you can take 5 consecutive slides, and then have them line up. Surely people would have moved a bit, making it difficult to get seamless "seams".

MESSAGE TO ALL!!!

 

Just uploaded FINAL VERSION. Hope you like even more, or maybe not....

 

Namaste...

After reviewing many comments on this work of art, I must add that I believe there is no need to see the faces of the individuals in a "better light." If one thinks they can add light to the Earth better than the Almighty, please send Him your photo portfolio. The light is captured well, in my opinion, and the mood is represented with accuracy. I offer my humble thanks for having the opportunity to see this representation of time.

I can't imagine better light - it brings out the color saturation. If ever there was an image where you should NOT look at the thumbnail, this is it. Your eye will be drawn to the man lower left and the dirt in the center - interruptions in the texture. Instead, open it large, say ten feet wide :-) , and enjoy all the detail. The composition 'highlights' will be of little importance.

 

How did you manage to eliminate flare in the second image?

As I see this I feel like going "Ommmmmmmmm"

 

The shot has a magic of its own, there is a sense of one piontedness and the temporary forgoing of self - just like a dip into Nivarna or steping up to see the Face before you were born.

 

It is lovely to see some thing that allows us to point and say yes humanity can over come the weakness of its individuals to stand tall and proper in full glory. Especially when there are dark clouds in our sky.

 

A true celebration of the zest that one can find in life.

 

If anything the lack of discernable faces in the crowd allows us to see the mass of people featured as one - a visual representation of the divine spark that links all of us together; for at the point there is no you there is no I as everything exists in you and you are in everything.

 

Well done - you are blessed indeed to have been there and I see that the spirt has moved you to create an appropiate image.

 

Thank you for sharing.

 

This is a fantastic panorama. I love it! Thank you for taking me back to Kumbh for a moment. Some of my own photographs from Kumbh are at:

http://www.naharas.com/html/india/kumbh01/kumbh2001-1.htm

 

Regards,

Nitish

One of the most powerful images I' ve ever seen ... Congrats !

MAGNIFICENT!!! WISHED I WAS THERE TOO!!!!!! I especially like the colours and the lightfall. Do you have more taken like this?

 

Hong Sien

I only point this out to soothe the naysayers, who keep balking at how the stitching could be done without people moving all over the place...the answer is they did move...if you look just to the right of the center of the photo, you will find a seam of people that repeat themselves...(see attached pic)I only point this out to answer their question. I beleive that this is truly a magnificent photo, and truly worthy of POW.

It seems that the changes in the rating system is taking all the available time of elves. They don't have time even to select another POW. So this one is becoming the first POF (picture of the fortnight) in the history of p.net. :-)))

nestor, thanks for posting. I thought I was the only one that had noticed, as if my computer was in a time warp, or something.

Another comment requesting a definition of a milj. I can tell it's not a million, but I have no idea what it means.