Standing Still

A scene from my home state (Montana). Comments and suggestions are

appreciated. Thanks.

Great contrast in this photo Stephen. An amazing image. Love the old elevator, unfortunately where I live almost all of them have been torn down.

Your composition is artfully rendered.  Your tone is expertly managed in that you capture the brightness of the day in a way that is not harsh.   Ironically, you title your photograph "Standing Still" when in fact you produce an effect of gentle movement especially among the clouds.  The clouds are more spread out in the foreground and crowd closer together in the background producing the effect of movement.  The shadow capture on the clouds give them weight , ankoring  them into a level plain drifting in slow unison across  sky.  

I especially like the placement of  the grain elevator slightly off - center.  This allows us to get a sense of the broad expanse of the prairie sky that would not be accomplished had you placed it dead center.   The trace of a herd of cattle and the bales of hay  to the left of the photograph  help to achieve several things.  They provide  balance, add life, and create a prairie ambience. 

The dominent impression,  for me,  is one of quiet solitude  and calm in the face of  prairie grandeur.   Great work!

Wow! wonderful image and good choice for B&W... look at those clouds! Congratulations Great photo. Kind regards from Kyn, New Zealand.

This is a great image; I especially like the soft and clear contours of the clouds combined with the disciplined geometry of the grain elevator. And the choice of b/w is a very good decision. Thank you for sharing. It would be nice if you create a folder for new images -- it would be easier to find them.

This is great, Stephen.  I am not sure which is more awe-inspiring, the structure or the clouds.  Together they are overwhelming in their visual impact.

--Lannie

Thanks for the comments -- they are much appreciated.  I don't do many B&W conversions.  The B&W photos done by others that I like usually have strong clouds -- white to shades of gray against a dark sky.  That's what I attempted with Nik's software program that allows for a lot of very local processing.  Your comments suggest I'm on the right track.

Leo, the title of "standing still" refers to time.  This is an abandoned grain elevator that is no longer used.  In that sense, it is "standing still" as the world passes by, and it will gradually decline over the seasons.  At some point it will probably be demolished and will exist only in photographs like this, a relic of the past.

Another dramatic photograph.  Was this HDR or IR? K.

Katie, it was a "regular" color photo that was converted to B&W with Nik's Silver Effex Pro II.