PASSING

Love the silhouette and the light on the far away boat.  They make a perfect balance.  Great work.  learning. Best Regards,

This was the last shot as we left the beach, I didn't think I'd be able to

capture the suprisingly fast ship as it headed out to Liverpool Bay

without it being very blurred, but I opened the aperture right up and with

a bit of selective sharpening I think it looks ok. The silhouetted figure is

one of the 100 or so Anthony Gormley "Iron Men" statues that stand in

the sea and on the beach in this location and the raggedy edges of the

silhouette are from the barnacles and salt erosion. Your thoughts and

comments are always appreciated. Thank You.

Beautiful though sad, and the title makes it even more so as if there is an implied death, by, I suppose, all leavings are varying degrees of passings and losses.  The man doesn't seem to notice the ship; which piques my curiosity for it suggests a thread of another story one can catch somewhere on the timeline, distracting me from who are the people sailing on the ship, what happens to the souls at sunsets on shores....  The textures of water and sand are terrific...perfect!  I'm a sucker for end of day burnt oranges and blues fading to black.  I once read a Hebrew poem about the loneliness of an immigrant, who found his way to pre-state Israel, having left behind his life, a jackel howling at night on the shores of Tel Aviv.   I also read a poem of an ordinary death at exactly 3:00 pm of a person swimming in the sea on an ordinary day.  Associations with two contrasts -- one deeply sentimental and one anti-romantic.  A final thought ... the man reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock.  

Great work! Best regards, Ilkka

Hi Alf, Great results. Everything very much in place. The man, the ship and the horizon. 

Thanks,

Harsha.

Alf,

  Beautiful image with wonderful colors & lighting.  Take care, Patsy

Nice shot! Excellent composition and effective use of light and shadows. Just one question, Why did you use a ND filter, where in low light situation you needed a rather fast shutter speed? And one humble suggestion: You can take two shots in such instances, one with long shot setting for anything else other than subjects needed to be frozen like, for example, ship, here, and one shot with high iso and wide open apperture exclusively for that subject. But you did it very well here without using two shots! Bravo.

Hamid.

Really beautiful work with impressive lighting, Alf!

With best regards,

Ruud.

 

Alone....only with the sea. Great color and motif.    Regards AW

Alf, your pictures always tell stories and pique the imagination. The colors are wonderful and the composition well thought out. Very good work.

What a wonderful silhouette with exemplary composition. Really like the mood captured/created here. Also really like this letterbox presentation.

Lovely work. Take care. Sarah.

Of your three most recent posts I was attracted first to comment on this one.  Save the others for another time.  Sunset shots generally are a dime a dozen.  This one falls outside that category for the story telling aspect of it.  The main elements after the sunset itself, the man and the ship, are very nicely placed in the frame.  You were wise to leave some negative space to the left of the ship. Else where would it sail to? :-)  The pose, as Donna alludes to, is reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock albeit an Albert who has worked out at the gym for some time or had joined Weight Watchers a while ago.  Nice result for your efforts.  Best, LM,

A very nice shot Alf!

I like the contrast between the static stature of the man which is the anchor in your composition and the boat which I can almost see slowly gliding away towards the horizon; more over the opposition between both protagonists is also shown by the fact that the boat gliding away has his rear pointing at the man, who seems to be ignoring the boat by looking away although he couldn't have missed it; I also see the illuminated boat as a metaphor of life and carefree joy which is not even noticing the man who's dark silhouette and attitude is rather symbolizing sadness and isolation.

All this leads to a sad but very beautiful, successful and story telling picture with a great mood!

Best wishes!

Jan

 

The solitariness is imposing.  The ship's lights, presumably full of people lined up at the buffet, dancing and dining and telling stories on people not there.

And he's on the shore, so incredibly and decidedly alone.  He almost looks like he's fixed on a pedestal of sorts, anchored into the scene, immovable in his thoughts.

WANGHAN

Thank you for stopping by and taking time to comment.  It was balance I had in mind whilst trying to compose this shot, but as the ship kept moving, it  proved difficult.

Best Regards

Alf

DONNA

I never really thought of the title in that way, but I guess your right, "Passing" does indeed have the kind of connotations associated with loss and mortality. The man doesn't notice the ship because of course he isn't a man.....but a cast iron replica of a man, but then even this statue must have a soul........it certainly seems like it when you look at him. I love sunsets too. there no two the same and for as long as there are sunsets, mankind will stare at them in awe and wonder. The two poems you related to the image allow me an insight of your thoughts and anaolgy and I'm gratified that you feel thisimage is worthy of reflection and contemplation.......and finally Alfred Hitchcock........well the profile kind of fits, but in reality these statues are made from cast iron in the likeness Anthony Gormley who I think is an amazing artist.  The whole places just oozes character in way that it never could have before these statues were placed here in 1998 ( I think)  There 100 statues spread out over a wide area and it really is a fascinating sight.  Sincere Thanks for your considered thoughts and positive feedback Donna.

Best Regards

Alf

ILKKA

Many thanks for stopping by.

Best Regards

Alf

HARSHA

Thank you so much, it was a bit of a struggle to get it all balanced the ship was moving a lot faster than you would expect a vessel of that size to be able to move.

Best Regards

Alf

PATSY

Thank you for your kind words and positive feedback.

Best Regards

Alf

HAMID

Ahh you spotted the mistake! I didn't use a filter, but I uploaded 3 images this time (unusual for me)  and ticked the wrong box. I know what you mean about taking two shots, its something I have done in the past, but on this ocassion there simply wasn't time, the ship was moving at a very fast pace and it wasn't planned, we were heading away from the beach with all of my gear packed away when I turned and and noticed the ship, so it was quite spontaneous.  Many Thanks for your well considered thoughts and feedback, always very much appreciated!

Best Regards

Alf

RUUD

Many thanks for your visit and kind words.

Best Regards

Alf

ANTONETA

Alone.......solitude..with only a faint hiss of the distant waves and the cry of a lonely gull to break the silence.  A lovely place to be.

Many Thanks

Alf

DEANNA

This is one of my favourite locations, it never fails to inspire. The statues on the beach are a source of inifinite fascination. Thank you so much for your kind words and interest.

Best Regards

Alf

SARAH

I think "captured" was the right analogy, because thats the very essence of the location, it does have a certain atmosphere that is amplified by the 100 statues on the beach. Sincere Thanks for your feedback Sarah much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

LEN

I agree sunset shots are common, but I suppose the reason for that is our fascination with them.  The statue and the ship adds interesting elements to the sunset, but I don't suppose they would look as good at 12 noon, so yeah it is the combination that makes it work. The ship is actually moving to the right ( although I concede it doesn't look that way) I think it may be one of the ferries that these days host party nights for paying guests, and can also be chartered. The thought of Alfred Hitchcock doing a workout at the gym raised a smile Len : - ) But the statues (all 100 of them dotted around this beach) were cast from a mould made in the likeness of thier creator Anthony Gormley, its worth looking up some of his work, he is an exceptional artist. Many thanks for your thoughts and great feedback.

Cheers Len

Alf

JAN

The boat was moving quite quickly, suprising for such a large vessel. The "man" of course is a statue which is why he gives the impression of ignoring the boat. I realise of course that no on would expect to see one life sized statue cast iron on a beach, but in truth there are 100 of them located here.  I'm really pleased the isolation and solitude of the statue touched you, for this was indeed the mood and atmosphere of the location.

Sincere thanks for your in depth anaology and positive feedback.

Cheers Jan

Alf

JEFF

You are very perceptive on two counts here. Firstly the ship is, I suspect one of the Mersey ferries, used these days for party nights, so your impression of people dancing etc is spot on. Secondly you mentioned the pedestal. He is indeed anchored to the pedestal. He is a statue made from cast iron, one of 100 exactly the same placed on the beach at this location. It never fails to fascinate me, and the same mood and air of solitude is born from thier fixed gaze towards the sea.  ManY thanks Jeff, your imput is very much appreciated.

Best Regards

Alf

 

Very nice panoramic view.On enlarging,the lights of the ship is enhancing.The shilhouetted figure & the tone makes the image for me.

My best regards.

Kallol

Wonderful, Alf.

Bw, Volker

Amazing!!

Beautiful capture , wonderful colors and light ..................... Best regards.

KALLOL

Many thanks for your kind words and  interest. I agree th eimage looks better when viewed large. This is because it has been optimised at the larger size, I really should remind people to view larger. I'm really pleased you liked it.

Best Regards

Alf

VOLKER

You are every kind, Sincere thanks!

Alf

ALBERTO

Good to hear from you I hope you are keeping well. Many thanks for your interest.

Best Regards

Alf

FALAK

Thank you for your visit and positive feedback, much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Alf

A superb shot. Your D700 has excellent high ISO capability which should be avoided when doing landscapes with large print intentions. I might have bumped the iso up to 1000 for the 2nd shot to freeze the boat and then paint in the 'frozen" boat onto a low iso image.  I offer this only as a possibility for a future occasion since there there is nothing wrong with this image - looks very good to me. All the best,

Beautiful shot Alf. The rich hues are so lovely. Reflectios on the water lovely also. I like your choice of crop, and the silhoette of the man on the beach makes this a real conversation piece. As always, Lovely work.

You've been in my thoughts, hope things are going ok with your 'pup',

Warm regards, Gail

A lovely shot Alf...well composed by you...that figure in the fading light looks awesome...Regards

TONY

Many thanks for your informative and positive feedback, much appreciated.

I have used a higher ISO in the past to do similar to what you described, but on this ocassion I just didn't think quickly enough. The ship was spotted just as I was packing my gear away and by the time I set the tripod up and made a few hasty adjustments to my camera settings in the dark, the ship had moved considerabley and I had to recompose the shot. The other thing of course is with the ISO at 1000,  would the lights on the ship look overly exposed? But a great suggestion and worth experimenting with if the opportunity comes along again.

Best Regards

Alf

GAIL

Sincere thanks for your visit and thougtful critique, much appreciated.

The man on the beach is in fact an iron statue cast to the likeness of its creator "Anthony Gormley"  there are 100 of them spread out over a wide area, and they are fascinating! I don't know anyone that can walk past these figures without looking at them intently. They simply capture everyones imagination and wonder.

You will have recieved my email by now of course with all the updates.

Thanks again Gail

Warm Regards

Alf

KEITH

This place is worth a visit if you ever get over to the Merseyside area, its called "Another Place" and the 100 statues of Anthony Gormley are spread out on the beach. Theres lots of info if you google it.

Many thanks for your positive feedback Keith.

Best Regards

Alf

 

I admire your skills of composition and tasteful colour palette. Nice feeling and nostalgic atmosphere. Thank you for sharing of this wonderful image.