Winter Silence

This is admittedly a very plain photograph of a welded-pipe cross at an

unmarked gravesite in a pioneer cemetery from the late 1800s. Snow

covers the area, and only a thin weed left from summer pokes through to

accompany the make-shift cross. Still, the scene interests me, and I can

hear it saying several things. Your comments and suggestions are

appreciated. Thanks.

Stephan. this is a tour de force and I think it successful.  It moves me for some weird reason.

I like the starkness of the image. It's like a plain honesty of it surroundings and the pipe used to make the cross also lends itself to a message of hardship. I think it's a moving and very thought provoking piece of work.

Best Regards

Alf

Stephen... Simplicity is light years from plain and this is simplicity at it's best... An excellent and compelling image... Mike

I'm one to avoid over-interpretation and often find people get carried away in what they read into photos. That having been said, I'm going to do it here, especially because 'tis the season, as they say. It immediately seemed like a subtle, quite, peaceful, upside down cross. Now exactly what to read into that, I do not know. It could be a sweetly religious sentiment, an anti-religious statement. A lot of that would depend on what else it were displayed with and what feeling I got from the photographer's work as a whole. Since your work tends not to be "messagy," I probably wouldn't dwell on it too much, other than to say the cross as symbol turned on its head was the first thing to come to my mind. The cool blue light it's bathed in is also very moving.

Stephen-

I find this a very powerful image. LESS IS MORE!!!!! It seems to me a stark statement of death - someone died, someone cared to leave a marker. That's it. Wow!

 

-Lynne

Steve, what i read into this image is, From death comes life. The fact that the only evidence of life in the image is the grass? growing from the base at the cross in this cold bleak landscape send that message to me.

Thanks for the comments -- they are appreciated.  Like Alex, I find this photo moving me for some weird reason.  I agree with Fred that a large majority of my photographs aren't "messagy" (that's hard to do, IMO, with landscape photographs in which aesthetics was a primary reason for tripping the shutter, and I'm perfectly comfortable with that role in my own photography).  This one, though, is different for me.  A previous life was the reason for this scene, and now there is absolutely no life at all; even the memories are gone.  Someone has tried to preserve a bit of that past existence with a very crude, welded-pipe cross, but there is no name or years that the person lived anywhere.  The person is about as forgotten as it is possible to be forgotten.  That point is emphasized with a layer of snow over frozen ground (giving the appearance of an inverted cross--more of it is under the snow) and the dead wisps of a summer weed twining around the cold metal.  These dead weeds would break and crumble into small pieces if touched.  To me, it is an exceedingly bleak scene, but it represents something I'm about to slip into.  While it may be bleak, I don't find this to be a source of despair, and just like my aesthetically driven photography, I'm perfectly comfortable with it.  Richard sees the life-from-death aspect of our natural world, and I can assure him that this area will be teaming with life in the spring.  However, I'm focused not on the ecological aspects of life/death but rather the event of death in an individual's life.  This photograph illustrates my own thoughts in spades.  If one is primed in that direction, the message may come across, because this wasn't intended to be a photograph driven by aesthetics.

Quite moving image indeed. Very well done, Stephen!! Sincere compliments and Best Wishes for 2012.

Hi Stephen,

I side with those that don't want to be too "messagy."  I like the image for its simplicity and impact.  The bluish tone of the snow doesn't speak. It shivers. The snow looks deep; notice how far down the cross is on the post.  Yes, it is the grass that tells the message by contrast.  It's alive, though dormant, and will live again in the spring - no interpretations about reincarnation intended. Now, this is way too messagy.  I must stop it.  Best to you for the winter; think warm.  Regards.  Larry

Meaningful composition.  Best Regards,