At Earth's End...Take Two

The last version of this I posted was not up to snuff. Hope you like this

one better. Comments appreciated

Forgot. Click the image to see a larger version.

Outstanding, where can we vote?

Thanks Richard. I think I am done with the ratings system.  Much of the time I find it baffleing. I may come back to it, but for now, I think I will judge how my peers feel about my images by the the number of views it gets and the comments.

Love the wave action, and your timing, catching the wind blown wave tops. Contrast, focus and exposure also seem perfect, full range from White to Black.

But, for me; something is missing. It is as if the rock is blocking out the story of the picture.

The wave action would be exciting, the wave against the rock would be even more so, but I am guessing you could not get to that angle :-(

I also feel a fraud as I have not been on here properly for a long time and I am critiquing a photo. The reason I am doing that is that it did have an impact; a big enough impact to make me write.....and that ain't bad!

I do not intend to hurt or belittle you or your work, in fact I would like to create a piece of such technical credit, and as I said above, "it did have an impact".For me that is the objective of art, so I wish you continued success and happy hunting.

Regards

Mike

Thanks for taking the time to write Mike. I appreciate your comments and see no reason why your comments wouldn't be valid because you haven't participated here in awhile. This is just one forum for getting feedback. My neighbor is a well know NW photographer (87 years old). She still shoots every day (film) and can take the most amazing images of. ...just waves. I just don't see what she sees when I'm out the prowl for images. I looked at my RAW files after reading your comments. I took six or seven images of this. Because of where the tide was, none of the waves broke over the rock. I think you are right though, because of the strong off shore breeze, just the waves and sky would have worked.  Thanks Again.

I can see where Mike was coming from, a more direct iinteraction between waves and rock would have been desirable, but thats not to say the image doesn't work completely, well for me anyway. I think there is a great contrast for a start in the gritty complexties of the rock and creamy water and soft backdrop. I wonder if there was space to allow the rock to be more surrounded by the water by stepping back/ zooming out? There seems the possibility of two photographs from a single shot here. The wind blown waves in a simple minimilistic composition would look great (possible crop?)  and a closer view of the rock with the rivulets of water running from it.  Very well done Paul.

Best Regards

Alf

I feel like I'm looking at a large format image here that has been expertly rendered in the darkroom -- you have such great detail in the dark texture of the rock as well as the lightest portions of the cresting waves.  That aspect of your processing is really outstanding.  I think Mike and Alf are articulating what I also see in the photograph.  After considering this for some time, I feel like I'm looking at portions of two photographs that have been sandwiched into one:  one where the rock is the main subject, and another where the spray being blown back from the cresting wave is the main subject.  Both are great, but each has been compromised to make room for the other.  I think to better integrate them, we need to see more of the area surrounding the rock -- the context.  It seems to be too near the left edge, and as Mike said, it seems to be hiding something.  I might feel differently about the rock if I could see more of the cresting wave to the right.  Maybe (as Alf suggested) stepping back to get a slightly wider view, with a subsequent crop to the sky, would give a more complete, integrated feel to this (at least through my eyes and imagination).

This really is a  complicated scene to know where to stand on the beach.  You are oblique to the wave which probably compromises the water to the left of the rock, but an oblique view is necessary to see the wind-driven spray from the plunging wave.  I think about moving left to be able to see more of the wave on the right, but then I start to lose the water draining off the rock, and I lose the best perspective for the spray.  I'm really at a loss, and I come back to the suggestion to back up (or zoom out) to take in a bit more space to the left and even more space to the right, perhaps ending up with a 2:1 aspect ratio after cropping the sky.

Even after all those mental gymnastics, I still find the range of tones and detail within those tones to be so impressive.

Great comments ! I believe I understand what you all are getting at, although I don't get the feeling I put two separate images together. For me that feeling you have gives the image a three demensional quality. Bottom line, is I can't do what you suggest with the images taken that day. However, I go to this place a couple of times each year and the weather always seems to be about the same if the forcast is for sun...its still cloudy and windy especially in this little cove. I don't know what it is about this cove, but the tide change seems different then just the other side of the rocks you have to climb over in order to get here. It is a very small and rocky cove with little room to wander. I will definately keep your comments in mind for the next time I go. Perhaps if I wait for a significant minus tide I can move around a bit more.

Does this help ?

For my eyes, it does help.  I really get a stronger connection between the rock and the cresting wave.  Both are right there, and there is nothing else to look at.  I think eliminating the "dead space" to the left of the rock is more important and does more for the photograph than showing one of the distinguishing characteristics of the rock, namely that it is a free-standing entity.

For what ever it is worth, I concur with Stephen; the new cropping enhances the image by a great degree.  The wave action and the rock surface is where the "meat" of the images is.  A wonderful presentation.  Best regards...

-Dave

Agreed that revised version meets all my difficulties (stated last year).

Love the new version

Many thanks.

I love this image! It is inspirational to me! I stopped reading the comments when I got to the one that said he felt as if the rock were blocking him from seeing the whole story. I disagree. For me, the rock is the story! It stands tall and strong in defiance; this is such a powerful image - scenes like this inspire me to explore my feelings and thoughts, work through things and express them. Maybe if I were more technical in photography I would look at it differently than I do, but I like photography that speaks to me emotionally and this one does that. Don't underestimate the power in the emotive quality of a photograph! Thank you for sharing. :)

Thank you Trish for your right brained view of this image and likely others. Evoking emotion with your art IS after all what its all about.