Three Poles

Taken at the Salton Sea, CA, Kodak DC280 Digital.

Intriguing in its simplicity.

What are these poles doing here?

Where are the wires coming from/going to?

A delightful mystery, well observed.

I had to re-rate this image to a 10,10. It just sticks in my mind. As good as it gets. A classic. I have never met a photographer that could make so much out of nothing. Truly amazing. A gift.

You are a Poet of simplicity

One of the best I have seen on this site. Wonderfully minimal.

I wouldn't go that far. Nothing technically wrong with it, but it just doesn't hold my interest. I see at least 3 in his "Desert Surrealities" folder that I find far more inviting and interesting. Not a bad pic at all, but 10s?

 

 

Sorry, I find this just grey and uninteresting. The poles are nice, but I suspect it might be more interesting in a higher tone: more contrast, lighter overall, get some texture into the poles and take the grey soup up into a white mist. But then that's just my taste...

Congratulations Jeff, I am very glad to see one of your photographs choosen again as POW. It could have been any of your portfolio. They are equally capturing with a special mood.

Jeff,

 

May I pass the baton and offer my congratulations on your selection for

POW. Since this is your second time in the hot seat, a rare honor that

recognizes the mysterious attraction of your work, I needn't

offer any words of wisdom - thank goodness. I think your cool minimalism will provide

the correct antidote to the Baroque excesses of the last week. Bravo!

I really like this image. I think you captured a serene locale at an opportune moment. One of those things that seems to be just sitting there, nothing special, but with your beautiful composition, the wispy clouds and the subtle background with no blocky cloud formations and a smooth gradation to the sky tells me that you were the right person to be there at that moment.

 

Your presentation is nice with the black border and your copyright stuff along the border that suggests a full-frame negative. Not so subtle, but effective in setting a mood and enhancing the image.

 

There are some little blotches in the lower right corner that are annoying, is it something in the water? I would probably try to crop or clone it out.

 

Would love to see a real print, can imagine it to be even more impressive.

 

Congratulations

Well. I'm not one to usually comment on POW, unless I really feel strongly about an issue of discussion or a particular photograph, but. . .

 

POW has become a very substantial part of this site. I enjoy having a new picture every week, a new artist to disect. Theres such a horendous wealth of amazing work being uploaded here daily that for the elves to cop-out and reselect a photographer is ridiculous. You just gotta click the mouse a few times to find something interesting and maybe even NEW??? I mean take a couple of minutes here elfies.

 

I digress to the photo at hand. Good, but not repeat POW, and not the image I would pull out of Jeff's stuff and say, "Yeah that one!" Jeff has many other photos that say so much more.

 

my .02 -=Will

A fantastic portfolio, probably the best B&W landscape work on photo.net I've seen. Well done. This , although good, is not my favourite of yours though.

A well deserved POW. Congratulations. I get all dreamy and warm of this "cold" scene. Have a nice week. Rienk

Congratulations! I'd like to see a real print on glossy paper, without the digital artefacts. WJ

Love it.

A very good moody shot, but by no means a 10/10 photo for me. The three lonely poles are striking, but a bit too small. The patterns in the water are interesting, but the sky is not very dramatic. For some reason, the dark triangle on the top right looks unnatural.

Congrats, Jeff... You know how much I appreciate your work anyway... If I have to tell you something new about this shot, I would just tell you that when I rated this picture way before it got to be the POW, it was based on what I would call " objective " factors - technique, composition, light. I know that this word " objective " is a very dangerous ground, but I believe there are such factors in photography.

The subjective thing is then, whether I like it or not, or so so... And here I would say it's nice, but didn't touch me as strongly as sooooo many of your other images. This is one of the rare pictures in your folio that I would personally not hang in my home... Well, this is just to say that every one should rush to your folio and have a good look at the rest !! You are doing a fantastic job in every picture you take - this is pretty clear...

 

So, why was this picture selected rather than other pictures of yours ?... I wouldn't know, but I would really like to know. This image is simple, minimalistic I would say... and that's fine. But what fascinates me in your works is how you manage consistently to take pictures of complex scenaries, yet making them look as if they were simple, with an amazing composition skill. So, if I had to present only one picture to demonstrate your specific talent to an art director or an editor, my choice would never be to present an image which is already simple before your eyes when you arrive. Of course, one might say that even 3 poles need to be positioned well in order to achieve a great composition. Sure. But many people can manage that, whereas very few can manage a few other compositions in your folio. Basically, this picture, to me, demonstrates that you have a great eye for simplicity, rather than the great talent I know you have to ORGANIZE complexity till we get amazed by its appearent simplicity...

 

Another thing I would love to know, and I do hope you will answer this one, is what YOU feel about this picture. Is it one of your favorite shots or not ? Please develop on this. I always regret that the photographers selected for the POW almost never really tell us how THEY feel about the picture chosen as opposed to others... I'm especially keen to hear about it this time.

Nice photo, but it's pretty boring and kind of dopey, who wants a photo (art-like) of three poles sticking outta water??? Not me!

Contrary to some of the statements above, I think this is an excellent and intriguing image. It seems to me almost an image more than a photo - don't know why, that 's just how it feels. It also seems the sort of image that one has to just "feel". Sometimes you can analyze composition, exposure, etc, but on a piece like this I think it is the overall mood that is key. I think, too, that it would make a better print than digital image - computor screens don't always do justice to this kind of delicate tonality.

I think that when someone critiques a photo, whether they like it or not, they should be able to at least find something in it that they find positive. I find many positive things that I like in this photo, but it's not a photo that I would run out to buy. I was surprised that photo.net said that the composition was perfect. I think that the photo should be cropped closer to the left pole, since the poles lead you toward the land mass in the distance. This would move the poles out of dead center. I don't care for some of the rude comments left buy some. If you don't like an image, comment on why and be constructive. If I commented on my students work the way some of the fans of photo.net comment on images, my students would soon loose interest and give up photography. I believe photo.net gives certain photos their POW because they know that the photo will generate both positive and negative comments. This photo definitly has a "mood" that is very soothing and doesn't deserve "dopey."

Gosh, I was kind of hoping for a photo of a puppy, or maybe a sunset, for POW. Oh well.....

 

And Jeff, if you have a significant other, they must be an extremely patient person: "Jeff, honey, I thought maybe we'd go to the beach this weekend, or maybe Yosemite. You know, someplace COLORFUL. What? Another trip to the Salton Sea to work on the ol' Photo.net "Mud" folder? Errrr........ yeah, that would be nice."

 

Seriously, Jeff, this is a great shot from an amazing portfolio. Congratulations on a well deserved POW.

I like this image a lot, but it seems a little soft, especially for being pure digital. I would love to see a higher res. output of this. How much post-photo manipulation was done?

 

Congrats again on another POW!

The Elves' assertion that Jeff's composition is "perfect" is a little dangerous, particularly given the fact that the horizon in "Three Poles" looks both skewed and a little too close to the center to me.

 

Of course, I'm not saying that composition should follow the rule of thirds or any other rule to succeed, but by the same token the word "perfect" is a strong one to apply to something so subjective as art.

 

I like this shot but I find the proliferation of 10s mystifying. How will you rate when something truly great comes along?

 

Congratulations on the POW anyway, Jeff. Keep up the good work.

 

I like the composition and have no objection to horizons that split the frame.

 

It's hard to judge tonality from a monitor, so take this with a grain of salt:

 

I'd print it with more contrast to strengthen the composition--more brightness in the center and a small amount of edge burning, higher value for the clouds and slightly lower value for the posts (but higher contrast to keep the detail) and their reflections.

With film, I could probably get that all by selenium toning the neg and burning the edges in printing.

 

With digital, play with levels and curves, gradient tool for the edge burning, and the dodge/burn tools on the post using the highlight/midtone/shadow settings to bring down the blacks while keeping the detail (or define the posts and do a separate levels/curves operation on them).

Well, thanks to the Gods for choosing one of my shots as photo of the week! Quite a shock!

 

I'll talk about this shot in another message, but first I'd like to propose something. There are so many great photos being uploaded here on a daily basis, that I don't think "Photo of the Week" is cutting it. I'd like to suggest having 10 photos of the week posted for critique and evaluation. It's great to be singled out, but so many people on this site deserve more exposure.

 

Also, why not have a photo of the day. With as much traffic as this site gets, that would be equivalent to photo of the month when compared to other photo sites...

 

I know this probably gives someone more work...I'd be willing to help out in any why possible.

 

Thanks again, I'll have more to say on my photo in a later comment :)

 

Jeff