Its a Big World

Great movement and colors, I enjoyed this shot a lot.

Liked it, but would have liked the tree sharper and the foreground less prominent. Just my taste...

Is'nt it? (It is interesting. Today "07.08.2002", I saw that this is the POW and I sow my short comment "Is'nt it?" but I could not see my ratings. Now I will rate 10/10. "It says you have already rated this photo 10/10. Do you want to change it!" It is interesting but I did not see the old ratings of mine but I am glad to see "I have already rated this 10/10)

I love the balance, colours and sky. It would be perfect if the tree was a little sharper.

Very beautiful shot. Colours are nice. The sky is dramatic. Nice!

Extremely powerful photograph. Visually very pleasing. Colors and cropping are great.

Somehow this pictures is catching the eye again and again. I therefore upped my ratings. Very well done! WJ

I do not know what's in this photo... but certainly there is something that forced me to give it very good ratings =) Good work.

Contains a wonderful sense of movement and twist imposed upon the tree by the clouds, which for me at least, excuses the blur. Lovely colouring too.

I keep coming back to this photo. Kind of like the POW this week, the photo is powerful in its mood yet the lack of sharpness in the tree may prevent the most discriminating from enjoying this photo. However, I certainly like it.

 

Am I the only one, or is the photo somewhat reminiscent of David Julian's "Dream" photo for which he received POW honours? Obviously differences exist (i.e. B&W vs. colour and the lack of crows here), but I find the mood of both photos to be wonderfully mysterious and perhaps even ominous.

Excellent. I wish i can capture that...

I can't decide if I like it better in B&W. The colours are certainly nice, but I find they distract a little from the lovely form of the clouds almost emanating from the crown of the tree.

Power and fragility shown on the same image. very strong picture René

Jean

An excellent coposition with smooth and still strong color tonalities. Congratulation. Philippe

Great picture, Rene. Could you share your technique please?

The tree is dancing with the clouds.

Near perfect along with your portfolio.

Wonderful !

I love the colors and the mood of this photo :)

What a great picture--not to mention being a reminder that nature photography is still above all about discovery rather than creation.

IMO it has been a long time since a worthy POW has been selected. This is a fabulous photograph, as are many of Rene Asmussen's images.

Beautifully muted image. The shape of the tree and the sky are just great. Congrats Rene!

I'll be the first party pooper on this one. Yes, I agree that there are many outstanding images in Rene's portfolio, and I prefer many others to this image. This seems way too soft - was it meant to be a soft focus, or is the scan just soft? Not a lot of detail in anything that is visible. Also, the composition is very uninteresting.

 

Lastly, there are just too many images out there of the "lone tree" -- it is cliche at this point for my taste. Nonetheless, Rene deserves POW for an extensive and impressive portfolio.

Although I am only a beginner photographer, I find this photo interesting because each time I look at it it takes on a different perspective. As I have always been told, everyone sees things their own way. I like it.

Renes photograph is compelling, tensely composed, filled with the possibility of interpretation, and expertly presented.

 

RJ has a point about the lone tree as an overworked subject matter. Surely if originality were taken literally then ratings for an original treatment would be so low that the category would have to be removed from photo.net as a scoring criterion. Yes, it's a common theme, but so would be such favorites as the pretty girl, the travel shot, the lovers, the depressed person, the portrait, the cityscape, anything throwing an unusual shadow, etc. (That actually covers the last 7 weeks of POWs.) Photographys 175 year history has seen just about every subject thoroughly explored, but thankfully we each have our own vision and can approach a mundane subject with our own point of view. This photograph is of a common subject, true, and I doubt if anyone coming across it on its own would be able to say, Ahh, an Asmussen, although that would clearly be the case with some of his other images. The difficulty in photography is either in willfully declining to photograph a trite, but beautiful subject, or in moving past the obvious treatment to one that is consistent with ones own vision. Originality in its literal sense is too frustrating, I think, but approaching a subject with a clarity of vision, or faithfulness to a particular vision is something else.

 

Debates as to the reasons for choosing a POW are in my opinion, not worth the time to make them. If quality were the sole issue, then only images already in possession of 10/10s would make the POW cut. I dont think its possible to select the best image from the 351,000 that are available on photo.net, neither do I think its possible to choose one from a portfolio as strong as Renes. Each of us, elves included, has a vision that filters the work of others and so a photo chosen may or may not be appealing simply because of our own perspectives. As LM Holley comments: every one sees things their own way

 

I've been looking at Rene's photography ever since I started. I'm always glad when he's getting recognition like this for his work. Grats!