After the Blizzard

Thanks for any thoughts,

 

Cheers,

Aaron

This picture is awesome, detail is great.

Regards,

Carol

I honestly think that this is a truly amazing image. Apart from the overall sharpness, detail and composition it contains, I particularly appreciated the serenity that this image depicts. An awesome shot!

Great shot and composition -- perfect arrangement of the trees.

Carol, and both Stephens, thank you for the kind comments. Just prior to this shot, my Rollei froze up and I had no idea what I would get. It turned out though, fortunately.

very beautiful work

Aaron, this is awesome! When I first opened this, I was thinking this is simply what I would love to do and then I saw your little note. I really like this image. Simple design, nice and clean and well executed. You have inspired me Aaron. Thank you - Sean

Hey Sean,

 

glad you noticed. I definately had your "Sisters" shot in mind when taking this. It's a great shot, and one that inspired, as well.

 

Cheers,

Aaron

This a beautiful image. Wonderfully done. Dan

Aaron, I agree with everyone else. This is excellent, beautifully stark with the few elements well arranged.

A delicately balanced composition and tonal range. Nice work, Aaron. Btw, how do you like the Rollei, so far?

Thank you Bengt. It means a lot.

 

I really like the Rollei, and think it will work perfectly for what I bought it for: travel. Much easier than a view camera. That said, a few frames prior to this, the shutter mechanism froze, and I didn't know it. About half the roll got exposed, but this is pretty much the only keeper, luckily enough.

 

How about you, thoroughly entrenched in digital?

This is a superb, natural line drawing, beautifully composed. Poetry.

Agree with all of the above Aaron. A fine and symmetrical arrangement which is very soothing to view.

Thanks Mike! I enjoy your work, too.

Beautiful work Aaron, as usual. Simple, minimalistic, yet so powerful.

I love this one. Nice, very nice.

 

I would have moved to left-side a bit to get these two trees @ far left side seperated. and might a little bit lower.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Adrew

Interesting observation. Thanks Andrew.

Thanks for your comments on my storm photo, Aaron! You have a very inspiring portfolio, and I'm especially inspired since you're a fellow Albertan, and can't step out your front door to snap a shot of a 500 year old church (like our European friends can do).

 

Snow, however, we usually have lots of, and you've made very good use of it here. I especially like how the tone of the snow on the foreground tree so perfectly matches the tone of the sky and ground. I makes the shot seem almost surreal. I think that it wouldn't be nearly as effective of a shot if the trees were simply dark, without the snow stuck to them. I think the composition works really well. It would be interesting to shoot it from an even lower vantage point, to make the bases of the tree trunks almost colinear. That might not make for a better shot, just a different one. Excellent work, both here and in the rest of your portfolio!

What I noticed first about this photo was its diagonal element - the trees combine to produce a triangular shape. This leads the eye upwards and to the left, where the image is brighter (looks like sunlight). The square format lends itself well to the diagonal composition - something I don't think I appreciated before.

 

I also like how the viewpoint emphasizes the dark bark on either side of the windblown snow on the trunk of the largest tree. The photographer must have noticed this, as he lined up so the dark bark is nicely symmetrical on either side of the windblown snow.

 

You gotta love those Zeiss lenses, too.

I like the triangular composition you have achieved here. Boy, is it stark up there. (I wouldn't dream of commenting on someones POW work without at least briefly scanning through their portfolio. When first I looked over your work, I thought eastern Montana or North Dakota, but I see you hail from farther north. At any rate, I see that it is possible to make beautiful photography without including mountains or ocean waves.)

 

It looks as if you are facing south or southwest if that upper left corner is the sun's light pushing through the overcast. I think that bright spot detracts a bit from what otherwise to me is gorgeous work. If it is cropped at all, it is cropped well.

 

Willie the Cropper

I thought the first tree was two thin trees growing together....only then I looked at the snow :) This looks just like a painting. Congratulations on the POW.

Nice shot! What an amazing juxtaposition between camera placement and subject. I mean, as the trees assemble before the camera, we clearly see the effect of wind-driven snow. This would be a much less interesting picture had the snow adhered to the other side of the trees.

 

About the top left corner: being darker would not distract from the arrangement of trees, which seems to be the central thrust of the image. To think of it as the sun is interesting, even if it does draw me away from the geometry and serenity of the scene. In other words, it adds a degree of energy that conflicts with the soothing ant-energy of the landscape.

 

I see small black dots here and there that are too small to be birds. What are they?

 

I guess I'm also wondering: how much lighter could this be before it becomes too light. How broad is the acceptable range of brightness for a picture like this?

Though I've never met him, I feel I should thank fellow P.netter Bengt Ekelberg, and his inspiring portfolio.

I had this image in mind for 2 years before the conditions were right. Living at this latitude, there isn't much humidity in the winter, and it is rare for snow to stick like this. Any other time, this place is rather ugly, mundane cattle pasture, but weather such as this changes all the rules photographically speaking. Anything can look good in the right conditions. This shot, made much earlier, is the tree in the background. With a decided lack of coastline for waves, I have an affliction for fields and bales, instead. I'm still working on the mountains.

Bill is correct, this is facing south east, and that is the sun trying to break through in the upper left. The dark spots in the sky are very large, wet flakes - remnants of the storm.

The viewfinder is a crop in itself, and though I certainly won't hesitate to break out the "L's", this is the whole frame, and nothing but the frame...

Doug's question about brightness is worthwhile. I learned from Barnbaum that not every shot needs a highlight or a shadow to be successful; this one, admitedly, is a bit thin on midtones, but works nonetheless, with subtle variations in the highlights. Most of the sky averages out to around 200, the top left being 242, the top right 177. Just for kicks, I printed this on gloss and matte, and the matte paper showed the gradient better. For what it's worth, there is detail in the tree bark, too, but not in this, more graphic, upload.

Cheers,

Aaron

Wonderful Lighting and the Mood is moving.