the trip SEEING RED

Monorail to Mudd Island.

Boy, what a take on industrial life. The red, presented like this, is so unnatural. You've captured such tension in your color scheme, but also the effect you're employing. It's disheartening that creative shots like this don't garner a lot of attention. Then again, we're in a society where everything must be instantly digested. This isn't a photo that's easy to digest, but savored, it's an interesting experience.

I really appreciate it. Several of my latest posts have been a bit different from my usual fairly straight style. Only time will tell if they are worth a damn, but for the time being, I'm being met with little encouragement (other than you and a few regulars) on a good night, and downright indifference the rest of the time. I'm not saying this is a huge success, just that it would seem to merit a little more conversation than a pic of a duck. Nough said.

This ain't a duck but a swan....whatever "effect"/"affect" you used has created an image that is very similar to an HDR and I LIKE it a lot, well what can I say it is RED. I really like Jeff's "take" on an image, he can articulate the story well. This is the sort of "slice of life" image that you do so well David, but I don't think they're always appreciated to the extent they should be here on PN. The people are riding along with such a total indifference to one another that it almost looks posed, I don't see a single person engaging another in conversation....there's a statement in that image about our society.

Did you say "swan" or "albatross?" Just kidding. Glad you like it. A little surprised, because it's got a highly processed look to it, and that's not your usual cup of tea. But I got you with the red, didn't I?

Actually the red was secondary and what you call the over processed look is what I really liked about this image, it's very "poster" like, sorta like a Warhol painting....I like, I like.

Beautiful. The color is really gorgeous, and that poster painting quality would surely look great on a wall. I like your latest street scenes very much, David.

Thanks a lot. I haven't heard much from you lately, but I'm reassured when you surface every now and then. Take care.

With this much bright chrome in the foreground the over-processed look is very good, but I'm tempted to put on my sunglasses just to look at it. A very nice street scene image that like very much.

Yeah, it pops a little. I love the red color, but it's the floor that really turns me on. The look it has taken on is almost as if it were made of glass. I am particularly interested in your take on some of this stuff that I've done in the last few days because I've pushed my envelope a bit, and you have such a good base in traditional art and aesthetics.

I think it's a great image and I love the processed look here. It's the overprocessed part that gets in my way a little (surprise, surprise!). I think it's a great subject with great colors shot from a great perspective. I think it deserves a sort of forced or contemporary treatment (could even be grunge or whatever those kids are calling it these days). I love the way you've handled the red with black trim and think it works beautifully. The mirrored ceiling is great as are the poles. My attention, though, gets distracted by the clothing of the people and the striping of the floor, which have become, for me, a little too much graphic design, losing the heightened sensuality that the red has and instead becoming a more caricatured part of the photo. The red sides and ceiling, while processed, haven't really lost their touch or sense of reality as much as, to me, the floor and clothing have. As a matter of fact, what I like about the red and the ceiling is that they have a sense of hyper-reality that this same effect is not having on the clothing. Look at the brown pants on the man up front even compared to the yellow shirt and jeans of the woman opposite him. (By the way, I just noticed and it's great how no one is looking at you.) Those pants seem to have lost their sense of being actual material, as have the light blue jeans of the tall young man straight ahead in the background. The yellow shirt on the front woman, however, still feels like cloth. My guess is that more selective processing would create what I'm after, but I don't know if you'll agree with my assessment or not. Regardless, it's creative, well seen, well conceived, and a new and interesting path for you to have taken (never a bad thing for a creative type). My hesitation, I think, is more about execution than vision.

there is a sense of depth and 3D feel to it..the color treatment and processing makes it look like an illustration...an original image David...

Once again I'm indebted to you for taking the time to give such an in depth and astute analysis of one of my images. I don't know what you do for a living, but you would make a great critic (and that is meant as a compliment). This is a really interesting image to me. I almost did not bother opening it when I was browsing my images. Because of the nasty lens distortion, it looked impossible to deal with, and, frankly, it just struck me as boring. Some inner muse must have directed me, because I opened it as sort of an exercise in expected futility. I'll admit I had no particular plan in mind and was just playing around. I think that is exactly why it works to whatever extent it works. It was just play. But at some point I became kind of enamored of its possibilities, and massaged it here and there and got what I have shown. I usually start by making a print copy, and saving that in original size as a PSD, then back off some parts (especially sharpening, and redo it in a 1200 pixel size for posting. In this case I had so little confidence in the outcome that I never even made a print copy. So, I guess it would be fair to say that whatever works well here is kind of serendipitous, and what fails, is my lack of ability.

 

I see what you are saying, and partially agree. Especially the clothing issue. I think that at some point this becomes a caricature, and that gives me a lot of leeway. Hooray for artistic license. You can get away with so much shit under that guise. The one major disagreement I have with you is the floor. I'm terribly charmed by its appearance. Maybe upon enough reflection (pun sort of intended) I'll come to change that feeling. To me the powerful and omnipresent red along with the floor are the key elements.

Thanks. I agree. It does have a3D look to it. I've never done anything with quite that much depth before. What is really funny, is I don't know how I did it!

. . . that I like the foreground section (with the bumps) a lot, but then the stripes start to make it feel too graphicy (probably not a word) to me.

I think the visual depth is due tho the composition and light, for example the lines going from foreground and forward, the presence of foreground element (bars), the fact that you have both forward as side illumination...light is everything...:-)

finally you managed to take a pic of the V8 Express. Very interesting photo. It gives the impression of a narrow tunnel going to infinity. Also, the train looks almost monochrome and then you have the colourfully clothed people there. Nice. Looks like you enjoy taking pics of rear ends (of people), which in this image is great - it's adding to the wackiness. Cheers, Micheal

I never thought of that for a title. "THE V8 EXPRESS." Has kind of a nice ring to it. Good thinking my man.

 

David,

 

You've recieved some interesting comments, not surprizing since this is a great image. To me it looks like complacent humans being transported inside a red metalic beast. This struck me because it reminds me of travelling to work on the Toronto subway system in my former life. Your processing works so well here, it really drives home the unatural life that big city dwellers live. Well, that's my perspective. Very well done, I love it.

 

 

Thanks so much for taking the trouble to comment. And, yes, I have been truly fortunate that I've had some gifted critics and photographers provide me with their take on my work, and helped me learn and grow, even in areas outside of art.

David, this is excellent. I know it's been up a while, but I like coming back and looking at this one. I would love to see the untreated shot.

As for the statement there in... I think that everyone being back to the viewer (you) is trademark David Meyer. You have a way of making the mundane and simple, Interesting and compelling.

 

Many kudos Boss.