The Mounds

Anyone in agriculture will probably tell you that beneath this plastic and

those tires which add weight either is extra harvest and/or feedstock.

This composition from a dreary, stormy very overcast morning in

California's Cental Valley. Your ratings and critiques are invited and

most welcome. If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit a

helpful and constructive comment; please share your superior

photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. Thanks!

Enjoy! John

I sometimes find this kind of thing here in the north of Spain, but I never got such a great point of view and appropriate light. This is a great photograph. 6/7 in my humble opinion.

I almost never photograph farm scenes or rural scenes and photograph landscapes very seldom.

 

But I am a Renaissance sort of person, and if it looks interesting, I'll photograph it.

 

This looked interesting with a mysterious shape and interesting relationship to the brooding sky.

 

Sometimes when I get a praising rate, I wonder 'what has this photographer done?', so I turned to your portfolio (WOW!)

 

High praise a 6/7 coming from a man of your output and talent.

 

Thanks so much for commenting and taking the time to rate.

 

This is pretty alien territory for me, getting my shoes muddy.

 

(and they indeed were very muddy.)

 

John (Crosley)

DEAR JOHN..

I REALLY APPRECIATED THIS CHOICE....THESE SCENE IS AN ACCIDENTAL ONE..AND I LIKE TO TAKE THIS TOO..BEAUTIFUL SHOT WITH GOOD DETAILS........I WISH U THE BEST AND I HOPE TO SEE ALL THE PRETTIEST...THNX FOR SHARING THIS.....WARM REGARDS((BOBBY)).

John, this is another beauty of yours that I just stumbled across in the critique forum.

 

The graphic repetition of the tires -- and yet, with remarkable variability among them -- is a really pleasing element. I also like how your composition just barely skirts the bottom of the pile.

 

The blurred, roiling clouds are also very nice, and the exposure of them is nicely controlled.

Very original capture, wel presented, and with a simple and understandable story. Perhaps some more gradation in the light would benefit the photo and give it some more depth and guidance for the eyes as there is no very clear path to follow to discover (in my humble opinion).

BTW, very interesting portfolio with much variation of themes.

Cheers, ... Piet

Hi Bobby,

 

Thanks for the nice words, however, this is not an 'accidental one' -- it was carefully chosen.

 

I as driving around, looking for almond orchards, and saw these two piles of plastic weighted by plastic with tires chained or tied together under stormy/brooding skies and said 'oooh, what a great photo that might make'.

 

And, to make it, I had to negotiate a fence, after walking through an area of substantial mud which caked my shoes 3 cm thick. At the end, there was a white fence, and through that fence, I had to put my camera lens just the right way and to zoom and focus just the right way.

 

Nothing accidental about that -- in fact very premeditated.

 

Because of the 'fence' that interfered, and because of a low angle of view (and daylight brightness, it was difficult to focus and compose, but I managed, even though review of captures was almost impossible because of glare on my digital screen. (even though it looks brooding and dark, it's still California and still bright in daylight).

 

So, really, nothing 'accidental' about this at all, except it was an 'accident that John, the 'street' photographer happened to be passing by and happened to visualize that he could get a good photograph from these particular piles.

 

And now I know what these piles are -- I have a 'Central Valley' and horticulture/agriculture expert resident to guide me.

 

I may explain later as the occasion presents.

 

It is hardly germane here, however.

 

Thanks again, Bobby. Not my usual 'street' work, is it? I am a man of many identities behind the camera's lens, right?

 

John (Crosley)

You are primarily a landscape-nature photographer and you do an excellent job.

 

For me this is just idle time with my camera and lens; something to do when I'm shuttling between cities, or otherwise see something that captures my spirit.

 

Somehow, two white and black mounds under brooding skies captured my spirit and this is the result.

 

My friend, Giuseppe Pasquali who was the first to see this, remarked very favorably on it, and I was almost stunned -- but there were almost two ways to react to this: highly favorable or highly unfavorable. His reaction was the former, and he is a good barometer.

 

I think this capture should be printed, perhaps in silver or platinum and printed very large -- as large as the print can reasonably be made.

 

Then it would be a real stunner.

 

Pretty good for some mere sileage, hunh. I've never seen a photo of silage, let alone one that purported to be 'fine art', have you?

 

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

 

John (Crosley)

I'm certain you've never seen another photo of silage under lastic purporting to be 'fine art' and maybe never even seen silage -- feed stock fermenting, with its plastic cover weighted down by this odd assortment of tires held together by . . . .

 

Well, anyway, they're held together, and the cover won't ever blow off.

 

Thanks for pointing out that there is no clear path for the eye to follow, and you're right. I had limited vantage and frankly only ONE place where there even was possible an interesting capture at all - the one where both mounds would be shown, with one larger and one smaller, due to the restriction of the fence in front through which I had to stick my camera/lens combination.

 

You've never lived until you've scraped 3 cm of mud off your city shoes because you were never intending to go out on a farm that day....

 

Oh well, the price I pay . . . to satisfy you critics.

 

It's a happy one.

 

Thanks for sharing your insight -- it's helpful and wasn't so readily apparent to me.

 

John (Crosley)

This is so beautiful , Great b&w tones

Thanks.

 

It helps when fighting life's battles to hear words like that.

 

Maybe in addition to 'street' photos, I may be 'known' (if at all) for the hodge podge of other photos I take when the opportunity presents itself -- such as this one.

 

I'd be more than happy for that to happen.

 

I just wish I 'saw' more 'opportunities' like this for good or great photography. Perhaps it's my vision, rather than circumstances and as my vision gets better, I'll find more such circumstances.

 

After all, some 'artists' in photography always seem to get spectacular captures where no one else can get them.

 

John (Crosley)

Hi John,

 

I have indeed seen shots of silage that had a fine-art esthetic. I can't recall a successful one with quite this kind of silage (although, I have even seen the tire-strewn mound as a subject before -- just badly done).

 

Here are a few examples that come to mind quickly:

 

1. Gordon Bowbrick (here on PN -- http://photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=3770455) has some nice shots of salt-mounds:

 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6754886

 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6851668

 

2. I too have shot mounds of salt which are wrapped (or partly wrapped) for road salting in Toronto:

 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6757890

 

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6787292

 

3. An old favourite (who has stopped posting to PN for about a year now) is Matthias Steup. He has a few 'mounds' (not wrapped though) in his pages:

 

In this folder: http://photo.net/photodb/folder?folder_id=666439

 

4. Andrew Ren who has an absolutely exquisite series of plastic wrapped hay bales on his website: http://www.andrewren.com/portfolios.html

 

Images:

 

http://www.andrewren.com/Atlantic_Canada_2007/17.html

 

http://www.andrewren.com/Atlantic_Canada_2007/09.html

 

http://www.andrewren.com/Atlantic_Canada_2007/11.html

 

http://www.andrewren.com/Atlantic_Canada_2007/15.html

 

http://www.andrewren.com/Atlantic_Canada_2007/22.html

 

 

5. I thought I remembered a series from Lenswork on plastic wrapped/tarpaulin wrapped mounds. But, they might have been under-construction buildings (at least that's all I can find at the moment).

 

Loren Nelson: http://lorennelsonphotography.com/plasticcoveredbuildingsframeset.html

 

The plastic Wrapped Buildings are worth looking at anyways!

 

Anyways, none of this diminishes how much I like this shot. Just answering your question.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you applied for a job at Google Images?

 

If not, I think you have missed your calling.

 

What an encyclopedic response.

 

Wow!

 

Thanks!

 

John (Crosley)