bill_sampson

FYI....This Roman Catholic Church was located in the Hispanic, Del Ray section of Detroit. After General Motors closed a major production line in the area, families relocated abandoning this beautiful church. New tenants, created a "Punk" bar and after destroying the place moved out. Abandoned now, it remained only to be documented.... before razed.

Sorry Chuck,

But you missed the mark here. That is NOT empty space it's environment. It seems that some have a difficult time looking at the WHOLE image. Here we have two subjects. The figure and the space the figure is in. With this image cropped tighter to the figure, the vastness of the space surrounding the figure is compromised. One has to ask themself, if there were no figure would you still suggest a tighter crop? Maybe one should look at this image as more of a landscape.

Giorgio...I consider myself lucky to have both a beautiful enviorment and model for this image. This is what I consider a 50/50, meaning no matter how skillful the photographer is, one does not create an image like this without the beauty of place and subject.

Bill Sampson

The other side of the coin is that maybe a little more detail in the background would be helpful. I think burning in the underexposed windows would help. This image appears to have been taken in a program mode where the meter read to much of the backlight therefore overexposing that area. Yes the image is also missing other information, but I have seen this many times. The wedding pictures are being taken and the kids are chewing the pews with bordom. As one who shoots many weddings per year I can say this type of image is still much more powerful than the posed images being taken by the wedding photographer.

This image was shot in an abandoned catholic church. After the auto

industry closed a major factory, many of the local hispanic citizens

moved from the area. Soon, a punk rock bar opened in the space and

that group distroyed the building. I went in and first just

documented the building as is. Being a place of people, I decided

that I needed a model to come in and become put of the building, her

nudity reflects how the shrine was striped of it meaning and purpose.

I feel the crop here works fine, the main focal point placement is fine (off-centered and leading into the photograph), yes, the human reflection weakens the image. The weakest link is that there has been millions of images taken just like this. Explore,Explore,Explore.

Sorry Mark but I disagree. The image is ment to be a Environmental nude. The figure is the main focal point but the surrounding area gives it the impact.

Brad, Thanks for taking the time to ad a comment. I agree that the image might have a different feel to it if the figure was positioned in a radial fashion, but, doing so might change how one views this sort of photograph. With legs spread I feel that a negative perception would start to emerge. It is difficult enough working with the nude. In past work, a female with open legs almost always sparks controversy. Most can not get by the sexual overtones when the female is displayed with open legs. I hope to work again in this location and will test the waters then. I would be very interested in hearing from others concerning this, Especially from women.

Bill

Very nice Leonid, image is well ballanced, tonal range is very pleasing and depth of field is just right. Expression in portriture is very important. Here, her personaly shows.

I agree Ron...I took the time to rate it myself. What the hell!

Nice start to a series that has some interesting potential. Keep going. I have also thought of a series like this using Barbi and Ken.

Well Mack, first thanks for taking the time to make the interesting comment. The idea behind this image was to incorporate the nude in environment, therefore I felt the need to incorporate both beach landscape and figure. Thanks again for you thoughts.

Nice work Kathy. After reviewing your work I see that there is truth to "just being there". Your landscapes demonstrate your attention to detail and viewpoint. The first thing I noticed in the image "Belly Buttons" is the remarkable similarities to young tummies. The image makes one smile.