jrileystewart

Thanks for your comments, Mike. I hadn't thought about the 'cycle of life' aspect, but equally interesting. As you can tell, this scene was taken in very early spring when the crowds are lower. I did need to pick my moment,however, to let the wanderers go on their way. 

This picture is all about composition; only two elements visible: water and rock.

My intent was to amplify the contrasts between the two, in terms of hardness,

tone, and motion. I wanted the picture to be about the relationship between the

water and the rock.

Critique appreciated!

Good choice it seems to pull out the CPL to bring out the lines in the sky; great how they lead to the dune subject. I love B&W, but I wonder if some color might help separate and help me identify what is that white stuff behind the dune?  Surf? More sand? Snow? In my colorized imagination, I see warm dune and cool sky, which I bet was really pretty.  One of the most difficult aspects of B&W photography is avoiding convergence of tones, which can ruin the best intentions. That didn't happen here, but I think it is causing some of my confusion.  

Appreciate your thoughts about this scene. When I found this situation, it held

no great philosophical meaning to me. Just a really pretty scene. Only later,

after developing the negative and interpreting it, living with it, learning from it, I

realized the conundrum.

This scene made me immediately think of ways that nature has of assimilating

with structures man has made. It was late in the day, and the strong evening

sunlight cast clean shadows on the white facade of this quaint church in the

Smoky Mountains. The forest had become one with the church. In addition, the

church itself seemed to have become part of the surrounding woods. It's a

concept that became the hallmark of the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright,

and it really seemed to fit this scene. What does this scene say to you? Do you

share my vision of the concept of assimilation in this photograph?

Love the light on this. Great composition, with the frozen lines of the ice leading me right to the rock formation. Makes me want to explore the rocks in detail. Thanks for sharing.

I'm not usually drawn to abstractions, but when it's a photograph, it stops me and makes me want to explore. Nice colors here; interesting lines and textures. 

I like this image, the story, the setting. But the blocked whites in the subject's dress totally distracts me. The background lighting, while giving the impression of warmth and brightness, seems to me to be overdone...again it distracts me from the story. Would love to see this image toned way down in the background. I think it would lead my eye more to the model and her reflection, which is, I suppose, what you want my eye to focus on. 

I really like these idyllic scenes. Have you ever thought about shooting them using film?  The extended latitude of film and the wonderful way it captures fine subtleties of tones and hues is perfect for these types of subjects. IMO.

I like hanging out under shade trees that hang out by ponds. The delicate

leaves, reflecting in the still water, with bugs and fish that tap the surface and

leave their own signatures. Simple compositions, but lots to explore.

Literally, this is a picture from an old grist mill showing a wallower

(foreground) against a spinning bull (or pit) wheel. In operation, the miller

engages the wallower against the pit wheel, and everything in the mill starts

doing its job, from grinding the grain, moving the flour or meal to different

stations, etc, all by capturing the power from a trickle of water.

I wanted to emphasize the concept of disengagement. I did that two ways.

First I used a very long exposre (over 4 minutes) to make the pit wheel

nothing but a blur. Second, I used supplemental lighting from a flashlight to

illuminate the wallower to further differentiate it from the pit wheel and wall. I

like how this presentation worked to visually "disengage" the main subjects.

What about you?

It was the bright curtain in the window that caught my attention in this scene in Harper’s

Ferry. But upon further observation, I saw the old wooden barrels, the old shipping crate,

and the broken shadow of a nearby tree cast upon the facade of this store—all creating

shapes and forms that wanted me to explore and see even more of this nostalgic setting.

So, I find myself deep in a dense forest, wintertime, probably mid-morning, heavy fog adds mystery (and promotes a feeling of being cold/wet), off-balance of the image adds a bit of angst. The only thing in front of me is more forest, and I'm also anxious because I have no way to decide how to proceed (or even if I want to). Was that your intent behind this image?  

Are you drawn into this scene? Do your eyes travel up the stairway (and

wonder what you'll find?) Or do you travel along the dark hallway to the left?

Overall excellent! Good lines formed by clouds and swans. Great the swans were heading toward the sunlight (vs away from it).  Gives me the comforting feeling of changing seasons and migration to warmer climes. The jpeg image seems to me to fall really flat in the area of the mountains, especially the threshold shadows. That just may be due to compression, don't know. I can't see any details there, so it seems to want to be a deeper, almost black tone. 

Jim, this is one of those compositions that make the viewer ask "..how did he get that shot?" Really dramatic! 

Really enjoy the angular shapes on the trees...tells me something about nature I never noticed before. Everything else becomes interesting negative space! Nice job.

Thank you for your creative critique. Corrections on this image involved

selective burning and dodging and minor contrast enhancements. The scene

in front of me was sublime, full of adventure. I deepened the shadows to

provide a bit of mystery, and composed the image to lead the eye to the light

at the end of the journey. Appreciate your comments!

The Shenandoah River, just as the sun began burning off the nighttime fog. I

wanted to share the shapes caused by the foliage and reflections in the still

water; to me they were very rhythmic.

Thanks for the critique, Bela. This was captured on 120 size B&W film and scanned on an Epson V700 using VueScan. I've never printed it very large, but if I did, I would rescan it on my drum scanner to ensure that all those fine lines were retained in the larger print. 

Thanks for the critique, Alf and Bela. I explored several compositions for this scene, including whether to exclude the structure at the right edge. I finally opted to include it because I think it supports the near-far relationship along the line created by the trees & path, ending at the small figure on the far left. The structure becomes a secondary center of interest, in my opinion, and helps the viewer "enter" the frame. Hope this helps explain why I left it in. 

A cemetery in a public park area in Munich (1980), winter snow, a cold walk

on a sunny morning.

The small palmetto seemingly cradled by the Live Oak caught my eye, but it

was the spanish moss leading my eye to the palmetto that really captivated

me. This was taken on 4x5 large format B&W film, which let me capture the

full range of light entering the scene.

Over the course of a year, I visited and photographed the interiors of several

historic sites in Virginia, including George Washington's Grist Mill and

Distillery. My goal wasn't to merely document these sites, but to artfully

portray the craftsmanship and design of the architecture and equipment that

modern industry has long since abandoned. This "portrait" is the family of

tools used to produce whiskey in late 1700s in America. Natural lighting only.

Search "Virginia Grist Project" to find the entire collection. Thanks for your

critique.