salvatore.mele

Joe Simpson wrote "Dark shadows falling" and "This game of ghosts"... both of them quite sobering.

 

You've instead put together dark shadows and ghosts and made it into a great image. What I like the most is that the shadow against the crevasse is straight, while the others against the flatter surface are most bent, a white hole rather than a black hole?

 

I'll try to come to the "Das andere Pakistan".

I might never be able to make it on the Aiguille Verte, let alone the Drus, to the centre of this

image, but at least I can watch the sunrise behind them...

 

Is the composition too central? Are the colours (and the airplane) almost erring to the side of

kitch?

 

Your comments and criticism on this or any other of my mountain shots are most welcome.

Comments on the composition of this alpine shot are most welcome.

 

The light was not the best, since it was already late in the day, going down from a

mountain... so I tried my best to get at least an interesting composition.

 

Does it work?

I tried to exploit that vertical cloud to break the horizontal pattern of sky, mountains, lake

horizon and of course reflection... did it work?

 

Your comments and criticism on this or any other of my mountain shots are most welcome.

I've been very busy off photo.net, as of late, so I'm late to thank you all for your support and to answer a few points... I am also late in checking out your latest pictures, but this will hopefully come later.

• Carsten, I think thats more or less one of the two things I learnt in all these years trying to learn some photography (the other being to expose snow). I realise that I've been looking over and over again to my shots to crop and re-crop them in the last years so to develop now a sort of auto-pilot... I can just "see" the composition sometimes, take a glove off, get the camera and shot without thinking. Of course, you only get to see the things I dislike the least...
• Arthur, you have a very valid point. Exploring the textures of snow in B&W tempts me and so it does the reduction to a more elemental form of the interaction between Man and Environment. At any rate not all of my picture would come right in this kind of game. I guess this is one of the exceptions. Often I play on the colour contrasts to bring out the human element, while here is the light and the shadows which play the game. This I think is true in just three or four of my shots. I have indeed tried to play a bit with a conversion, but so far my results in the conversions are quite poor, though, and none of the experiments deserves public exposure. I know where the problem sits, that is lack of mastering of the balance of channels, which PSE2 does not allow. Once I'll have more time to put in the process I'll try to improve... changing software.
• Pnina, thanks! The composition is however somewhat playing tricks with the viewer. As a matter of fact I took this from the summit, shooting towards the ridge we had just crossed. So the three people are coming up toward me and not going right toward that snow bump. The illusion works, though, and I regret I did not get to shot someone going back that way to complete the reading of the picture in this way. I am indeed bothered since I see that those three alpinists are walking away from what seems the target.

I've been very busy off-photo.net lately, but I wish to belatedly thank you all for your appreciation of this picture of mine. Thanks!

4000 meters above see level, walking on the edge, hundredths of meters fall on both sides...

 

...does this make you hold your breath?

Can you breath the cold and clear high-altitude air?

If the ghost was an accident, that's a good case of serendipity!

 

I have been toying with the idea of restricting the image to a vertical re-interpretation of the right-hand side... but then came to like the two left-hand side spots of light, suggesting the evolution of the walker deeply against the suggestion of the sign.

 

What a shot!

Len, there is even something gotten while hanging below the boom. I like your analysis of this shot and, indeed, backlit sail are a ceaseless source of amazement. If you like this one, there is another interpretation here.

Julio, muchisimas gracias por tu comentario(s)

Leigh, thanks! I am particularly impressed by your comments, since I admire the way you can arrange elements in your compositions. As for the blue of the sky, I guess it got some greenish hue, here, but not too much more than it used to be. I am having troubles in getting the web image reproduce what I get on (one of) the six or so machines I am used, with 4 or so different operative systems.

Laurie, thanks. It is curious that I never really liked this shot, and it sat for a year in my files before resurfacing last week. As for the sky, it is the sky... I fear there is no way I can arrange this shot as a reflection, with the deck in the way, but I will try to think of it. Or did you hint to the white clouds being streaks of foam... If we were flying so much canvas amidst streaks of foam I guess this picture would never have been posted.

The texture is appealing and almost intoxicating. I like the way my eye seem to make circles and vortexes, like the needles were being sucked away in the drain. Very well seen, composed and executed.

 

P.S. I prefer it in colours: the texture of the B&W is almost too strong, and prevents to appreciate the image as a whole, in particular the way the warm tones conenct the drain and the needles.

Stunning, not only in the hues, colours, light and texture in the clouds, but also the way you've composed this image such that everything attracts us to the summit: the line of clouds, the warmly lit ridge from the right, the sharp rise from the left.

This is a superb image.

 

I like the composition (thanks to the swiss precision!) of the three lower bands of equal size, evolving into the two top shapes, more gentle, almost organically curved.

 

The different fields in different crops and therefore different moment of growth/harvest are perfect when it comes to getting variations in colours and textures.

 

The shadow of the bales brings, most definitly, this shot over the top, making it three dimensional and witty.

This is a very smart picture.

 

In other aerial shots of yours, one often is led to think about the trees as small toys, and the whole scene as a model. Here, the train, makes this illusion perfect. Only a second glance to the richness of the texture (hey, the fields all in a different state of growth are great!) reveals the illusion and makes us fly/dive with you.

 

Beautiful.

That's a difficult one. On one hand, I like not to have too much sky on top of the peaks, since they get dwarfed and lose their stately posture. On the other hand, here, the justapoxition of lights and shadows, white snow and dark sky, does make the picture.

 

A great capture, one of those sights that only walking above the clouds you can be blessed with.

A.K. I like the strong diagonal composition of the shot, with the net-man system which crosses with the other triangle made by the receding and proceeding waves.

 

I looked at the B&W and the sepia version and I find that the B&W enhances the strong graphical lines of the shot, while the sepia leaves more space also to the story-telling part of it.

 

A small detail for the composition: the rock in the bottom right is a bit of a nuisance, since interrupts the other diagonal line formed by the wet sand.

 

I'll be looking forward an image where the net gets thrown!

The background is great, and so is the palette of the shot. I like the evolution from snow in the foreground, to trees in the ridge, to a far (and tawed) valley below. It all adds depth and rythm to the landscape. The same rythm which is modulated by the shape of the slope in front of the skier and is suggested by the movement of his sticks. Unfortunatly, though, the posture of the skier does not work for me... there is something strangely "static" to it. Your skiers are usually more "dynamic". I guess it is the too-bent posture which does not make the shot for me.

The caver and his headlamp are the only "warm" feature in this cold light, suggesting a cold world. This justapoxition makes the shot...suggesting he came down from the warmth into the cold (light above) and has more of it to go (descent in front).

 

In short, it works.

It might be the interplay of the title and the image, but this builds lots of expectation for something to be on the verge of happening...the waters on the point of opening for something from beyond this world to appear.

 

I guess that's a tension which comes from the change from the vertical foreground grass into the horizontal strong patterns in the reflected cloud.

 

I like it. I admire the way you manage to create interesting images starting from landscapes which do not have prominent points of attractions to start with.

 

PS I saw it large, I always do with your images, and there are a couple of dust specs on the sensor, I fear....

Smart.

 

She is all focussed on that screen. We get only that one in focus. But we cannot see what she is really into... sort of a representation of a parental worry about offspring's use of the net?

 

P.S. I like the composition with the pile of off-focus books on a side and the tight framing of head/towel and feet to the back.

Jonathan, John, Mario, thanks! I am always glad to see people enjoy this image.

Just back from the french alps where we went playing in the ice... Iliked a lot this shot and would like to ready your opinion.

I've been considering flipping it so that a left->right flow wouldgive the feeling she is looking ahead, but could not bring me to dothis to the well known landmarks.

Your comment and criticism are much appreciated!

P.S.Actually, I really think you should see this Larger

Len, been there done that: you might want to check this shot or this other one!

C TR, thanks for your kind words. More than luck, it took some patience and good timing to get the cloud at the end of the mast... but I had a bit of time as long as the sun would stay behind the sail and keep this warm light.

 

As for a print, we can for sure find an agreement...

Thanks, A.K.. I wanted indeed to keep it as simple as possible.