Linda,
Sorry! I did not mean to diminish the composite image in any way. I like it a lot and should have commented on it as well. I simply thought that the landscape itself is a very good image in its own right and that you actually have several works worthy of presenting. Great work!
Rich
This is a wonderful, quiet, enigmatic abstract image.
Well done.
Rich
The unusual wooden structure is well served by the ultra wide angle capture which manages to both exaggerate and minimize its sinuous curves and angles. The first is more artistic with the sole biker demonstrating the pronounced lean as he makes the turn. The second shows how a larger mass of people may utilize the variegated spaces of the structure. Interesting addition to your Leuven collection.
Now that I've come to know Leuven a bit, I'm wondering what Lou would do with this same structure?
Minimalism done well. The pale pastel background is muted and somewhat blurred by atmospherics. That watercolor look is in sharp contrast to the black metal bars of the balcony or fence. Good choice of placement for the composition. This is one of those images in which the thin black line you often use around the edges of your prints, and that you taught me to use for my exhibition prints, becomes an essential element that helps tie the composition together. I would try to get a little more straightening out of the balcony element, which rises ever so slightly to the right. I think the geometry tools in LR should address that reasonably well without disrupting the horizon line, which is just right.
Magical work from a Pearl-tipped hat pin (I think). The trailing snake of interlocking bokeh balls commands the eye to follow around the curves and off the left edge. More compositions run left to right but right to left works too especially when done as well as this is.
Though I don't tinker with antique lenses, I admire your creativity and energy in figuring out how to get the most out of them in a modern context. Just yesterday I attended a museum lecture on old cameras and lenses, and saw some amazing architectural photography done using these ancient beasts, some of them enormous, all of them from the 1800s. It is remarkable what can be done with creative determination. (I probably would not have gone to this without having seen your fascinating work).
And I am sure you'll bring back another set of wonderful images. This is another treasure. A beautifully detailed painting in the background, looking us right in the eye - and in the foreground, a scary mass of spliced rigged up wires that essentially mimics the compositional lines in the painting. It reminds me of some photos I took in Cuba, where the infrastructure that was created in the early 50s is barely held together now with string, wires, tape and other assorted patching materials.
Your gift for creating images by juxtaposing art and ordinary elements is matched only by your gift for titling them.
Lovely. I have always liked photos that show imperfect flowers, and most of the flower pictures I take are about that kind. To show the two together- the perfect and the imperfect - is really effective. Their petals are intertwined, the dead one is facing away from us, and the beautiful flawless one is showing her face to us readily. The background is appropriately de-d emphasized. It's an excellent image that is worthy of framing.
Only a small thing but if I did print it, I might be tempted to remove the leaves along the left edge that aren't directed attached, and that light line. It doesn't really add anything, but of course it isn't doing great harm either. Just a consideration...
My first impression was of massive wisteria vines draped over trees, but then I saw the pink shoreline and remembered is is Open Cube's color fest and had to look at it another way. The composition is a very nice landscape choice, with two sides of a small lake or pond with a kind of starfish shape nestled beneath the trees that are looming protectively above. I'm not a fan of the different tones for scene and reflection but perhaps the visually jarring impact is what you are seeking. The reflected utility pole (and its reflection) is another jarring element. I can't reconcile with this one in spite of the beautiful compositional choice, but I recognize the impact.
It might not be fair to comment since I've seen it before and already sung its praises, but I will add some detail. The background is lovely, in muted pastels with haze and texture and minimalistic nature elements. Now we view it through the window of an invisible structure. The two comfy chairs, one already occupied, invite us in the same way your title does, to come and share time and place undisturbed by the demands of the "real" world. I want to sit there and experience the dreamy peace and quiet. It is a wonderful art piece that's constructed of photos in the same way that a beautiful quilt is constructed of fabric pieces. Masterful choices and implementation.
Taken as a near-abstract, this one has excellent balance, shape and contrast. It's divided straight down the middle, one side echoing the other, and the intense contrast of the darkest line does the bisecting. There are dark triangles on each edge, enclosing brighter, more textured and colorful triangles which together form one larger inverted triangle. Without the same I would not have guessed what it was (I was thinking a dull rusty old hatchet!) The limited DOF allows us to see only the middle third of that edge, thus only a very small portion of the image, in focus. That sharpness is essential to understanding the rest of the image. Nicely conceived.
Thank you for the cirque, much appreciated .....
Technically .. I think I kept that foliage to the left as I thought it better framed the old and the leaf echoed the one on the right and pointed us upward along the vertical .... I thought at the time and still think I might have taken that right edge of the frame too far to the right and maybe it could have been closer making a 4X5 frame a bit better ...
WhyNot
Interesting photo story, especially for me with my love of trees. I have seen markings in the forest like #5, with the etching look that appears to be an art form. #1 is quite beautiful as a stand alone landscape image with the backlit leaves against the hazy mountains and lake. But my favorite is the tiny purple flowers in partial sun, with the tiny curlicue of a third just beginning to unfurl itself. That is a classy nature photo. Print it if you haven't already done so.
Great angle for a boat coming to towards us through a fairly thick fog bank. The dark contrast of the dock between it and us gives some grounding to the ship which might otherwise appear to be too supernatural. The toning is unusual but it works somehow. I'm not sure I like the super-yellow of the smoke coming from the stack but it does blend in rather than standing out. A creative interpretation of this boat.
I like this picture and don't think I can add anything to the critiques that hasn't already been offered! .. However I think we could open a discussion about the philosophy and art of photography on the difference between capturing an idea and that of creating an idea ... Photography has been good at framing an idea, such as I tried to offer with the "Old Story" , and about the painterly-like creation of the story to frame an idea as you have offered... I think there are several members here with backgrounds in art that might expand on the thought .... However, I think you have done this well and the pictures opens up several possible stories ...
WhyNot
I like the color and the scene. The sun is strong enough to keep me in the picture but those post tend to pull me out to the left .... Needs to be seen in the "gallery view"
WhyNot
Like Linda, I enjoy the post processing tools and journey towards art-ifying captures I've made and creating painterly interpretations. I also play with camera methods too. Linda has described some you can try. My own favorites are water reflections captured with slightly slow shutter to get water movement; I often then crop heavily and usually turn upside down. I also like intentional camera movement. ICM is something you have to work with over time and find the best movements and settings to create look you want. I had the opportunity last year to spend a day with Freeman Patterson who is a master at this. He told and showed me how small rounded movements could create his impressionistic captures, which he then edits for color and contrast, though not as radically as you do.
Oh he is beautiful, especially against that nice portrait-ish background. Well defined, posed as if for a formal military portrait with one arm crooked.There's even a tiny catchlight in his bug eye. The markings, colors, and little threadlike appendages are all so clear. The colors have a slightly antique tone, as if he has stepped out of a Victorian book of naturalist illustrations and into real life. A lovely image.
I have no idea what this (some kind of seed pod??) is but you named it well, it is a medallion form, and the photographic angle you chose is what makes it appear so, reminding us that angles are of utmost importance in determining how the image may be perceived. You can imagine this on a ladies hat or on a coat lapel. You could edit it easily into an art piece that could be composited onto some clothing item in that fashion. But then you'd lose the detail that looks like basket weaving, which is also a bit of a treat. I wish the dark part had more detail because I am curious what it is.
Fascinating nature close up.
Intriguing plant,