* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #874 / Revived #094 on 2025 01 15*

Another from the feeder. Note the bird using it's foot to hold the bread.

That is totally fine with me.
If we live on two different planets of the galaxy that is photography, that is fine and it does not bother me.

In general, I am not interested (or only marginally so) in technical perfection of images (sharpness, resolution, exposure control etc).
My aim is always for visual or emotional impact.
Sure, I am always interested to learn more about technical aspects (and I take on board any useful suggestion), but it is not what makes me tick.
Ideally, an image will be visually/emotionally impactful AND technically "correct".
But if I have to choose one, then it is the impact and not the technicality.

So that dictates also what I look for in C&C.

If the emotional content is an aspect of photography that does not really interest a particular viewer, then I don't expect any comments from him/her.
And conversely, if technical data-crunching is what interests a particular viewer most in images, then I am afraid that this viewer's opinion does not really matter to me.

There is a nice mix of colours in this image. The greens / yellows of the reeds, orange / red of the bush and greens / browns of the forest work together well. Add some water with just enough ripples to be interesting and a pair of Canada geese makes for a pleasing scene.

Looking at the thumbnails on my 15" laptop, the pinks in the sky look lighter in the 2nd image. But when viewed full screen they are both the same... Others have mentioned differences in the thumbnails compared to the enlarged view and I just put it down to being a more condensed view. Maybe not...

I prefer the tree on the right included but perhaps not chopped off. I wonder if a crop just under the tree excluding the fence and some of the expanse of grass might give it a panorama feel.
Nice colours in the sky when viewed large (the thumbnails look a bit smoggy) and the horses on the rise are a nice touch.

The shadows in the lettering give it a bold, dynamic look. I like that you have managed a good dof within the vanishing perspective. All set off in the afternoon light - just hiding the sun has worked well too...

That's a scary story made all the more compelling by the size of the indentations in the pillar. They must have been serious rounds, I imagine intended for armoured vehicles or similar
The car is a good addition, if a touch stretched and indistinct.

My thinking has been swayed by the many (not here so much - but on DPR) who are quick to pick out technical flaws in an image. My underlying nature is to follow that - left brain dominant. But I also like anything quirky, odd or thought provoking. I am happy to read Roel's response because I have probably deleted images that failed the technical pub test but passed the visual / emotional test. I will keep it in mind for the future.

Powerful words, as graffiti sometimes provides. The composition of the photo is quite nice, with the triangular "wings" as a repeating motif against a pleasing muted palette of pale sunset color. The lone passerby, absorbed in a cell phone, adds to the message. A google search, whose results I cannot read, suggests a connection with a zombie survival game (?). But it doesn't really matter to me. What matters is the impact of the image. It also doesn't matter to me that there is not perfect focus, or that there is a technical issue with chromatic aberration. Those factors, for me, are not deal breakers.

For some viewers, one or both of those technical factors interfere with their appreciation. That's OK. There are some technical factors (completely blown sky, for example) that may cause me to lose appreciation for certain images that are otherwise interesting. For some viewers the technical is the primary and sometimes only concern, and that's OK, too. Hopefully we will continue to respect our creative differences, since they are what makes our endeavor interesting.

I know there is further discussion of these versions down the thread, but I am not gonna read them till I post my own thoughts, so I don't get swayed. Nice, well caught scene with lovely colors and atmospherics. A crop up about a third of the way would eliminate some dead space and the fencing, and focus on the more interesting part of the image. Cropping off the tree and bushes that take up the right 1/5 of the frame eliminates an eye magnet and allows the horses to be fully discovered and become a central subject. The panoramic resulting image becomes lighter, and more beautiful.

Well taken image with good rendering of a vanishing point perspective, nice complex color palette, and good use of natural light. Could be on their brochure!

For some of us that is a LOT of snow! A good depiction of the bleak midwinter landscape, which has its own power and beauty. I like the muted colors and your use of the river as a compositional element.

Thanks everyone for the comments.

A few years ago the city of Oceanside, CA renovated the area north and south of the pier and the beaches there. They built a number of public restrooms, including two on the beach. One at "Breakwater Way" and the Strand (the road along the beach) and the other at "Sportfisher" St.

This "Monolith" is a short "modesty wall" on one side of the restroom building at Breakwater Way.

The building at Sportfisher has a similar treatment with that name embossed there.

I'm impressed that the city planners had the inspiration to place the (otherwise) mundane identification of these municipal structures in such an artistic way and to commission the lettering treatment as embossing during the concrete pour, turning perfunctory concrete slabs into eye-catching objects.

Image from Google Maps

Rich

A history lesson found in an unlikely object, a pockmarked and riddled bridge support. The dramatic emphasis is enhanced by the empty street and (presumably) rail yard stretching into the darkness in the distance.