* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #902 / Revived #122 on 2025 07 30*

Very whimsical. Great to admire and look at.

Great view from the cockpit. Very unusual.

Unusual and very captivating shot.

This parched earth and very blue sky is very intriguing and interesting. I feel heat and dry air...

Fascinating landscapes with magnificent formations and views that any photographer would drool over. I particularly like the ones with a tiny solo human because they emphasize the scale of these things. All are well chosen views/compositions. The atmospherics could have been better but when we travel to far away places we get what we get when we get it. I think extreme editing to try to get more might do a disservice to the images.

Nice urban shot. I believe I would try to fend off some of wide angle the distortion with geometric correction. I feel like I may fall off the right side.

And they all gather 'round him to listen. It is clear what he's telling is compelling enough to draw and keep a crowd. The suit and hat make me curious about his role.

Here is a quote from internet :-)
...
"Our famous Yeoman Warder tours of the Tower of London are the perfect way to begin your visit.
Yeoman Warders, also known as ‘Beefeaters’, will share key stories from 1,000 years of history. Be entertained by tales of intrigue, imprisonment, execution, torture and much more…Learn about the Tower's iconic history as a fortress, palace and prison. Discover how William the Conqueror built the White Tower and hear tales of the prisoners who entered through Traitors' Gate."

I‘ve always been fascinated with that landscape. The wonderful thing about it, is that - compared to similar rock formations which can often be seen in dry, desert-like surroundings - it‘s so lush and beautiful all around.

We have no lack of mountains around here for sure, but that‘s a place I‘d like to visit one day.

I like this shot best - very well framed and balanced. Excellent work showing the impressive scenery!

But...RHS is part of the bridge which was designed and manufactured in Europe and brought on a barge and installed locally. It is very futuristic, curved and aerodynamic...

Hi Mike,
As a single image it makes my brain start working. That usually leads to questions. Yes, the sky is very blue and in a fun blue hue to that. The ground is nice, we have strong complementary colors here. The colors could, again, have come from a Rank Xerox color copier in the 70s. I like that. The greens are also very green and then he white lines saves it all.
Then the questions. There is no net so I guess nobody really play tennis here any more. The gravel at the short end also signals No Tennis. But how come the tennis court is so clean and tidy? Is somebody actually there taking care every now and then? Is it a platform for chopters? Is it some fading memory kept partly alive by somebody? I mean, the white side line is very white.
And finally, everything is leaning while at the same time everything look correct. Interesting and probably a lot of work to change it into anything "better". To me this is an image in need of company with a number, at least a few, other images of similar singularities found somewhere during the journey to the end.
Thank you for an image pushing the fantasy in different directions!

[quote="@RoelHendrickx"]

We, I and my better half, visited Auschwitz-Birkenau back in 2007. The exhibition was strong and I remember it affected me more than expected. The bags and suitcases were marked with name and addresses and had now turned into gravestones more than anything else.
All the family belongings...
It was very sad to see traces of all the care parents had shown their children, unaware of the fate that awaited them.
Birkenau – there were actually the railway tracks you see in films, in real life. Right into the camp.
I didn't take many pictures. It was unexpectedly difficult. Instead, I have encouraged people I have met to go there themselves.
Thank you for reminding us what can actually happen if we don't stand up for human values!
/Jonas

I like the sepia treatment better than the black and white.

Between the color version and the black and whites, I think it causes different focus. The lock is more a center focus for me in the black and whites and then I radiate outward visually. The color starts with the building and then I circle around the canal and end by discovering the lock.

The sepia treatment gives it that old world feel for me.

That's (the order you focus the different parts of the image in) an interesting observation. Or phenomena. I tried to see what I see. No easy but I think I see the area above he lock, up to tree height, and the lock a the same time. Then my eyes start to look around. I have to look a bit more into his comparing other images!

Most of my monochrome images are toned "Dark brown and white". That's not to mimick any old style but because it looks nice (to me). From that perspective and as I wrote earlier I think the conversion could have been pushed a bit more. More contrast, less greyish first impression of the trees and the building. The sepia toned image works a bit better than the B&W in low contrast for some reason.

Thanks to Alan for providing all this food for thoughts!

One of the advantages of arriving late to the thread is that you can read interesting discussions such as the one relating to this photo: crop vs not, color vs b/w vs sepia, editing out various distractions, contrasty vs hazy. Thought provoking conversation is always helpful in making us think deeper into what we do and why.

I prefer this particular version over the others. The increased contrast offers up more detail than the B/W or the color original, especially in the lock itself which I presume is the subject or at least the focal point. So I'll say a little more about the composition itself. To some extent, the bars on the lock block our entry into the image, but you used that barrier well to "hold" the rest of the image in its arms. We do have to double back to find the interesting water feature below, but the monochrome makes it less important. The canal is a strong enough leading line to carry us upstream to the village, which is more interesting in the contrasty sepia tone than it was in the foggy color version or the vague black and white version.

What I might do differently? Clean up the distractions that are partially lopped off on the left corner. What does not add to a composition often distracts. And I would not remove the man nearest us on the left side. I thought he was a nice balancing item since there is nothing else of interest on the left side of the lock.

Extremely effective image. Wonderfully composed and edited to create a semblance of the emotional impact a visitor must feel when viewing the site in person. You have such a gift for creating powerful images in heart-rending places like this.

I wonder if monochrome would allow the visitors to stay more within the somber nature of the subject matter. I often have the same questions about images I make of memorials of the civil war, or the civl rights violence in our country.

Lovely nature abstract. Sand is the best subject for such images! There are no limits on the formations, the designs, it takes, and how shadows and contrasting tones play into it.

Reminds me of the clay court I grew up alongside, where my mother gave tennis lessons. Those things look nothing like Wimbledon. You've captured the outback nature of a no frills spot to play. Orange and blue always work well together. It should be an easy fix to subdue the blue a bit, I agree it kind of got exaggerated in post or in posting but either way, an easy fix.