Wednesday C&C * Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #910 / Revived #130 on 2025 09 24*

I agree that it was mesmerizing, but just two nuances:
- it was a sunrise not sunset,
- and it wasn't a beach but the middle of the south-lybian sahara.

Nearest town Alawinat (aka Serdeles) is not far from the border with Algeria.
I guestimate that the nearest large body of water was more than 1000 km in any direction.

Overland the road to Tripoli on the mediterranean coast would have been +1200 kilometres.
We flew (from Tripoli) to that remote southern regio of rocky desert in a small plane.
Our Landcruiser expedition had Serdeles as a hub where we returned twice for stocking up on gas and supplies.
And for a very welcome shower.

The exposure is just right. Enough detail is retained in the sans to create forms and give lines connecting foreground and midground. The slhoutte emphasizes the weirdness of the rock shapes. The tone range across the sky helps create movement to the area with the sun while avoiding blocking in or burning out.
Everything combines to suggest alien. That's fitting. I think this area was used for Tatooine in Star Wars.

minniev, this is not fair. Too many riches here to talk about them all.
Shot 1 is a masterclass in exposure. Large shaded areas are hard to pull off in landscapes. You've done it by retaining enough detail in focus and lighting to establish the place while also using it as the backdrop for the brightly lit and contrasting foreground. A jungle of life to be explored rather than a single point of interest.

Shot 2. I enjoyed it in total and then again when I viewed it large and took in the fine details. The exquisite blue flower shouldn't be positioned where you have it, according to the rule of thirds. But it works. The extended stems to the left and below with their leaves almost at the frame edge create the balance.
A shot to be studied and learnt from.
Morning wals are good for everyone.

As others have pointed out the whole series of images is great. The different colors, the varying distance and amount of detail... there's lots to enjoy. These two speak to me the most however. Yes, part of it may be the distance... (I'm always drawn to close-up shots) but I think the main thing is the color. Both feature blue to varying degrees which allows for wonderful color contrast. Both are great in terms of composition and the smooth OOF look works very well for them.

I don't remember if you've mentioned ever trying some vintage lenses (I'm talking really old, not 30 or 40 years...)? I think some of your other shots could benefit a lot from using a vintage lens, unless some loss of sharpness would be a deal breaker for you.

PS. I think the 1937 Arnold is mislabelled?

Number 3. The strength of the shots is in the vertical lines and the textures of the stone. I don't feel colour is helping with this. B&W puts all the emphasis on these two things. The main two towers are carefully positioned against the white areas of the clouds so they stand out. I like the strong line of the central tower that extends almost the full height of the frame. In 4, the extra width to the right plus the curve of the street lights reduce the impact of the verticals.,

The point of the shot is in the seedling reaching for height while sandwiched between narrow sides. I feel that the shot needs a bit more dof. I think we need to feel the constricting pressure somewhat more. The sides perhaps go soft too quickly? Maybe and inch or two of focus before and after the plant to make the walls harder?

It's quite likely that some of the shearers work north and south of the equator. One of the Australian shearers told me they head to Europe after the Australian shearing. The longhorn shearing singlet looks very much like the symbol of RM Williams and many Australian shearers wear stuff from that brand.
Whatever. Shearing is hard work no matter where it happens.

On my own photo showcase website, I state that "my main passion and focus is to show authentic people in extraordinary situations".
That has not changed since I started my path in photography.

I am thus a sucker for documentary photo series in which the photographer behaves like the proverbial fly on the wall, not interfering or staging, but just recording the myriad ways in which ordinary people go about their everyday business, totally mundane for themselves but foreign or even exotic to others.

The ideal such documentary series combines images of the people themselves with images of their surroundings, the context, the vibe, and the peculiarities of their attire, (informal) uniforms, the well worn leather and the polished wood of instruments shaped by experience and heavy use.

Need I say more?

This series ticks ALL of the boxes for me.

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Like the creator of Jurassic Park (or was it his critic?) used to say: "Nature will find a way"

This image, simple as it may be, works exceedingly well because of your angle and the shallow DOF.

Let me start by saying what I miss in ALL of these versions: it is the ground on which the building stands.
I assume you had your reasons for excluding the ground (pedestrians, traffic or other distractions).
Been there, done that.
But what I would usually do then, is exclude even more, to make the emphasis on the vertical tower look even more like a deliberate choice and not an omission.
In your B&W versions, I feel that whatever distractions were there (colourful cars, traffic signs etc), would probably have been reduced to mere texture.

Having said that, I think that I prefer your colour version over the B&W.
Or with a bit more nuance: I prefer the wider colour version over the narrower colour version (a bit more sky is welcome).
And paradoxically I prefer the narrower B&W over the wider B&W (for the sole reason that the lamppost on the bottom right bugs me in the wider version because it feels more like an anachronism and an intrusion in the sky and clouds, while it feels more like a natural presence in the colour image.).

Sheep shearers of the World, Unite!

It's interesting that we get a confrontation of two approaches to the same trade in this week's thread.

Mike's images (although peopled with some workers) feel like the still life version of the documentary. The silence before the storm.
Even the shot of a shearer in action has (because of the light) the quality of a renaissance painting.
Not many words intrude and let us explore the images at our own pace.

Fireplace's images, on the other hand, provide the dynamic "action movie" part of the documentary, with a clear sequence that guides us through the process and a narrative to point out some peculiarities and aspects that are not readily visible from the images themselves (like the "traveling tradesmen" aspect of the business).

Your country house remains a fascinating place
The walk report is very inviting.
What I think I like most is how you concentrate on the patches of vivid colour (flowers, fungi) in the meadow, while the forest looks ancient and solemn (I can almost expect characters from Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings walking on horseback over those forest paths.

It's an interesting concept to concentrate on the rear ends of these cars. Not the usual angle we expect, and often a testament to the design attention to detail that those designers achieved.

Piano in a field

Wonderful, surreal image that could be a Martian landscape, a volcanic field, or a parade of fantastical beasts. The lack of humans is a plus here, because part of the magic is the mystery.

Fascinating. Extra fascinating to me because the agricultural scene is so unfamiliar. I've never seen sheep sheared. The tools of the trade, and the human conductors of the shearing, are more heavily featured than the sheep, which is an effective way to tell the story. (One lone sheep has submitted to the indignity in the first photo). Excellent story series.