Thanks Linda, I have seen some of your raptor images and I know you're well versed in their behavior and how to capture them, so I appreciate your feedback. That huge cumbersome and complex nest was one of the reasons I was seduced into trying to get a lot into the frame.
I appreciate your demo of a more compact crop. I wanted to get the birds larger, but was flummoxed by how to get enough of the amazing nest into the frame with them. Your crop gives me another option to pursue.
Thanks Mike, I appreciate your input. I will definitely try out a crop that limits the bulk of the nest (the thing is HUGE, the average osprey nest weighs about 300 lbs!), will fiddle with the blue saturation too. Maybe too zealous polarization.
I will try to part with some of the bulk of the enormous nest, though I confess the size of that monster has impressed me. This year they refurbished it and probably added 50 lbs of new sticks to it. My displays are never purely documentary, and there will be other images in the collection that are far more highly edited, so it won't hurt anything. I'm not gonna enter it in an Audubon contest. And I'll tame the blue a bit.
Thanks Chris. I figure he already gave Mom her half of the fish. The littles aren't hatched yet, but should be soon.
I appreciate everyone's help. When I'm working on a project I depend on forum members to give me feedback to help me shape what I'm expecting to display. To me, that is better feedback than I could get from an art critic - you guys come from a wide variety of backgrounds and have a wide variety of interests and styles and experience, but you share a common trait: a well developed visual intelligence. Thank you for sharing it.
Time moves along.
I was puzzled to see "Lucky Man" here. I remember a "LuckyMan" as a song that was big for Emerson Lake and Palmer a bit over 50 years ago. It had a different message. I can't find the original on You tube, the version I found is nothing like the original. This gives some info. It was often listed in 'greatest songs" lists. thegreatestsongs.com/lucky-man-emerson-lake-palmer/
That's a song I didn't know.
Glad to have heard it at least once.
But I vastly prefer the song by The Verve.
Did you listen to that song?
The Verve is one of the underrated British rock bands, with a few hits but not that many as, say, Oasis.
I like much of their music. Like Kula Shaker, another of those bands with a few instant classics that sound really timeless.
Here's a topic for a rainy day. "instant classics that sound really timeless."
A theory. It's an age and circumstance-related concept. ELP were huge, especially the first album on which was their "Lucky Man." I can't hear or remember it without many associations to Vietnam war events. That makes it timeless to me and I suspect many others of my generation. Perhaps "timeless" can only be judged after a few generations?
The sequence here gives a smile from understanding the story line and therefore I'll treat it as a story rather than image critique.
I feel it needs another frame or two that imply a considerable, unsuccessful passing of time before the arrival of the boat. Pulling back for your second image goes some way to doing this. Possibly add a couple more, each drawing further back before the punchline last image?
Or I might be misunderstanding your intention here?
Yeah, Greenie sticks out, not only because he is not purple, but because he has a triangular marker pointing right at him.
You make lots of interesting images of detailed closeups using household objects most of us would never think of trying to take photos of. Kudos on your creativity.
You've shared a photo story! Well-taken. We don't get nearly as many of those as we did in the old forum, probably since flat view makes it harder to deal with. This shot could easily have been taken at one of my local haunts, the bend in the Pearl River. It looks like a southern US river, with its usual mix of straw-hatted shore fishermen, flowing water, verdant greenery, treacherous rip-rap, and intrusive boating enthusiasts who annoy the shore fishermen by getting too close in. I think I may drive down to the Bend this afternoon and see what it has to offer...
The second works better than the first, because the subject matter (lone flower with interesting insect) works reasonably well with the odd colors. The first is not a particularly interesting scene and outside the frothy peach colored trees there isn't much to look at. Maybe that is the point - the dullness of subdivision life.
Minniev is right. I'd never have dreamed of trying something like this for a shot. Yet another example about the two way nature of art. When I look at it, the unusual and colours mean I think Wimbledon nd I go looking for meaning in the unorthodox balls.
Thank you for your critiques and interesting interpretations of this series .. normally I don't usually and don't like to give my interpretation of my posts here but today …... I was walking along the Tennessee River at our local marina the other day when I saw this fisherman with an interesting hat .. and it also reminded me of a recent critique I made about a similar situation shared by Minniev and these picture matched some of my critique and give her a chance to respond in kind …. Sorry about that … and I really had nothing else to share this week if I hadn't taken that walk … so …...
An image I would be happy to have captured Paula. Personally, I would crop a bit from the top (I am having second thoughts about that though) and clean up the lower left of the image a bit. The crop, having done it but also having cleaned up the bottom after cropping, I think is unnecessay. I do think cleaning up the bottom left removes some distraction but that is entirely personal.
I have included that clean up below for your consideration. The sky part needs some more work but for this purpose it is good enough.
On a different note, I don't participate much here because I find the non threaded nature of threads like this off putting and just require more work than I want to put in.
A vertical village definitely demands a tall vertical frame. Imagine this shot as a panorama - it just wouldn't work as well.
The two almost featureless buildings in the lower half create a chimney of interest between them, through which the zig zag path rises. This narrowed focus of interest emphasises the vertical direction, and the zig zag climb does the rest. The figure towards the top of the climb adds a focus point, and a "reward" for the visual journey so far. The scene continues upwards and broadens, but my eyes have already been trained by the lower part to recognise the story of the vertical climb, and are mesmerised by the houses built almost on top of each other.
The harsh shadows imply strong sunlight and suggest heat, and the thought of climbing up through the village is exhausting. I hope there is a nice shady watering hole at the top.
I enjoyed the humorous side of your text and Linda's reply. I also think Linda's crop is good, as I find the shadows on the grey wall distract from the main theme of the photo, however, I would not crop off quite as much. The bars on the right are reminiscent of a prison and add to the story, in my opinion, and cropping right up to the vertical bar means it is not so obvious. If the crop is further to the right, perhaps at the edge of the grey wall, then that sliver of green makes that final bar more obvious and the idea of prison bars more accessible.
The red house/trap attracts attention and draws my eye in much the same way the bird is drawn in, and it seems to feel the same incertainty as to whether it is a welcoming haven or something altogether more sinister!
This image immediately attracts attention, and not just because of the large red square! It is not obviously a photograph, but the PP work truly enhances it and adds a layer of mystery.
My eyes are initially drawn to the red square, but quickly move on to the wrapped headless women, then take in the mysterious surroundings of the shop and the knees of the seller or the buyer. But what is being sold here? Women? Misogynistic women, headless and without thoughts of their own? Egyptian mummies? Evening dresses? The showroom mannequins themselves?
The textures are excellent, painterly and very well chosen. The strong reds and yellows and dark blue greens reminds me of one of your countrymen, whose first name was Vincent.
