* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #797 / Revived #017 on 2023 07 26 *

Long shot across a small valley

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At first I thought this was a Dandylion seed head. Now I don't think it is. Here, the focus point tunnels us down into the seedhead and we have a definite centre with a warm spot and sharply focussed follicles. I'm puzzled by the rectangular white shape with what looks like punchholes in the very center? Was a flash or reflector being used here? The out of focus background sets off the halo of fine detail around the seedhead's edge. It all pop's with a satisfying 3d quality.

This is an example of how photographs can be taken and used for many different purposes. It presses buttons with me that have nothing to do with artistic interpretation. The shipping container is centred in the frame. It's the subject. It sits in a paddock with a mix of bushland behind it. I can only see this as a statement about the stuff we leave around on our farms. Once it was old vehicles. Today old shipping containers litter the paddocks. I don't like them either.

When looked at at full size, there are a couple of things I don't understand and possibly things are happening here that I haven't grasped. In the foliage areas beyond the truck, especially immediately above the container, there are dark blurred areas. Could that be the cabin of a prime mover at the far end of the container? I don't think so but I don't understand it. Maybe this photo was taken through a windscreen and there are things on the glass? Maybe it's a camera phone and it is having trouble resolving the foliage areas?

I like the second shot . your composition with the shadows of the fence on the floor and the strong pattern on the roof give this place a "powerful feeling" !

That's an interesting effect you've used here. It's an artistic self portrait where you've managed to remain largely anonymous. And the cat in the corner is looking cute or perhaps, as someone else said, just bored :-)

If you were a beginner with a point and shoot, I might glibly say , "Try aiming a bit lower next time" :-)
But the other responders have found a deeper meaning in the shot and compared it, among other things, to an artist's palette with the thumb sticking through the hole in the middle, and rejoicing in the use of negative space.
So I guess it has something, but it's not really my cup of tea :-)

I like these two shots from the series best.
In No. 2 the glass building is capturing the light nicely and shines out bright against that dark foreboding sky.
I feel that it would also work as a long tall crop, with all of the red crane and the bright yellow wall chopped off from the left hand side, giving full attention to the magnificent Shard tower.

Please let me know if it allowed to edit with sugestions and post back shots like this ?

In No. 5 the building is well framed with those interesting dark shapes

Wow, a waterfall with a bridge across the front! I bet that was difficult to build.
Good shot , especially when looking at the high res version.
It looks like a great place to visit, unless, of couse, you are a heartbroken lover :-(

Good reply!
I agree that everyone should stay true to their style, and why should anyone change their brush, if they are happy with it.
My comment was directed more at me. As you have no doubt noticed, I enjoy looking for meaning and stories in a photograph and no doubt often read things into an image, which are neither there nor intended and it sometimes leaves me looking a bit foolish. As your photo was very obviously about the processing, I was unsure whether you were trying to get another message across as well. I went ahead with my interpretation, because that is how I read the image and just as the artist is free to create the image as seen fit, so too is the viewer free to interpret it at will, although hopefully also seeing what the artist intended. So I was hoping I had interpreted what you intended, rather than inventing something, which was never there, hence my comment about hoping it was not just meant to be visually pleasing. Actually, I used the term eye-candy, which some might take as a put down, but it wasn't intended that way, as I use the term freely, including for my own photos, if their sole intention is to be visually pleasing. It is a perfectly acceptable goal, although if I can also tell some visual story, I am pleased, as it gives another level to explore in the image.

Pete

Those withdrawal symptoms are painful, and just going through the motions of looking for and composing a photo and then pressing that button are a great relief, even if the photos are only worth the delete button afterwards. Luckily not the case here with this classic shot of a seed head. The white filaments of the seeds are nice and sharp and the background, despite being quite busy with grass and leaves, is nicely blurred and does not distract. It is nicely exposed, and the white details have not been blown.

Pete

I like the quirkiness in this one. A container literally slap bang in the middle of a natural setting. It is positioned perfectly, as the centre does not imply motion, so gives the container an air of "... and I am not going anywhere ..." which is amusing. It leaves the viewer pondering questions about why it is there, or when the lorry will arrive to prove it is going somewhere.

Pete

Thanks a lot! Have you ever tried adapting such a lens onto your camera? Some of the film scanning lenses are among the best macro lenses ever, so it would be interesting to know what a drum scanner lens would be capable of… unless they have some image circle restriction.

I even have a Dainippon Screen (Cezanne) lens, but that‘s from a pretty massive flat bed scanner if I‘m not mistaken.

Yes, it is quite alright to edit and repost, in fact it is in the rules of the thread in the first post.

I like your crop, which simplifies the image and that is rarely a bad thing. I cropped the way I did for a few reasons. The first reason is valid. I wanted to contrast the sleak tower in the top right with the jumble at the bottom, with the tower rising above that for better or worse. The other two are not good reasons. The crop is more or less as I saw it, and I found it hard to abandon bits. The other was I did not want to get rid of those giant red ants crawling over the bottom left, as they made the the jumble slightly surreal and gave the tower an even greater contrast. However, nobody commented on the ants, so either they were not noticed, or nobody felt them worthy of comment, so it was probably not worth leaving them in, except to satisfy myself! In any case that probably means that your crop is more appropriate than mine.

This has a wonderfully morbid feel to it. It looks dark and wet. Ironically, the green of the leaf gives a slight feeling of life and hope, even though the leaf is dead or dying, and will soon be as dark as its surroundings. A very cool image.

Pete

It's not healthy to go too long without taking a photo!

The main appeal for me is the bright light, with a feeling of warm breezes on a perfect summer day. However, I guess it's not summer where you live? 😁

I'm reminded of those little tests that ask you to select which item does not go with the others. Quite a find, and quirky I think someone said? It's fun to ponder the possible story behind this!

Moody, but hopeful in that nature will survive whatever humankind throws at it? Visually compelling.