* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #891 / Revived #111 on 2025 05 14*

I am always attracted to images that show a scene through a portal: whether window, drainpipe, mirror, or whatever. You have offered us two separate ones, and I'll try to respond to them separately rather than as a set, but they could have been presented equally effectively in either way.

This one is my favorite of the two because it is the most confusing and thus the most engaging: I want to figure out what the portal is, whether it's a reflective surface showing a scene behind (the slight skew could conceivably eliminate the photographer or camera), or a clear window of some aging industrial complex or equipment. The scene it looks out on is less interesting than the portal, but the contrast between the modern and warmly colorful apartment building and the shaded worn machinery through which we view it is striking. Very nice image.

Here we have a quite different portal though with some similarities (dark, worn, man made interior looking out on a bright open scene). I'm pretty sure this one is open air viewing but that could be a trick. It reminds me of an old log cabin I have come upon a couple of times in Grand Teton with a view to the river and mountains.

Nice concepts, executed well, with engaging stories hidden inside and out.

Gaze into the crystal ball

Steve Thomas

I'm never satisfied with my posts here until "Minniev" examines them.

"I don't think the leftward lean is adding anything, and it's enough of a distraction to bother me so I would straighten it"

Yes, but it's not leaning leftward. It's stacked that way. The horizontal lines are straight. I actually did try straightening the "vertical", but then it looked like it was pitching to the right because the horizontals pitched down that way. Needs more complex perspective distortion control.

You caught the web.

But no one has noticed the face!

Rich

It's a Witch Ball! Would that be you hiding behind the chair? Nice rendition of iridescence. That old bike could be quite interesting as a reflected subject, but I think it would work better without the wad of plastic sheeting (?). I'll be interested to see what else you can invent using that reflective ball.

It's an Owl!

Thank you Kumsal. This was my favorite room in the exhibit, and it was other-worldly indeed.

I confess Las Vegas is not my favorite place to visit, but the performance we were wanting to see was only going to happen there. Yes, I agree that Fremont St is a bit more interesting than traditional modern Vegas, though the hotel we stayed in (the Flamingo) dates from the glory days of old Vegas, and still retains much of its charm including the flamingos themselves and their habitat, the excellent Havana 59 restaurant, and a lot of the old neon. The Arte installation is the US branch of a Korean immersive art outfit. Very nicely done.

It was wonderfully disorienting..

Yes. It was hard to know what to try and focus on because it was impossible to sort out the reflection from the reality. Which I suspect was part of the intent.

I’ve been playing with this image for the last 6 months. I think the composition is ok, but it feels lackluster. What do you think?

I think you are right. I like that the focal point is a bit to the left, it's a nice view and you can process it, make it more shiny so to speak. Here is an example:

It's a matter of taste of how far you want to push it. Maybe protect the sky better than I did (I'm sometimes going for those old film colors), don't forget the reflections, if possible save the snowy tops.
Then it's a matter of liking the image or no and that has to do with the purpose. Is the image taken when out hiking and this is a memory from that day? I think it is good as it is and it is a great view.
Is it for a photo competition? Then it may miss a point of interest. The reality is not always as poetic as one can wish for. It would have been nice having a person in a small rowing boat somewhere there... Now this isn't a competition. I would have printed it and letting it hang, possibly together with some other images from the trip, somewhere for a while.

I don't believe in any higher power and , in general, I don't believe in dirt either. But whatever, thanks to a good eye you got a fun and interesting image open for different interpretions. I like it. Is the pope to be made of paper, or papier-mache?

Good idea. I have a 4x6 printer, I will print it and maybe it’ll help me figure out what this image needs.

I tend to think of these situations as "natural frames" (although just using a window is a bit too "easy", generally - I prefer to reserve the name "natural frame" for situations where such frame is composed of different objects around the subject: maybe a table top below, and a vase with flowers on one side and then on the other side a bold curtain, and an overhanging tree branch on top).
And I love finding and using them, and any photographer who spots and uses them, moves up a notch in my book.

In the case of this striking find, the word "portal" is so well chosen by Minnie.
A portal is, for me, a transit point between worlds.
The shape that we see here, a beehive sextagonal, immediately creates more tension than any rectangular shape would do.
It is an odd shape, reminiscent of the docking portals in SciFi movies.
And it does connect two worlds, because we see a world outside, but the interior also is sufficiently well lit to be able to observe detail (if minimal) of that interior.

And all that is why I love this image just that bit more than the other one.

The Unterburg is a fine castle, climbing up the hillside with its various layers.
I am intrigued by the twigs in the lower right corner. I would expect them to be a distraction, but actually they aren’t, and add a bit of depth and even a flimsy bit of framing. I suppose they do not distract, because they are not covering any part of the main subject.

Here the Oberburg adds another level to the Unterburg as they climb the hillside to the trees at the top. It is a very attractive scene.

The whole scene, seen through a natural frame. Very effective

The building turns the blue sky into a subtle mosaic of blue rectangles with the flag as a visual magnet.
The curved shape of the building and the sloping sides(presumably helped by wide-angle distortion) add considerable interest.

The temple hidden away amidst a colourful haze of flowers and foliage works well. There is a bit of a “valley” leading towards the temple, which also sits on one of the thirds. It is an elegant nugget to find in busy garden.

[quote="@Ghundred"]

If I look at this photo:

Somehow this perspective is not possible...