Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: RSL on February 06, 2013, 07:31:57 pm

Title: Pipe
Post by: RSL on February 06, 2013, 07:31:57 pm
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Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: RedwoodGuy on February 06, 2013, 08:32:40 pm
This kind of vernacular photograph often has a strange appeal that can be hard to pin down. I find them very enjoyable when executed as well as this one (usually they're not). It invites me to propose to my self a variety of story lines from political statements all the way to simple visual curiosity. There's a lot of ways this photograph would not work. The obvious being say, harsh flat lighting, or poor exposures. But, none of that is here. So, mostly the technical matters can be dispensed with.

There's just enough elements to work with for a composition. Too much would be clutter, too little would provide no context for the subject. The pipe exists in a formal arrangement of mechanics that can even evoke visions of a poised canon - if even a water canon - and for all I know that's what it was. It has structure, form and design, and therefore lends itself to study. The photograph encourages that.

I always ask, 'can beauty be just as well in the mundane?' And I think when we don't name the objects as we look, we can see through the names to the underlying reality. Is this any more or less beautiful than the oft photographed tree trunk lying askew in the misty wood? (e.g. is this our new nature?) I enjoy the formality of the white prop-stone (reminiscent of a grave stone), and it happens to be a convenient place to project a nice shadow, and show the light source.

I think it is successful. I might quibble on personal taste about the contrast in the ground material and a some things like that, but that's the photographer's preference, of course, and doesn't make a difference here. An enjoyable photograph.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: amolitor on February 07, 2013, 07:03:02 am
You just can't leave the dappled light alone, can you, Russ?

Too much crap in the background to my taste, kind of distracting, but it's the dappling you were looking at, wasn't it? Crop in tight on the interesting Things and you lose much of the dappling.

I don't think it's really working for me, but I do like the pipe and the tree roots(?) and the block. I find the Things mildly interesting, but the photograph itself not really.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: RSL on February 07, 2013, 10:11:38 am
It's the kind of thing you do when you can't find time to get out on the street, Andrew. "Crop?" Did I hear you say "crop?" Go stand in the corner, Andrew.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: Rob C on February 07, 2013, 10:24:31 am
It's the kind of thing you do when you can't find time to get out on the street, Andrew. "Crop?" Did I hear you say "crop?" Go stand in the corner, Andrew.


Well, the fingers of the rising dead are quite interesting in a cinematic sort of way...

Never tried any cemetery snaps yet (don't enjoy crowds), but there's time yet, I think.

;-)

Rob C
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on February 07, 2013, 10:35:45 am
 ?

P.S. Since your own explanation contains only a single punctuation mark, I thought I shall respond in kind  ;)
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: RSL on February 07, 2013, 10:39:25 am
Thanks, Slobodan. But the only reason there's a punctuation mark in my "explanation" is that you can't post a picture without at least one character in the text portion, and that character can't be a space. Hmmm... come to think of it I haven't tried a standard HTML non-breaking space.

Actually, if you have to "explain" a photograph you've already missed the boat. (to coin a non-sequitur)
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 07, 2013, 05:29:51 pm
Russ,

This one really knocks me over. It is stunning, and beautifully metaphoric, with all the ambiguity and suggestivity of good Street photography, even using symbolic, substitute objects for the people.

Bravo!
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: RSL on February 07, 2013, 07:17:29 pm
Thanks Eric. As I said before, this is the kind of thing you do when you can't get away to get out on the street. I do enjoy it, though, when the light's good.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: Mjollnir on February 08, 2013, 03:23:34 pm
Eh.  Not really my style of street photography.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: James Clark on February 08, 2013, 03:54:30 pm
Eh.  Not really my style of street photography.

Mine either.   But it is an absolutely fantastic portrait.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: nemo295 on February 08, 2013, 07:03:23 pm
It works better for me in monochrome. Or more accurately, B&W. It was already more or less monochrome.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: cjogo on February 09, 2013, 04:01:06 am
Much prefer the B&W on this image ...
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: RSL on February 09, 2013, 11:20:04 am
Same pipe. Different time of day. Different angle.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: Eric Myrvaagnes on February 09, 2013, 12:05:08 pm
I much prefer the original photo. And in color. Although the colors aren't an essential part of the story, they support the drama of the image in a way that seems obscured in Doug's B&W version.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: nemo295 on February 09, 2013, 12:44:03 pm
Quote from: RSL link=topic=74978.msg598654#msg598654 date=1360426804\
Same pipe. Different time of day. Different angle.

I prefer the lighting in the first one.
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on February 09, 2013, 01:15:10 pm
Pass that pipe, guys, and whatever you are smoking in it ;D
Title: Re: Pipe
Post by: RSL on February 09, 2013, 01:17:20 pm
I prefer the lighting in the first one.

Yep. I do too. And I agree with Eric. The color's really essential. I looked at it in B&W before I posted the original -- a high-structure conversion in Silver Efex Pro -- and decided it wouldn't do.