Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Dave (Isle of Skye) on March 09, 2013, 07:43:53 pm

Title: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Dave (Isle of Skye) on March 09, 2013, 07:43:53 pm
C's & c's welcome  :)

Dave
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Tonysx on March 09, 2013, 08:04:07 pm
You've supping your Talisker again  (http://emoticons4u.com/smoking/rauch10.gif)
Nice image but I think it needs a broader background to put it into perspective.(http://emoticons4u.com/happy/042.gif)
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Riaan van Wyk on March 10, 2013, 04:31:09 am
Lovely Dave, I like the way the lines in the tree echo those in the rocks.
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: francois on March 10, 2013, 06:44:18 am
It's a bit uncommon for a Mammoth Springs photo and I really like it. The tree seems luminescent and there's a lot of  texture in the background.
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: wolfnowl on March 10, 2013, 09:41:09 pm
Lovely Dave, I like the way the lines in the tree echo those in the rocks.
Was thinking exactly the same thing!  And the light is great.

Mike.
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: sdwilsonsct on March 11, 2013, 01:07:04 pm
Lovely Dave, I like the way the lines in the tree echo those in the rocks.

Yes, and the contrasting colour temperatures are good.
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Dave (Isle of Skye) on March 13, 2013, 09:04:45 am
Thanks everyone.

Sorry I didn't comment or reply more quickly to thank you all for your kind comments, as always, they are much appreciated. It is just that I am now in the early stages of organising my first one man show for June 17th through to the 29th at Plockton, a very picturesque harbour village close to the IoS. I am getting somewhere in the region of 60 prints ready for the show, as well as putting together my first year tax returns - so no stress there then is there ::)

Dave
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: amolitor on March 13, 2013, 09:20:31 am
It is lovely.

I don't quite like it, since it's a little too strictly formal. It looks like an outstanding product of strict rules-following, which isn't really a bad thing per se. It looks like an excellent postcard or a calendar photograph.

What it doesn't do is speak to me particularly. I don't get much of a sense of place, or anything much else, it's merely an attractive object.

Forgive me if I am wrong, or sound unkind, I don't intend to. My sense, Dave, is that this is pretty much what you want to do. You want to make beautiful and commercial images that would suit a calendar or postcard well. Your better images manage to evoke a pretty strong sense of the place, though. I feel a little thing that I identify as 'oh, so that's what scotland is like in the morning' or whatever.

This one doesn't do that, but it's still a great postcard.
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Dave (Isle of Skye) on March 13, 2013, 05:36:24 pm
It is lovely.

I don't quite like it, since it's a little too strictly formal. It looks like an outstanding product of strict rules-following, which isn't really a bad thing per se. It looks like an excellent postcard or a calendar photograph.

What it doesn't do is speak to me particularly. I don't get much of a sense of place, or anything much else, it's merely an attractive object.

Forgive me if I am wrong, or sound unkind, I don't intend to. My sense, Dave, is that this is pretty much what you want to do. You want to make beautiful and commercial images that would suit a calendar or postcard well. Your better images manage to evoke a pretty strong sense of the place, though. I feel a little thing that I identify as 'oh, so that's what scotland is like in the morning' or whatever.

This one doesn't do that, but it's still a great postcard.


Hi Andrew and thanks for that, I will mark that down as more of a thumbs up than a thumbs down, I think  :)

Yes I suppose you are inadvertently raising the whole issue regarding that which satisfies the commercial against that which satisfies the artistic. Some images occasionally transcend this divide, most and I do mean most, do not. Being commercial about what I shoot (most of the time), i.e. always having an eye for what might sell, is bound to effect one's photographic style and development. Although I would add the caveat that a good seller is not necessarily a bad image artistically and a good image artistically may not sell at all. It is the balance between what we as knowing photographers think of an image, set against what the general and mostly unknowing public wants and buys I think.

Recently I was chatting with another gallery owner on the IoS and the owner was asking if I would place some of my work with them, I then discussed what might be appropriate for them to show and referred to my best selling image. "Oh" she said, "what is the subject?" Eilean Donan Castle I said. "Oh no, we don't want to see any images of Eilean Donan Castle in this gallery. It is the most photographed castle in the world you know and we are all tired of looking at pictures of it" - ? I'm sorry I said, but I don't understand, because I wouldn’t be expecting you to buy it, it would be there to be sold, as sale or return. The public, your customers, do seem to like it and will buy it. I sold £2k's worth (retail) of that one image last year, my first year. "No! we don't want any images of that castle in this gallery".
???

I suppose what I am saying here is, who knows what a good image is and by what criteria? I certainly don't, I only know that I seem to be on a quest forever searching to find it. Some of what I do appeals to people who are willing to buy the image and some of my images appeal to photographers. Sometimes these things are mutually exclusive and sometimes not. I wish I had the answer, perhaps one day I will.  :)

Dave
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Slobodan Blagojevic on March 13, 2013, 06:10:37 pm
..."Oh no, we don't want to see any images of Eilean Donan Castle in this gallery. It is the most photographed castle in the world you know and we are all tired of looking at pictures of it"...

I do not know... I have one as my screen saver for weeks now and have not not gotten tired of it. ;)

Still planning to print it and put it on the wall as well.
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Tonysx on March 15, 2013, 08:15:18 pm
I don't quite like it, since it's a little too strictly formal. It looks like an outstanding product of strict rules-following, which isn't really a bad thing per se. It looks like an excellent postcard or a calendar photograph.
What it doesn't do is speak to me particularly. I don't get much of a sense of place, or anything much else, it's merely an attractive object.
Dave, I think this is what I wanted to say in my original post. Having read your reply to Amolitor, I can understand why the image is as it is. As you are in the business of selling images I can recognise why such a "cropped" image would appeal to you and to potential customers. Personally I would prefer another view of Eilean Donan. (http://emoticons4u.com/happy/050.gif)
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Dave (Isle of Skye) on March 15, 2013, 09:25:49 pm
Dave, I think this is what I wanted to say in my original post. Having read your reply to Amolitor, I can understand why the image is as it is. As you are in the business of selling images I can recognise why such a "cropped" image would appeal to you and to potential customers. Personally I would prefer another view of Eilean Donan. (http://emoticons4u.com/happy/050.gif)

Tony, I will see what I can do for you, it is only 15 minutes away from my front door  :)

This was an image I took on holiday in Yellowstone a couple of years back, it is not an image for sale, as it has no relation to where I live and so I assume there would be no market for it locally, nor did I ever think there would be if I'm honest - so it is in essence a holiday snap. Yes I threw all my effort into making it, as I do with every shot and don't we all, but I knew it was what it was for me. If I lived near the park then I would probably see if someone was interested in buying it or using it etc.

I wish I could pop back over and take a wider view of it Tony I really do, but for me to do so, would take a 4 hour drive to the nearest major airport, followed by an 11 hour flight over to the US, followed by a 5 hour flight across the US, followed by a 5 or 6 hour drive to the park and then say another hour or two to drive across the park to Mammoth Springs. But don't get me worng, if I had the time and money to do it again, I would do so at the drop of a hat of course I would - in fact isn't it amazing just how much time effort and money we spend on getting to somewhere just to take a picture of it?

 ;D

Dave
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Rob C on March 16, 2013, 06:57:26 am
Mammoth Springs...

And to imagine I'd expected something for the Cars thread...



Speaking of the beauty of online purchase:

I ordered a lens the other day, rang twice this morning to give card details but the contact was busy both times with clients in the physical shop; asked that I be called back and that was forty minutes ago.

I feel trapped at home, not wanting to go do other pressing things like buy some wood for the fire.

So much for progress.

Rob C
Title: Re: Mammoth Springs
Post by: Tonysx on March 16, 2013, 07:53:15 am
Tony, I will see what I can do for you, it is only 15 minutes away from my front door  :)

Dave, lucky you, most of the year! My first view of Eilean Donan was I think, from the A87 driving from Inverness to Applecross. I seem to remember being quite high above the loch with the castle in front of me a way away. I should have stopped there but being ignorant drove over the Applecross pass. Eek.


I wish I could pop back over and take a wider view of it Tony I really do, but for me to do so, would take a 4 hour drive to the nearest major airport, followed by an 11 hour flight over to the US, followed by a 5 hour flight across the US, followed by a 5 or 6 hour drive to the park and then say another hour or two to drive across the park to Mammoth Springs. But don't get me worng, if I had the time and money to do it again, I would do so at the drop of a hat of course I would - in fact isn't it amazing just how much time effort and money we spend on getting to somewhere just to take a picture of it? ;D Dave

For 11 years I lived near San Francisco and visited Yosemite twice, Yellowstone never. Did manage to see quite a lot of the States but in reality, a minute amount. Compared to GB it's a vast area full of many many different cultures, views etc. My in-laws who live in Oklahoma are happy to admit that they've hardly ever left the state! If we are lucky enough to have the ability, need, time and money to travel then the opportunities should not be wasted. :)