Alain Briot Made Me Do It

[David Eckels]

Just playing around. I know this will make some a little nuts, but reading Alain's essay, I wanted to try and express visually what I experienced when I was engaged by this view from the top of Mingus Mountain in the Verde Valley of Arizona. I have been thinking along these lines for several months: Silly thought for a former research scientist, but Rob C's brief essay in another thread also got me thinking and the take home message for me was that this sort of stuff is fun! And, most importantly, it is for me; so I tried to go outside the lines. It is not intended to fool anybody, but simply to evoke a feeling, a sense of WOW at standing by the overlook and... words fail, which actually means blah, blah, blah

I posted this here really to inform my curiosity (about potential viewpoints and criticisms) as well as to reject my own shyness. Hopefully, it's not perceived as a cheap trick.

Also, Andrew Molitor's essay on creativity factored into my experiment and for which, I thank him, too.

As Andrew wrote:

Is this a success? Yes. I have accomplished what I set out to do, which was make some sort of creative thing out of a mundane thing, a little cup. I like the sequence. It’s pretty, it looks the way I wanted it to look.

Only my little cup happened to be a mundane landscape in the middle of the day with lousy light

[brandtb]

Dave - Aside from your comments about "trying to express visually what I experienced" - on some levels this becomes much less about "photography" of course, and more about the "use of color", the "placement of color", and "the interrelationships of color". Going down this path then, it might be useful to leave the world of photography momentarily - and simply look at your work first and foremost in  terms of the color, secondarily in terms of the related forms. I would look at the work of painters in particular Fauvists and the like....Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, Cezanne, Matisse, Marquet, Rouault, et al. It might be interesting to consider it all in this light - even though taking you beyond your initial intentions - you might end up with some substantial outcomes. /B

[luxborealis]

No, not really "playing around" in that you had a specific focus for recreating a feeling, an experience – and you have succeeded, if it is true to your intent.

In other words, nicely done, David! It's great to see something "new" here. "Colouring outside the lines" is far more creative than reproducing only what we (or a camera) sees.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Congrats, David!

I think this works well. My initial response was that the colors express a sense of exuberance, of joy in being there at that time, which seems to fit your description.

My response is generally quite negative to many "overly-HDR" images, which seem to me to by trying too hard to impress.

I also liked what both Alain and Andrew had to say. Pleasing yourself and having fun are what it's all about, IMHO.

-Eric

[David Eckels]

Thank you for the positive reinforcement and insights. I will continue to experiment and see where this goes.

[RSL]

Hi David,

Took me a while, possibly because I tend to back away from photographic landscapes (even though I sometimes do them myself), but I like it. I just ended fifty years of looking at mountains. There even was a time when I looked at mountains in Arizona. I lived a year in Buckeye in 1938 and early 39, and my parents had a long history with Arizona. I've driven through the Mingus Mountains on more than one occasion -- including back in the forties, when the road was narrow and hairy.

This is a special way of looking at mountains -- obviously not real, but able to give a striking impression. I think I like it. But I also have to tell you that I've never been turned on by Alain's landscapes, so there's that to consider. Can't come up with a bravo for this one, but I can come up with "good imagining."

[David Eckels]

good imagining

I'll take it, Russ. By the way, road we were on is still hairy!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Hopefully, it's not perceived as a cheap trick...

Hmmm...

[RSL]

I'll take it, Russ. By the way, road we were on is still hairy!

Yeah, but last time I drove it it was one-way. In the forties it was two-way.

[David Eckels]

Yeah, but last time I drove it it was one-way. In the forties it was two-way.

We were off-roading up the Cherry Road, one way, dirt, and a lot of fun. I am sure a lot different up here now as compared to then!

[Chris Calohan]

I think I have to take a pass on this one, David...perhaps a tad to far out of the park for me but I do like that you stepped outside the box.