The Beach After a Storm

[Stephen Girimont]

Shot this from my hotel room's balcony last weekend after a storm rolled through. 16x7 crop. 20 second exposure.

[JNB_Rare]

very cool.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

+1

[John R]

Excellent and simple! This is minimalist.

Because your watermark appeared to come out and give rise to the garbage cans, and there was no shadow, I thought you pasted the woman and the cans and were trying to get our opinion. Ha!

JR

[Stephen Girimont]

Excellent and simple! This is minimalist.

Because your watermark appeared to come out and give rise to the garbage cans, and there was no shadow, I thought you pasted the woman and the cans and were trying to get our opinion. Ha!

JR

The light on the cans is very odd and flat. It DOES look like a bad paste job even to me, but everything in the image was really there! This is from the Virginia coast in the late evening, so the sun angle is low and somewhat coming through thinner areas in the clouds to the west behind my hotel.

[graeme]

Brilliant.

[RSL]

A wonderful shot, Stephen. Martin Parr would love the trash barrels.

[BAB]

you need a permit to shoot commercial work in Laguna Beach now! Even non commercial! Nice image without the trash cans, even better if the bird was looking the other way just an idea....

[graeme]

you need a permit to shoot commercial work in Laguna Beach now! Even non commercial! Nice image without the trash cans, even better if the bird was looking the other way just an idea....

No. The bird is perfect.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

No. The bird is perfect.

Agree.

[brianrybolt]

Get rid of the trash cans.  Who cares what Martin Parr would think.

[graeme]

Get rid of the trash cans.

Or maybe just try reducing their clarity / sharpness / contrast?

[brianrybolt]

Or maybe just try reducing their clarity / sharpness / contrast?

If you do that, you might as well get rid of them.  (i have nothing against trash cans, it's just that ones eyes travel to them and this takes away from the main focus of the shot, which BTW is lovely)

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

...get rid of them.  (i have nothing against trash cans, it's just that ones eyes travel to them and this takes away from the main focus of the shot, which BTW is lovely)

Why? And what is the main focus?

And while we are at at, let's get rid of the other distracting elements: two birds and the woman, and get just another "milky water and shoreline" shot. Nothing wrong with those shots, and this would be a nice one, but this is a different shot. Instead of being an abstract of colors and shapes, it adds several other layers of interpretation. There is a triangular composition: woman, birds, cans. There is metaphorical triangle as well: humans, animals, human artifacts. There is a beauty (the sea) and the beast (garbage).

Why would one want to get rid of all of it, the uniqueness, for the sake of just another abstract, done and seen millions of times already?

[brianrybolt]

Chill dude, I just think it would make a stronger shot.

[RSL]

Get rid of the trash cans.  Who cares what Martin Parr would think.

I have a distinct feeling that you haven't a clue who Martin Parr is, and haven't looked at his stuff.

[luxborealis]

There are two distinct and successful photographs here:

• include the trash cans and this photo is evocative: it raises all kinds of questions and discussion - exactly what art is supposed to do;
• the same photo without the trash cans and without the gull is more simplistic, beautiful, decorative, romantic (it's the photo I would take in this situation, which is why I'll never be successful as an artist!)

Brilliant as is - DON'T CHANGE IT!

I want to sell this at an "art" fair or on FineArtAmerica - GET RID OF THE GULL AND TRASH CANS!

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Slobodan and Terry have expressed my own thoughts very well.

[Stephen Girimont]

I must say that the recent discussion on this image is exactly why I posted this in the Critique section. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's thoughts and opinions.

Slobodan nailed exactly what was in my mind when I took this picture.

I'd been shooting the scene with just the trash cans and the surf (and the occasional odd seagull or two) for about 20 minutes, experimenting with different exposure durations to see the effect on the surf, when the authorities started allowing folks back on the beach after the storm. When the woman entered the scene and stopped to take pictures, I was counting down the 20 seconds of the exposure with a mental litany of "Please don't move! Please don't move! Please don't move!"