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Author Topic: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.  (Read 468 times)

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« on: April 08, 2020, 01:42:33 pm »

Death Valley in January 2008. These are from Stovepipe Wells dunes.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2020, 01:44:25 pm »

One more from Stovepipe Wells dunes, and two from Zabriskie Point.
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RMW

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2020, 10:25:13 pm »

Eric.
All very fine!
#3 a masterpiece. Congratulations.
Richard
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Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2020, 10:28:39 am »

Eric.
All very fine!
#3 a masterpiece. Congratulations.
Richard

I agree, the third one from the second set is a cracker  ;)

Dave
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RSL

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2020, 10:40:27 am »

Great stuff, Eric. I agree with Dave, but I also especially like the lone tree in the first batch.
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francois

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2020, 10:42:32 am »

I also like the tree and the first one (more classical) with the ridge of the dune. #3 of the second set is fantastic with great lines and textures.
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Francois

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2020, 02:39:58 pm »

Those who have been to Zabriskie Point at sunrise know that there is usually a huge crowd of photographers pointing their cameras west to get the first sunlight on the far side of Death Valley and on Manly Beacon closer up.
Thanks for the comments, guys.

If you look to your left (south) instead of west, the scene in my last image appears.

The reason I looked for it was that I once saw an Edward Weston photo of that side area. After I made my shot, I searched for Edward's version for a long time. When I finally found it, I decided I liked my version better than his,   :D

I usually show the B&W version, but I processed the color version for this set, since the others are all in color.

P.S.Here is Edward's: https://www.phillips.com/detail/EDWARD-WESTON/NY040313/225

He made his in 1938, a year before I was born.
« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 02:44:56 pm by Eric Myrvaagnes »
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Dave (Isle of Skye)

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #7 on: April 09, 2020, 04:17:32 pm »

If you look to your left (south) instead of west, the scene in my last image appears.

The reason I looked for it was that I once saw an Edward Weston photo of that side area. After I made my shot, I searched for Edward's version for a long time. When I finally found it, I decided I liked my version better than his,   :D

Yet Weston's version (now being considered in this thread as the 'not quite as good' version) is still expected to sell for between $15k and $20k according to that link..?

Sorry Eric, I am not trying to wind you up here honest and I can agree with what you are saying about your image in so many ways, as I am sure your version will probably be of a higher resolution, shot through better quality equipment and with far better glass etc, and with a better and much wider tonal rendition and just an all round better quality image. Which then begs the question, is Weston's work seen as more valuable simply because he got there first and which he probably didn't, in fact I would bet money on this exact same view having been photographed many times before Weston shot it. Or is it simply because he has an established 'name' in photography as agreed by the critics? In other words, if we can compare images on quality alone, which to my eye in this instance are almost exactly alike and taken from near enough the same tripod holes, then why is one image worth so much more than the other? - again I am not trying to wind you up here Eric and say that your image has no value, I am actually trying to ask a real question here for my own edification, because if the two images are to all intents highly comparable to point of being almost identical, then why aren't the values broadly similar? Which makes me think any photograph that is worth anything to collectors and joe public etc, is simply about the name of the photographer and nothing else, which I suppose we all knew already. But which I still find none the less more than a little disappointing, because that means that no matter how good any of our work actually is, or even how original it is, it will still never be worth anything more than the paper it is printed on, if no one knows who the hell you or I are, which again I suppose we already knew.  :(

Dave
« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 04:33:59 pm by Dave (Isle of Skye) »
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kers

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #8 on: April 09, 2020, 05:24:39 pm »

Westons version is "Initialed and dated in pencil on the mount; signed, titled 'Death Valley' and dated in pencil on the reverse of the mount."
and he is o longer here to do that again...

Fine photos Eric,
I have been to the Sahara lots of times and really like the sea of sand and stones...
Alas most parts now are too dangerous to travel.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #9 on: April 09, 2020, 07:42:40 pm »

Thanks Dave and Pieter.

All the "obvious" shots from Zabriskie Point look westward, not south. When I was there, all the camera pointed west, mine included. But after most of the crowd left, I started looking for other views, and when I saw this, I vaguely remembered Weston's. If anyone can find another of this scene, I'd like to see it.

Eric
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #10 on: April 10, 2020, 12:01:04 am »

Those who have been to Zabriskie Point at sunrise know that there is usually a huge crowd of photographers pointing their cameras west to get the first sunlight on the far side of Death Valley and on Manly Beacon closer up.

Yup.  Here they are:



Everybody's shooting the obvious: westward. Eric's eroded hills are in the BG here.

Here's my take on them.  D200, back in 2011.



Zabriskie Point is a wonderful location, if only for the social gathering of photographers.  It's really fun to eavesdrop on workshops.  :)
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BradSmith

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #11 on: April 12, 2020, 07:38:42 pm »

Yes.  Grand vista at sunrise.  if you look very closely, above and slightly to the right of the guy in the red jacket, there are two tiny specks on a distant ridge......2 more photographers
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Rajan Parrikar

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2020, 07:10:44 am »

Eric,

What a beautiful series! If I had to pick one, it would be the first image of your second set (with the creosote ensconced between the two ridges).

Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #13 on: April 19, 2020, 06:12:51 pm »

Eric,

What a beautiful series! If I had to pick one, it would be the first image of your second set (with the creosote ensconced between the two ridges).
Thank you Rajan.
It happens that I have always printed that one in black-and-white. Just a few weeks ago I started processing the color versions of my Death Valley pix, and found I like tham more than the B&W versions.
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Looking back: Locations that have been favorites of mine.
« Reply #14 on: April 19, 2020, 06:15:56 pm »

Yes.  Grand vista at sunrise.  if you look very closely, above and slightly to the right of the guy in the red jacket, there are two tiny specks on a distant ridge......2 more photographers
And the pointy rock sticking up a little right of center is called Manly Beacon.

As for your Zabriskie gathering, all I can do is quote Basil Fawlty, of Fawlty Towers: "Typical! Absolutely typical!!!"
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