Mont-St-Michel Shadow

[azmike]

Just a wonderful image of one of France's most touristic attractions.

Think like America's Grand Canyon....it's been shot front, back, at dawn, at sunset, and with the moon......but I have never seen a shadow!

And not one of you LL readers commented.

We should be asking Michael to share with us his vision.....how it comes to him to look at this abbey in a tidal flat as a shadow.....rather than asking him endlessly and (recently) endlessly about the camera he used or might pass a glance at.

A decade from now his shared wisdom of vision will benefit us all, while the discussion about gear is obsolete in the near term. Everybody has just so much time, we would be better off if we privileged the photography.

Does anyone agree with me?

Mike Coffey

[Tim Gray]

well, it's certainly better than this shot

http://www.wallpaper4computer.com/gal/stmi...chel-78db26.jpg

I think it's an abstract where the emotional impact (which you obviously experience) is related to the context that the viewer is able to provide.  If I had a clue what Mont_St_Michel was, I might have reacted differently.  Particularly since this image translates to the web less well than, for example, the previous Madagascar abstract.

So I guess that's a no from me.  

[Rob C]

I´m sure Alain will know better than I, but I believe that the mount is getting less and less isolated as the years move on - in other words, I´ve heard the area is silting up and starting to defeat the tides. Makes a change - it´s usually the other way around: the sea eats up the land. Perhaps it´s also a show of the devine balance in nature - she gives with the one and takes with the other.

This might make us ponder what she might have in store for us, what with us causing so much wilful damge and all...

Few pics will match the mad Madagascan(?) dancers!

Rob C

[CatOne]

well, it's certainly better than this shot

http://www.wallpaper4computer.com/gal/stmi...chel-78db26.jpg

I think it's an abstract where the emotional impact (which you obviously experience) is related to the context that the viewer is able to provide.  If I had a clue what Mont_St_Michel was, I might have reacted differently.  Particularly since this image translates to the web less well than, for example, the previous Madagascar abstract.

So I guess that's a no from me. 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159787\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Tim, you made the direct linking gods very angry  

[francois]

I´m sure Alain will know better than I, but I believe that the mount is getting less and less isolated as the years move on - in other words, I´ve heard the area is silting up and starting to defeat the tides. Makes a change - it´s usually the other way around: the sea eats up the land. Perhaps it´s also a show of the devine balance in nature - she gives with the one and takes with the other.

This might make us ponder what she might have in store for us, what with us causing so much wilful damge and all...

Few pics will match the mad Madagascan(?) dancers!

Rob C
[{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Actually, they are about to start some major work to free Mont St-Michel from the silt. You can read more [a href=\"http://www.projetmontsaintmichel.fr/en/]here[/url].

[Martin Ocando]

I do. I think is a breathtaking image. I wonder what came to his mind when he visualized this image in his mind. I just hope someday I will have a similar level of abstraction and inner eye.

A decade from now his shared wisdom of vision will benefit us all, while the discussion about gear is obsolete in the near term. Everybody has just so much time, we would be better off if we privileged the photography.

Does anyone agree with me?

Mike Coffey
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159783\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

[michael]

Thanks to those of you with the kind words.

All I can add is that when I am in an over-photographed place what I try and do is search for the unphotograph. In other words, something that resonates but isn't obvious.

This isn't all that conscious. I was just wandering around like any other tourist with a camera, but seeing the shadow clicked with me, and I just waited for a figure to complete the composition. I guessed that with the low angle of the sun someone walking on the sand would step into the shadow to shield their eyes so that they could see the building against the glare, and when they did I was ready.

Michael

[Martin Ocando]

I guessed that with the low angle of the sun someone walking on the sand would step into the shadow to shield their eyes so that they could see the building against the glare, and when they did I was ready.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159936\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Jeez, That is fast thinking, Michael. Definitively, one have to have our eyes open and our minds clear when roaming around familiar places for not so obvious situations.

[Ralph Eisenberg]

Add me to the list of those who greatly appreciate this image, in its own right, irrespective of where it was taken. I find it striking.

[Rob C]

Actually, they are about to start some major work to free Mont St-Michel from the silt. You can read more here.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159890\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Francois

Thank´s for the link - interesting to read and goes to show that this site is a gateway to a lot more information than just photography.

Merci - Rob C

[Rob C]

Not to detract from the picture in the least, nor from Michael for taking it, but I do have to say that I find the amazement at the taking of the picture amazing!

Surely, in the name of everything you hold holy, isn´t that just what photography is, and has always been, all about? In the studio or out of it, you keep your bleedin´eyes open and shoot when it happens, whatever it  might be. That´s not skill, that´s just being a photographer!

Rob C

[Morris Taub]

Not to take anything away from Michael's image, it's just great...here's something similar by Michael Kenna...1994

http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/montstmichel/16.html

Here's the series...I wonder if Michael Reichmann will share more of his visit?...

http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/montstmichel/index.html


Just as an aside...there's this series of the Ratcliffe Power Station that is a fav of mine...MK is good...

http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/rcliff03/index.html

kind regards

M

[Kirk Gittings]

Nice image Michael, but in reference to the first poster, shooting the shadow is not new. William Clift did one of his classic images of that shadow.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Tim, you made the direct linking gods very angry 
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=159887\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

And the screen that came up didn't look much like Mont_St_Michel at all.  

[Martin Ocando]

Nice image Michael, but in reference to the first poster, shooting the shadow is not new. William Clift did one of his classic images of that shadow.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=160126\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Might be not new, but is the first time I see it, and I'm sure will happen the same to many people, when someone enters his gallery and sees the print hanging on the wall. Is the first impression that counts  

Besides, the other images I've seen doesn't include a person, which in this case I think is the key to the success of the image. It adds a dimension and a sense of size that the other images doesn't have. It may well be a sand castle projecting the shadow.

[Kirk Gittings]

Might be not new, but is the first time I see it, and I'm sure will happen the same to many people, when someone enters his gallery and sees the print hanging on the wall. Is the first impression that counts 

Besides, the other images I've seen doesn't include a person, which in this case I think is the key to the success of the image. It adds a dimension and a sense of size that the other images doesn't have. It may well be a sand castle projecting the shadow.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=160137\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Yes, but the original poster was talking about how unique it was to shoot the shadow. It simply isn't. Its a simple straight forward point, that does not diminish the strength of Michael's image.

[Martin Ocando]

Yes, but the original poster was talking about how unique it was to shoot the shadow. It simply isn't. Its a simple straight forward point, that does not diminish the strength of Michael's image.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=160179\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Oops, my mistake. You are right  

[Rob C]

Not to take anything away from Michael's image, it's just great...here's something similar by Michael Kenna...1994

http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/montstmichel/16.html

Here's the series...I wonder if Michael Reichmann will share more of his visit?...

http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/montstmichel/index.html
Just as an aside...there's this series of the Ratcliffe Power Station that is a fav of mine...MK is good...

http://www.michaelkenna.net/html/rcliff03/index.html

kind regards

Thanks for the link - I´ve not looked at the Kenna site for quite a while; it was certainly time to catch up once more!

Thanks again - Rob C

M
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=160102\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

[Morris Taub]

Thanks for the link - I´ve not looked at the Kenna site for quite a while; it was certainly time to catch up once more!

Thanks again - Rob C

[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=160314\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Hi Rob...I just love his work...the subtle gradations, the minimalist compositions for the most part...i go back to photographers like this for the sense of calm...some of Michael Reichmann's landscapes do that for me as well...

kind regards

M

Ps...followed that discussion on Briot's 'style'...the creative vs. business end...the life of the artist can be hard...a good agent can help...but you were right on the money, at least I felt you were expressing things i myself felt but it does go away from talking about photography...more psychological life or philosophical life of a person...very interesting stuff...

[Rob C]

Hi Rob...I just love his work...the subtle gradations, the minimalist compositions for the most part...i go back to photographers like this for the sense of calm...some of Michael Reichmann's landscapes do that for me as well...

kind regards

M

Ps...followed that discussion on Briot's 'style'...the creative vs. business end...the life of the artist can be hard...a good agent can help...but you were right on the money, at least I felt you were expressing things i myself felt but it does go away from talking about photography...more psychological life or philosophical life of a person...very interesting stuff...
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=160383\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

In order to escape punishment for temporary off-roading, let me get back to photographic observation. Looking again at the MK site (which is downloading VERY slowly today), I realise more than ever that he has absolutely no fear of dark, empty shadows. In some funny way, that might well be because (I believe!) he is still using film and has not had his head filled with the new-speak of photography.

Since dipping my reluctant toes into the new iteration of the medium, though only in very shallow waters, I admit, I have discovered a fear of the dark. This is not something that hits me in the eye through my prints off the HP B9180, it is something that has crept into my subconscious from reading/trying to learn from internet sites such as this one - well, perhaps only this one; further advice comes from private interchanges with others who have more experience in the medium than I.  But however it has come, the damn thing is in my head to the extent that I  now worry about making any dark shadowy areas dark shadowy prints!

Perhaps this is an example of the dangers of not working alone - totally alone, in the sense of not listening to any gurus!

Ciao - Rob C