Anastasia Beach

Very nice! This is becoming a wonderful "series" of images.

Very nice. But on this picture and the goblin picture I get a strong tension feeling that the camera should have been a foot to the right. Could you talk about your process as you are setting up the shot and how you determine where your tripod legs should go, and if you're torn on subtle camera placement.

nice

Wow, Michael, you ask insightful questions! I spend a huge amount of time considering where the camera should go, and "where to put the edges" (Mark Citret's term). In this instance finding a compositional balance of leading lines to the cloud mattered a lot. The sand vine as a line moving to the right, and the succession of shrubs leading to the left were important elements as were the two foreground sea oats cradling the cloud. If anything, I might have tried a foot to the left to include more vine. What's interesting is your sense of tension. I hope that's a good thing, or, for you, this might be a pretty boring photograph.

I like it as it is. (And mayhaps a little tension is a good thing!)

jovo said:

Wow, Michael, you ask insightful questions! I spend a huge amount of time considering where the camera should go, and "where to put the edges" (Mark Citret's term). In this instance finding a compositional balance of leading lines to the cloud mattered a lot. The sand vine as a line moving to the right, and the succession of shrubs leading to the left were important elements as were the two foreground sea oats cradling the cloud. If anything, I might have tried a foot to the left to include more vine. What's interesting is your sense of tension. I hope that's a good thing, or, for you, this might be a pretty boring photograph.

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Yeah, tension is an interesting phenomena in a photograph. And in yours , to me there is always a yes or no. To me tension is a visceral feeling I get in my gut when I look at something. It's there or it's not. And both have their place. And it's an interesting thing to analyze why or if a picture actually has it, and how it was added. In your pictures, there is very often an underlying peacefulness of place. And some pictures of yours give that sort of respite and calmness, while others suggest the comfort but introduce elements of tension as well. I would image a lot of people look at your work and see calmness and peacefulness and never feel the tension at all. That's why I mentioned it. To me it's sort of like seeing a movie with a calm beautiful scene but then the music behind it is sort of ominous and foreboding which makes the calm merely an illusion. And just to be clear on what I previously said, I'm not suggesting you shift the picture over to change the edges, my comment was more about the exact same shot but moving the tripod a foot to the right. Sort of like envisioning the picture in 3D and shifting slightly essentially changing where the tops of the plants intersect with the clouds. I love tension in pictures, to me that's what makes them dynamic, but my comment was the visceral feeling I got when I looked at both pictures. I'm also not saying I would change what you did, just that my initial feeling was that it seemed immediately "wrong". Perhaps that whole feeling is due to the fact that these series of pictures do have a very 3D effect due to the strong foreground and the equally strong background. It's almost as if you can feel the possibility of shifting, whereas most pictures are pretty 2 dimensional and locked into their place and perspective.

It is very rare, here, or on other photography sites, to get such a thoughtful critique. Thank you for taking the time to consider the image, and write about the way you perceive this one and others. It's often said that an 'art' photograph tells more about the person making it than about the subject. I would say the notion of serenity and peacefulness often seasoned by tension describes me quite accurately!

I think it is a great shot and unless you were there with the photographer it is ridiculous to criticize composition. A foot to the right may have included the discarded coke can.

Thank you, Clive, for your comment. I think Michael has offered me a critique rather than a criticism. People (including myself) will often offer a personal preference regarding a crop or other artistic decision. For me, it can be constructive to get someone else's thoughtful opinion. Most of the time comments run to the "nice shot", or "well done" (and I do that a lot), rather than share a deeper insight, though "nice shot" and "well done" are good to read as well, so I appreciate Michael's comments very much.

Jovo, I enthusiastically share your appreciation for the thoughtful critique. Its like strong medicine for my imagination - kicks my blinders back a bit & lets me see more. My first view of this one was serenity, or a time/place to unload mental baggage - a place to bring tension to and leave it behind. How the elements could be viewed/arranged to articulate the tension evaded me. I'm the guy in the lit. class that looks puzzled & says - its just a white whale, dangit. Getting more feel for how the elements of composition evoke the emotion is target for me - albeit too often hit & miss. Your exchange w/ Blansky was very much appreciated - as are your fine images.