Friday, May 19, 2006
Exultation
With all this talk of wind turbines and martian fighting machines I thought it was about time that we had a real one. Another shot from within a museum in England which I've had to give treatment to tease out the image. Composition is not quite how I would have liked it but sometimes you just have to take the shot.
Permalink / posted by and copyright of JohnJo : 2:28 PM
Comments:
I find this a very intriguing shot, almost out of Dr Who. The strong colours add to the strength of the picture as does the dark background. it is another picture with strong impact and has sufficient interest to hold the viewer and let their imagination do the rest. I like it.
Well, what to say about this one? I presume you'll tell us at the end what it actually is!
I'm not moved by this either way. The colours are clearly striking, and the photo is well presented, but the original object doesn't interest me. You'll tell me I'm wrong and this is an important piece of machinery, but it looks like an illusion (the photo) of an illusion (the model).
Ooops, sorry, no intention to hide the subject here. It's a full sized model of a martian fighting machine based on the story War of The World by HG Wells.
Well, three days away and I walk back into a set of visual pyrotechnics with four wildly contrasting pictures!
I remember reading this as a teenager in one of the early Penguin paperback versions and, because it was an early book in my growing up, the images I generated in my mind have stayed with me for ever. When I first passed Basingstoke on the road from London to the West Country, having never been in that part of the country before, there with the town skyline behind the extensive woodland was the place where the Martians landed - that was what I had imagined (can anyone imagine Basingstoke??!!).
This model from the museum is not what I imagined. This seems to to owe its creation to a more recent set of technologies and film techniques. None of which matters because these things move on (and we may even get to see the real thing!). This would seem to be founded on the 'super insect' idea with a bit of Dan Dare green, which you have brought out very well.
Having waffled on long enough, I think I have a bit of a soft spot for this photo (if not the model)because of the way you have lifted it out of its static environment and into what could be taken as reality.
I concur on the composition. The two yellow 'eyes' on top are too dominant to me and their vertical view takes me straight out of the picture. Like the colour though.
The treatment of the background has removed all distraction and stops this being an ordinary documentary shot.
It is not an image that excites me, I don't know why.
I admit to falling asleep at a recent War of the Worlds Concert at the BIC, which is just a bit of info and not a comment on this image! :-)
Post a Comment
I'm not moved by this either way. The colours are clearly striking, and the photo is well presented, but the original object doesn't interest me. You'll tell me I'm wrong and this is an important piece of machinery, but it looks like an illusion (the photo) of an illusion (the model).
I remember reading this as a teenager in one of the early Penguin paperback versions and, because it was an early book in my growing up, the images I generated in my mind have stayed with me for ever. When I first passed Basingstoke on the road from London to the West Country, having never been in that part of the country before, there with the town skyline behind the extensive woodland was the place where the Martians landed - that was what I had imagined (can anyone imagine Basingstoke??!!).
This model from the museum is not what I imagined. This seems to to owe its creation to a more recent set of technologies and film techniques. None of which matters because these things move on (and we may even get to see the real thing!). This would seem to be founded on the 'super insect' idea with a bit of Dan Dare green, which you have brought out very well.
Having waffled on long enough, I think I have a bit of a soft spot for this photo (if not the model)because of the way you have lifted it out of its static environment and into what could be taken as reality.
It is not an image that excites me, I don't know why.
I admit to falling asleep at a recent War of the Worlds Concert at the BIC, which is just a bit of info and not a comment on this image! :-)