Sunday, July 23, 2006
canalside 2
Comments:
I’ve always found it fascinating how some images can invoke the memory of a smell. This one does just that. Is that crazy, the fact that I find this image interesting not because of its composition (which is effective) but because of a completely insane non-visual effect? Dank, with the whiff of decaying green plant and algae.
I grew up in a house with a rather large, and often wet, WW2 air raid shelter in the garden. I can follow my nose from this image to the memory of that shelter.
As for the composition, I think it’s effective because of the choice of elements to include. It seems to be all there; the water, those windows (hatches?), the wall and the hint at what is above. I don’t find it overly interesting visually but I doubt that I could improve upon it.
Sorry, no provocation of the olfactory senses here for me. Just a feast for the eyes. This works so well in colour. I see pond monster. Oodles of texture, a smidge of humour and a topping of intrigue...
Yep, pond monster, or better yet, old building monster, half submerged in the water; that little step right at the water line is the nose.
The stimulus for the shot was the unusual placing of the openings. When I saw it on the screen, some of the things that Akikana and Matt mentioned struck me. There is a vague feeling of menace and certainly a "building monster". Evoking memories of smell was not on my agenda but no reason why John-Jo shouldn't have been taken back in time - the green algae looks fairly dank.
I'm obviously too literal for this one - no pond monsters for me.
Actually what I see isn't literal at all. What I see is a story about human endeavour. The building up and the wearing down. The difference between investment and maintenance. Short term costs and long term costs.
I don't get much visual kick from the picture, so I'm interested that I've created an intellectual tower on this base. Not something that I normally do, and, in fact, not something that I normally feel worthwhile pursuing.
Thanks for creating an "...an intellectual tower on this base...". I won't pretend that this is an easy photo to look at and it is interesting to read the responses. I think that it is a pity that Auspicious can't see the menace side, as those holes exude darkness but clearly there is a straight comment on human activity that can be extracted. To a certain extent the composition was constrained by the wide end of the 50 - 200 ( I didn't want to change the lens at that point) but, as a result, the composition achieves what I was after: to concentrate on the meaning of those two holes but in a composition that told a bit more. Ultimately, it is reality; detail shorn of anything but the intrinsic visual qualities that one sees from minute to minute.
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I grew up in a house with a rather large, and often wet, WW2 air raid shelter in the garden. I can follow my nose from this image to the memory of that shelter.
As for the composition, I think it’s effective because of the choice of elements to include. It seems to be all there; the water, those windows (hatches?), the wall and the hint at what is above. I don’t find it overly interesting visually but I doubt that I could improve upon it.
Actually what I see isn't literal at all. What I see is a story about human endeavour. The building up and the wearing down. The difference between investment and maintenance. Short term costs and long term costs.
I don't get much visual kick from the picture, so I'm interested that I've created an intellectual tower on this base. Not something that I normally do, and, in fact, not something that I normally feel worthwhile pursuing.