Sunday, November 18, 2007
South Lake, Hangzhou
Comments:
A very classical Chinese scene and none the worse for that. You have made the most of the subject matter here, particularly with the formation of the boats and getting close in on the right hand one. How much did you pay the boat owners to leave their paddles out like that?!!
Yikes, this is actually West Lake, not South Lake. One of the many issues when trying to post while still be jet lagged and upside down.
John, it is difficult to make images of 'classic' China with all of the construction and new building poping up. And the orientation of the paddles was what attracted me to this composition in the first place;- )
Then someone mentioned the Pagodas in the distant and looking up, I saw the boat coming at me. Then a mater of waiting until I like the composition!
This raises all sort of questions about reality, deception and choice of subject matter.
However, sticking within the bounds of the frame shown, this is pretty neat (can't decide whether I want the whole of paddle number three to be visible). At first I thought that the composition was a bit heavy on the left, but I've decided that I like the exit provided by the right.
I like the way this just seems to slip off into the distance. Perhaps it's the fog or reduced tonal scale in the top half of the picture, but it's a magical effect.
"This raises all sort of questions about reality, deception and choice of subject matter."
Uh, oh, I'm not even sure I know what the questions are, let alone the answers. Care to expand on that?
Care to expand on that?
Feeling like I should have kept my mouth shut ...
... I was referring back to Doug's comment about this sort of image being difficult because China is building and changing so fast. This scene existed (unless Doug tells us otherwise) and is hence real, but yet it is deliberately unreal in that it excludes things which don't fit the theme of a 'classic image'.
A bit like the holiday snaps of a wonderful beach resort which neglect to include the building sites or the airport's landing lights.
Well, having been two months in China 3 years ago, this was certainly not an uncommon view at (not so old) time.
I understand this was not taken in a poverty-ridden area, but there is never far to travel to be at a place where this would not be a careful extraction.
Actually the plastic roofs make it not so classical :-)
Just for a mo I'd like to comment upon the technical richness of this image. The subtlety of detail in the highlights and the shadows is impressive and provides a visual feast. Lovely!
Compositionally I would have preferred a bit more of the paddles, probably because they are rich, like dark chocolate.
The weight of composition to the front left is balanced well by the exit top right as Colin pointed out previously. The boats' tops (just) all point towards an object of interest further in the frame. Again the background is much more interesting to me than the foreground but they both need each other for this to work.
Very beautifully composed, and as Rex commented on, the technical aspects are superb, especially given that this is web viewing. There is just enough tonal variation between the water and the boat tops.
I would like to see the rest of paddle number three, but that is minor compared to the rest -- it is overall wonderful.
I very much like the wavy line coming up from the right corner.
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John, it is difficult to make images of 'classic' China with all of the construction and new building poping up. And the orientation of the paddles was what attracted me to this composition in the first place;- )
Then someone mentioned the Pagodas in the distant and looking up, I saw the boat coming at me. Then a mater of waiting until I like the composition!
However, sticking within the bounds of the frame shown, this is pretty neat (can't decide whether I want the whole of paddle number three to be visible). At first I thought that the composition was a bit heavy on the left, but I've decided that I like the exit provided by the right.
Uh, oh, I'm not even sure I know what the questions are, let alone the answers. Care to expand on that?
Feeling like I should have kept my mouth shut ...
... I was referring back to Doug's comment about this sort of image being difficult because China is building and changing so fast. This scene existed (unless Doug tells us otherwise) and is hence real, but yet it is deliberately unreal in that it excludes things which don't fit the theme of a 'classic image'.
A bit like the holiday snaps of a wonderful beach resort which neglect to include the building sites or the airport's landing lights.
I understand this was not taken in a poverty-ridden area, but there is never far to travel to be at a place where this would not be a careful extraction.
Actually the plastic roofs make it not so classical :-)
Compositionally I would have preferred a bit more of the paddles, probably because they are rich, like dark chocolate.
I would like to see the rest of paddle number three, but that is minor compared to the rest -- it is overall wonderful.
I very much like the wavy line coming up from the right corner.