Stills

I enjoy the broken view of the buildings in the background here. They are subtle, pale, out of focus (but not a dull blur) which is such a contrast to the dark, in focus textured trees in the foreground.
The 2 planes in this picture are so seperate, so different, it is like I am getting to enjoy 2 ideas, 2 views at the same time.
I'll give it a score of 2 Wows.
 

Well that's three 'wows.' If this were a game show, I'd only be one wow away from a new washer and drier set ;-)

I don't really feel I can claim credit for this shot. The idea for the composition came from a shot I particularly liked in Colin's sofobomo book. The separation between foreground is a feature of the lens. I just put the two together.
 

You can claim that washer and drier set now. ;-)
Here's my "wow".

You certainly can claim credit, regardless of your inspiration. What is the lens?
 

Christina, this was taken with the Voigtlander 35mm 1.4 SC. It's an odd performer with lots of flare, low resolution, vignetting and distortion thrown in as well, but it can produce some really interesting results.
 

The background I like (apart from the tilt on the houses - mass subsidence?!): the effect from the lens is worth more than its price and the push to greater exposure works with the leaves both near and far.

The trees seem just a little bit hyper-real, almost like a stage set. Like Colin's pylons they form the artifice of a barrier to seeing beyond them but as trees are 'good' there must a reason that one is standing in this spot. If walking, one would be on the path to the right so maybe it is a child playing and waiting to pounce on a friend coming out to join him/her.

This is not a scene to be seen in the UK: front gardens are rarely so generous and are usually behind a wall, fence or hedge; in the vast majority of cases the path would be a few yards from the houses. As you said on 'Walkway III', could these lawns not be turned into vegetable plots?!
 

as the price of food rises dramatically due to fuel prices you will find more food being grown at home. In Australia our front yards are also wasted and used to just show off how much spare time we have to maintain them.
As we start to grow more food at home you will also find that some scare campaign will be started about home grown food. Maybe once Monsanto owns all seed stores they will just not sell any to home growers as it would dent their strangle hold on our food supplies.
 

Thanks for the credit. I wish I could claim to have inspired such a picture more often :-)

I have a couple of similar shots in the processing pipeline (which I've just left in Aberdeen and am kicking myself about), but none with that clear a separation between fore and aft. That really works a treat here.

There is so much to like, but I'll single out the background tree in the left central bright stripe. That is so nice it nearly *is* the picture.

As so to gear....was this taken at f1.4? I'm wondering what my old summicron would have made of this at f2. That gets pretty low resolution, low contrast etc when used wide open.
 

This might have been at F2. At F1.4 there is usually a bit more veiling flare with this lens.

An old summicron would likely allow you to achieve a similar effect. I'm not sure what property it is that combines fairly low resolution and contrast with the ability to really separate foreground and background, but it seems to be a property most often found in older lens designs.
 

The texture on the trees is almost unreal. The trees seem to be like prison bars keeping me back. I am intrigued by the 'bunch' of leaves in focus in the centre of the image.
 

Prison bars and milk from me. That milky background is a feast. The trees break up the continuum in to four unconnected views. Though I know it's a complete it still plays around with me. Well seen.
 

I agree with Rex about the texture of the trees, different yet the similar and in stark contrast to the background.

This is the MidWest of Royal Oak, Michigan where my wife's grandparents lived.

Does give me the feeling of standing behind bars and looking out at what could be. and I just noticed how the one tree in the backgound was framed by the two trees to the left. hmmmm.