Whats wrong with this picture?

[Drew Wiley]

There's some bright sky just above the right roofline, plus a partial view of a white table on right, which balances the gas pump on the left, but not too much to undermine its visual dominance. So the timing of the sky is nice. I sorta like the attempt at visual complexity rather than just homing in on a simple part of it. A nice
bouncing around between sky and items in foreground, with at least enought depth in
the shadows to give a little mystery. Not much of a metaphysical subject, but lighting
can at a certain point transfigure even the commonplace. Go back and study that EW
shot I mentioned in that regard.

[jb7]

Oh good, a parlour game-

My reading of this question is that it's a technical issue-
even if the picture is posted a little too small to make out detail-

Am I seeing some blotciness in the sky, like some overenthusiastic spotting or cloning?

Particularly top centre, and top right...

[Nathan Smith]

Is there a thumb print on the left side? I just zoomed in and, though blurry at that size, it seems as though there are some odd concentric lines there. No? Then I'll have to go with the aforementioned reflection of the truck in the window I guess.

[Vaughn]

... Go back and study that EW
shot I mentioned in that regard.

This one?

http://phomul.canalblog.com/archives...2/1064374.html

[Drew Wiley]

No. I'm thinking of a roadside shot (literally roadside) that EW made in New Mexico beside a gas station, with the Quaker State sign showing prominently at one side. In this case, there's a similar left to right back and forth flow between the highlights, like
a beach wave bouncing off a rock and creating a rebounding wave. Technically, I don't
know what the alleged issue is - perhaps some Newton rings in the sky??? My office monitor can't really bring out that kind of thing, so I just can't decipher that half of the
question.

[Vaughn]

Should be the bottom image of the four in the link I posted. Very different in composition than the OP..works in a very different way.

[Drew Wiley]

OK - yeah, that's the one ... once I scrolled down past the other three images. A totally banal subject made into something profound, simply by a judicious use of subtleties and some sensitivity in printing.

[Vaughn]

Some very powerful triangles, including the one created by the three white posts. Everything leading the eye to the sign and keeping it there. I wonder if the OP's image would "work" easier for those in cultures that read right-to-left.

Vaughn

[Drew Wiley]

Vaughn - there's obviously a lot of drama in the EW shot, rather than the deadpan of
the former; but that kind of thing can be improved with printing skills. I'm reminded of how BW took a shot of the Mittens in Monument Valley from exactly the same turnout
as thousands of other shots, and even with the same perspective lens, and in less
than rare light, but turned out a print which virtually breathes his unique DNA as a photographer. Only two month after I had purchased my first view camera I was returning from the high country and swung by Bodie just to kill a day on the way back.
I took a shot of the gas pumps - aguably a cliche shot if ever there was one. In fact,
a Natl Geographic dude was there with a workshop, and he told his students to follow
me around just so he could wander around and do his own thing. So every shot I took
they tried to replicate. But I'm perfectly comfortable in stating that my own shot has
never been duplicated. What none of them detected is that there was a little sparrow
periodically landing atop one of the pumps and forming a perfect diagonal with a roofline. Besides the geometry and general interest with the little bird, I did some fancy
masking tricks for the Cibachrome to control the advancing and receding plane of the respective hues. Perhaps one of my earliest and less advanced color prints, but even
BW complimented me on that one. All anyone else saw out there were some cute old
relics. They would have had to be literally seeing it as the groundglass did at that
exact instant (plus the darkroom tweaks) or it would have itself simply been another
Bodie cliche.

[Drew Wiley]

Just noted your last post, Vaugn. L to R, or R to L cultural issues? Don't tell anyone,
but I have on occasion flipped a negative. Wouldn't work with the image in question
because of the signage at top of bldg. One time Aaron Dygert flipped an image of a
Korean headstone upside down, like BW sometimes did, and offended someone. Heck,
my camera flips everything upside down automatically.