Photo Critique: "Boulder," February 3, 2023

[h2oman]

Thanks to all for comments. I'll revisit with the cropping suggestions in mind when I rescan the full 4x5 negative. (I scanned it just 6x12 for the image presented.) Those of you who like to disparage all things digital can chuckle about why I have to re-scan if you read this. FWIW, I never sent the hard drive in.

The rock lives near me in something called Bear Wallow, a dry lake bed. I first spotted the rock when cross-country skiing (it's the only one like it in the lake bed), and went back in the fall a couple times to photograph the rock and other things. I tried other compositions with the rock, but straight-on like this was the only thing that really appealed to me. I also tried two or three focal lengths. There are some difficulties, the greatest being that a wider view takes in the tops of the trees and a hillside behind them with lots of distracting elements. Not necessarily an excuse for any compositional deficiencies, but that is why I chose a panoramic crop..

To me, the scene gave a strong feeling of "occupancy," which is what I was trying to convey with the photograph. Put more whimsically, I hear the rock saying "I'm here, I've been here for a long time, and I'll be here a while longer." That's the best I can do for a statement of intent. I also just enjoy the three textures of the grass, front of the rock, and trees.

For those of you who have commented, thank you for taking the time to do so.

[Iga]

Hi ! I'm woods / trees fan, so I think without rock it would be great shot.
Seriously, this rock is out of place, or out of format here. Just my opinion.

[xkaes]

Get up higher, get closer, use a wider lens, wider format (6x17) -- that will create more separation between the rock and the trees, making the rock more prominent while keeping the nice background.

[cowanw]

Oddly, last night, as I was thinking about this and other threads, I somehow got myself thinking that you stated goal was to show this rock as being solitary in a great field. And I though of an aerial view. I thought that this image was to cozy, to up close and I am comfortable here. I reread your statement
"To me, the scene gave a strong feeling of "occupancy," which is what I was trying to convey with the photograph. Put more whimsically, I hear the rock saying "I'm here, I've been here for a long time, and I'll be here a while longer." That's the best I can do for a statement of intent. I also just enjoy the three textures of the grass, front of the rock, and trees."
and, bingo, I was thinking precisely what it was that you had intended to say. So that is a success, in my opinion.
The central composition, overall sharpness, and close attention to detail and framing puts this photograph right into the concept of documentary photography. It follows a lineage of photography from the middle east travel photography of Pharaonic and Roman ruins of the 19th century through to Sullivan's documentation of the West and on to Atget's documentary photography of Paris and Versailles. Even to the Becher's towers.
Just in case, there might be confusion, to say that a photograph is a document is not to comment on it as art. The appreciation of the texture of grass rock and trees is an emotional and artistic response. And I am going to be a hypocrite and propose a hypothetical other photograph along Xkaes's suggestion which is to raise your viewpoint so that the line between lower dark and higher lighter top might run along the line of lower light of grass and higher darker top of trees.
Best Wishes
Bill

[bmikiten]

My first thought was fuzzy. I'm not sure if that is the image or just the amount of detail shown. Overall, I like it. The framing as a wide image pleases me as I'm partial to wide formats right now as they mimic the human eye IMHO. I would love to see this as a 5' wide wall mural. I do like the overall tone of the image and probably wouldn't change contrast much as you've balanced the image itself with an appropriate "feel". Like many landscapes, it provokes the viewer to ask questions and allows them to look at it over and over. I'd love to see a high resolution version. I'd hang it!

[johnasavoia]

The framing is good, the subject is fine, but the light is boring, feels like mid day on an overcast day. Same spot same angle when the light is soft late or early in the day, or even at a more extreme angle during sun rise/set might feel different, but as it is there is a certain flatness, not of depth of field, but of light. To me.

[Ulophot]

Hi, Gregg. Perhaps since this is a "critique image," my first impression was that the composition was off, pulling me to the left despite the centrality and symmetrical balance. But it didn't take long before my view changed. The apparent printing favors this, lighter on the left. To my eye, there is a quiet anthropomorphic feature in the rock, a face in profile in the left edge, with nose jutting leftward, a small eye, a slightly curved, thin-lipped mouth, even the relief of a check bone. Along with the brighter tonality of the left part of the image, that made the rest of the rock appear as if flowing or streaming behind.

I see three levels of biological life: the grass, the shrubs, the trees -- in a certain formal way, three sizes of the same --, apparently all dormant for the winter. Thus, a variety of formal ironies and interplay begins to imply questions about the relative permanence of the rock, the seasonal and longer life-cycles of the plants, along with the strange location of the solitary boulder in the field.

I find the viewpoint perspective appropriate to giving weight to the boulder from the downward force of gravity while the plants reach upwards.

I do, however, find that my eye tends to wander into the trees on the left and get stuck there. The tonality of the trees behind the boulder appears suppressed and overly flat to me.

[Vaughn]

...
To me, the scene gave a strong feeling of "occupancy," which is what I was trying to convey with the photograph. Put more whimsically, I hear the rock saying "I'm here, I've been here for a long time, and I'll be here a while longer." That's the best I can do for a statement of intent. I also just enjoy the three textures of the grass, front of the rock, and trees.
...

The rock definitely occupies the space. Your use of space and texture keeps that an active occupation...but then I am willing to consider the concept that rocks are aware and mountains are wise.

[xkaes]

AHHH, the old art-speak rabbit-hole.

[h2oman]

Lot's of valuable, and FUN input here - thank you! Here are a few specific replies, sorry if I don't get to all of you:

Iga: That line of trees is about 1/2 km long, so no lack of material! I DO have a couple color images from there, need to do some B&W.

xkaes: I somewhat dread the thought of walking the 45 minutes up there with my 5 foot aluminum ladder, but I may give it a try...

cowanw: "documentary" is not a nasty word to me - I love Timothy O'Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, ... I've seen some pretty good photography in person, and amongst my favorites were a bunch of large albumen prints by Watkins. They are beautiful.

bmikiten: I've tended toward smaller and smaller prints lately, but I have both large and small of this one and, in my opinion, it benefits from size.

johnasavio: I've thought of trying to get up there for sunrise, but when I think of trekking up there alone in the dark with a headlamp, I start getting cougarnoia! But maybe if I had the aluminum ladder on my back, that might deter them?

Ulophot: My botanist friends would inform us that all those aspen trees might be part of a single organism, adding to your biological interpretation!

OK, I gotta go re-scan that negative and try some other crops!