Photographer’s Notes
When the Cemetery Challenge was announced, I found a bunch of related ideas swirling around in my head:
1) A friend and colleague said to me once that “Cemeteries are full of indispensable people.” I like this notion that people often take themselves too seriously, and would do well to remember the admonition of my friend.
2) Further I have been thinking about the ultra-rich and how they build (and have always built) monuments to themselves, especially buildings.
3) When in Cairo, I visited a cemetery there known and the city of the dead which is an interesting counterpoint to the monuments the living build to themselves in cities of the living.
4) And finally, I like the now outdated expression, “The quick and the dead,” meaning of course the living and the dead.
I did a little internet research to see if anyone famous or infamous was buried in the Seattle area. Sure enough, Jimi Hendrix is buried in Renton, a suburb of Seattle and there are a few more. I set out this morning for Jimi Hendrix’s grave site with ideas swirling. Turns out it’s a pretty nice memorial but not very photogenic. However on the way, I passed another small cemetery and returned to it after giving up on Jimi.
Driving through the cemetery, with all these ideas, the view in my photo presented itself: The city of the living in the background; the city of the dead in the foreground; and monuments everywhere. And at that moment we had a rare sun break which lit everything up. So I stopped the car, assembled my camera, took two shots … and was accosted by attendants who ultimately chased me out. But not before capturing this image which nearly perfectly embodied my swirling thoughts of this morning.
Editing was a labor of love. Hope you enjoy this.
Post Processing
Cloned out a power line
Select background
Save selection
Levels
Select inverse of background
Levels
Clone out a foreground distraction
Select inverse
Burn the clouds a bit
Crop
Reduce noise
Resize
Unsharp mask
Save for web
Camera Data
Nikon D70
2005/03/21 14:12:27.8
JPEG (8-bit) Fine
Image Size: Large (3008 x 2000)
Lens: VR 24-120mm F/3.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 120mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Center-Weighted
1/125 sec - F/19
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 200
Optimize Image: Vivid
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-S
Flash Sync Mode: Not Attached
Color Mode: Mode IIIa (sRGB)
Tone Comp: Auto
Hue Adjustment: 0°
Saturation: Normal
Sharpening: Auto
Image Comment:
Noise Reduction: OFF
Statistics
Place: 36 out of 281 Avg (all users): 5.8911 Avg (commenters): 7.0000 Avg (participants): 5.8188 Avg (non-participants): 6.0469 Views since voting: 1079 Views during voting: 313 Votes: 202 Comments: 17 Favorites: 0
I am making two passes on this Challenge. I will vote on your photo then return later(before voting is over) to comment on what I like and dislike about your shot. You can take the comments however you wish and I will try not to be mean. Just don't take it the wrong way.
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Good work. Looks a little crooked but could just be the hill.
I like the idea of this photo. I also like that it's framed by trees. It looks to me like too much of the photo is in the center third of the frame, Not sure how to fix this. One idea would be to take a much higher angle. But then I was also going to comment that I think the river makes a kind of dead space in the middle of the photo - a problem which would be solved by moving the camera down. I wonder if there's a spot where the skyscrapers are bracketed by the monuments? Finally, I'm not convinced that color adds much to the photo. I hope you find some of this ramble helpful.
What a wonderful photo you have there. Guess what - I have one that is basically identical *g*. (what day did you go there, I wonder?) However, I didn't enter this one, I decided on a very different approach. If you do really well with this one, I'll sooooooooo kick myself!
Good luck to you, anyway :-) ( btw - you did a nice job cloning out the wire that was in the way).
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