I saw this image before I began commenting here at DPC. It's a wonderful metaphor shot, and means more today than it ever did.
This was a great find, and you took time to photograph it well.
Shannon, I have just discovered you, and I am delighted by your bio and your photography. This is a great example of what an artist's eye will see while others just step over it. I don't do this often, but I am adding you to my favorite photographer's list. Can't wait to dig deeper into your portfolio.
I know exactly what you mean when you say this. I've been driving before and almost been rear ended because I had to stop to SEE what I saw out of the corner of my eye. I read your post in this thread and you made me feel the magic again. Thank you for that. I would love to put your post from that thread in my signature. If that is OK, please PM me.
Yours
TC
I loved this shot, I thought it might be one of the Salt Lake City crowd, maybe state capital buildings all look alike ?? ... especially when they are in the gutter. Anyway, congrats to the voters for recognizing the irony and congrats to the photographer for recognizing opportunity and making it work.
I look forward to meeting you if you make it to the Southern Utah GTG.
Isn’t serendipity a wonderful thing? You are walking along with your keen photographer’s eye checking it out, and BAM serendipity steps right out and hands you a top ten finish!
Well that’s what your comment tends to make me want to believe, but I’m not buying it. There’s a lot of talent that goes into “seeing” photography that the crowd is just walking past – and you obviously have that insight. That needs to be commended. Great work here!
Now let’s talk about the photo for a minute…
Composition:
This is such a great example of leading lines. The main focus is obviously above the vertical “third” line, but I don’t mind a bit because there are so many lines “pointing” to my eye what I’m supposed to be looking at. So kudos on terrific framing, and a very nice crop to bring it down to what works. (my eye tells me that this is cropped a little on the sides, is my eye right?)
Speaking of cropping, thank you for leaving the “no parking” in there! The red curb with the obvious government imposed “no parking’ strengthens this image and its meaning substantially in my mind. That was a good call to leave it in (besides extending those lovely leading lines)
Lighting:
Looks like an overcast day, so the colors are a little flat (although not too flat, either nice exposure or nice post processing – hard to tell from the insightful comments and excellent camera data that was entered! :-p ). I would love to see it in black and white for comparison. I’m not saying B&W would be better, just that it would be nice to compare. Converting to B&W is something I do with my overcast day photos to add interest –
If it were a perfect world:
Ok, the tribe has spoken, we all love the photo. Now when you go shoot this for stock, what to do differently?
The large leaves/trash on the sidewalk directly to the right of the reflection are a pretty big distraction – a quick kick to get those out of frame first – oh, and get that one in the cross walk, yeah the green one, while you’re at it. (of course some deft PhotoShop work will get those pesky little buggers right out of the way and you’ll be ready for market in no time).
Ok, now to really push it. Take your foot, or your friend’s shoe, and smooth out that pile of gravel in the middle of the puddle. Now wait for the water to become absolutely still again, now shoot. Told you I was really going to push my luck… :-)
Now that I’ve typed that, I look at it again and realize the gravel can be seen as corruption or crumbling inside the government, so we’ll define it as that and add that to your great insight into government. I retract my request for gravel removal.
Ok, I had to come up with something other than telling you how much I like your photo, and really those are the only two things I could come up with. This image is a real statement, tells a story, and creates strong feelings in your audience of agreement and disagreement – that is what good photography is supposed to do. You’ve done an excellent job. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your entries in the future.
A good technique to use is leading lines, but your best leading line is the angled one at the top of the photo. It might have worked better compositionally if you had gone to the other side of this gutter and shot it using the curve as your leading line.
An interesting shot, as well as political statement. I generally try not to let the title influence my voting, but I have to make an exception in your case. +2 points for title
Love the creativity of this shot. The composition with the red curb and white lines leading right into the focal point is good too. Was this planned or did you stumble upon this one? Nicely done.
Interesting commentary. Thought about rotate, but it probably works in both orientations, and the clutter has meaning even if it isn't beautiful. Like it.
well done! this is a very interesting picture to me because the building appears to be ascending from the ground unexpectedly. the only thing i dislike about it is the crop. i think you have too much space that pulls you away from the main subject and draws you to the OoF leaves at the bottom. great job.. you should go by there again when there is no more christmas tree and you might just have yourself a nice stock photo.
A political statement doesn't go down well with most people, you took a big risk..I'm really looking forward to checking this image at the end of the challenge, the grid will be really interesting to look at. Apart from all that, nicely shot!
A nice controversial title and an imaginative point of view.
My only negative comment would be to crop a large part of the bottom off the picture as the building seems to be lost in the photo.
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