I get a lot of comments on the softness of her face. It's intentional - meaning to signify how her preoccupation with her barren world is causing her to start to lose her identity - she is starting to be come barren all the way through.
A sharper version is available - but you have to see what the artist wants you to see! :-p
Thanks for all the terrific comments - I should take the crazy stuff out of my head and shoot it more often maybe?
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Completely freakish! I love this! The blanke simplicity is very striking and unnerving - the simple, plain colors, the blank face and pose of the person...Great, great work.
First of all, your wife looks awesome in this. Everyone seems to want to shoot on the flats (myself included), but this is a concept I haven't seen from anyone else. As for your explination...I picked up on got the feeling of emptiness, of wanting more. But after reading the whole barren 50's housewife idea behind this shot, I definitely see it. I love how you get me to analyze why I like or dislike images. Interesting idea. Great shot!
Any photo that elicts this kind of analysis has got to have something going for it... yanko's analysis is definately worth reading. My first impression of the photo was that she is waiting... now after reading below I can see why. Great photo and great comments, really makes this site unique.
Jack
Originally posted by posthumous:
The desert (and the salt flat works as a desert in this photo) is one of the favorite landscapes of Surrealists (certainly for Dali), because it is so blank... it begs to be filled by the mind. Incongruous items placed in a desert lose their usual touch with reality and float there merely as concepts which can then be explored. You have merely to place some iconic "objects" in this context, i.e. "housewife" and "bed", to start the mind whirling. I agree that it is a "50s housewife," but would suggest this is simply because that is the most iconic of housewives (perhaps as a purposeful overreaction to the women who entered the workforce during world war II). More to the point than "50s-ness" is emptiness: note that there is no bed in the frame, and no shoes on her feet. Her chair is white and blandly curves outward, almost disappearing into the background. The subtext is that she is "barren," for some reason unable to fulfill her stereotypical mother role, and since she is a stereotype, floating in the mind, this is a critical problem. Her very identity is at stake here. Yet she is too trapped in her stereotype even to express her despair. The barrenness we feel is not transmitted in the usual, simplistic way, i.e. I see a model who is sad and therefore I am sad, but rather as a series of signs that we must interpret. For me, that creates a far more devestating effect.
To be honest, I didn't see all this until now. I thought it was merely Surrealistic, but then my eyes moved from the hollow bed to her bare, vulnerable legs surrounded by the white legs of her chair, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
The desert (and the salt flat works as a desert in this photo) is one of the favorite landscapes of Surrealists (certainly for Dali), because it is so blank... it begs to be filled by the mind. Incongruous items placed in a desert lose their usual touch with reality and float there merely as concepts which can then be explored. You have merely to place some iconic "objects" in this context, i.e. "housewife" and "bed", to start the mind whirling. I agree that it is a "50s housewife," but would suggest this is simply because that is the most iconic of housewives (perhaps as a purposeful overreaction to the women who entered the workforce during world war II). More to the point than "50s-ness" is emptiness: note that there is no bed in the frame, and no shoes on her feet. Her chair is white and blandly curves outward, almost disappearing into the background. The subtext is that she is "barren," for some reason unable to fulfill her stereotypical mother role, and since she is a stereotype, floating in the mind, this is a critical problem. Her very identity is at stake here. Yet she is too trapped in her stereotype even to express her despair. The barrenness we feel is not transmitted in the usual, simplistic way, i.e. I see a model who is sad and therefore I am sad, but rather as a series of signs that we must interpret. For me, that creates a far more devestating effect.
To be honest, I didn't see all this until now. I thought it was merely Surrealistic, but then my eyes moved from the hollow bed to her bare, vulnerable legs surrounded by the white legs of her chair, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
The desert (and the salt flat works as a desert in this photo) is one of the favorite landscapes of Surrealists (certainly for Dali), because it is so blank... it begs to be filled by the mind. Incongruous items placed in a desert lose their usual touch with reality and float there merely as concepts which can then be explored. You have merely to place some iconic "objects" in this context, i.e. "housewife" and "bed", to start the mind whirling. I agree that it is a "50s housewife," but would suggest this is simply because that is the most iconic of housewives (perhaps as a purposeful overreaction to the women who entered the workforce during world war II). More to the point than "50s-ness" is emptiness: note that there is no bed in the frame, and no shoes on her feet. Her chair is white and blandly curves outward, almost disappearing into the background. The subtext is that she is "barren," for some reason unable to fulfill her stereotypical mother role, and since she is a stereotype, floating in the mind, this is a critical problem. Her very identity is at stake here. Yet she is too trapped in her stereotype even to express her despair. The barrenness we feel is not transmitted in the usual, simplistic way, i.e. I see a model who is sad and therefore I am sad, but rather as a series of signs that we must interpret. For me, that creates a far more devestating effect.
To be honest, I didn't see all this until now. I thought it was merely Surrealistic, but then my eyes moved from the hollow bed to her bare, vulnerable legs surrounded by the white legs of her chair, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.
I don't get those low votes. I had this so pegged for a ribbon. As soon as I saw it, I thought, "thank god, something completely different". Composition, minor technical nitpicks... matter not. Your vision excites me here. What a bizarre and wonderful set up.
hmmm....Maybe its just be. But the way I see it, her head HAS to be cut off. She HAS to be in the center. The bed HAS to have no mattress. Or am I reading too mcuh into it. The title refers to her, yes? her life? Parallel barrens and layer upon layer of barrens and this is the way its supposed to be. This is something I would put on my wall.
Has a nice 50's feel about it and I'm guessing this is the Salt Flats. If you could have included the Utah tree in the back ground this would have had a very surreal feel. Some how I'm feeling the woman is to centered but this is a very nice photo.
i looked the word "barren" in the dictionary and one of the meaning provided was "lacking in interest" - which is definitely not the case. I am impressed by the poetry in it and pink floyd-esque feeling, though i wish it would be less soft.
Kudos on making a photo that invokes a sense of minimalism and surrelaism at the same time. I half expect to see a Dali elephant walking in the backgtround. I like the idea and concept of this. Normally I'd say it needs a touch of sharpening, but for this picture, I wouldn't change a thing
I like the idea of this.. love the bed and sand/sky combo, but not the lady in the chair.. I think she should be facing to the left to balance it out more and maybe a different position.. just doesn't do it for me
This is so cool. Fromt he hairstyle and glasses to the dress, the perfect absence of more than a hint of pattern in the white and in the blue, the placement of the objects... Absurd and wonderful at the same time. I like how her head is 'cut off' as if somehow removed from her body. It pushes the point even more so. 10
this is too good. I can't seem to look away. the composition of subjects, the rule of thirds, DOF, the silent emotion all but screaming. bare feet, no mattress and hands just so, the use of colors. I'm no expert, but I really love it. thank you.
boy, as much work as you did, and as extra hard as it would be, I would have liked to see the mattress with bedding. Maybe you could have faked the mattress and put bedding over carboard boxes or something. Still a neat idea in it's creativity. (although to prove that everything has already been shot, check out zoomdak's top 10 shots...) 7
Is that the salt flats-Utah? I like it out there. Amazing place for this unique composition. I wish the horizon wasn't at her neck level. That may have been intentional --so ignore me just my thoughts.
An odd metaphor indeed, surreal enough to stop any eye jaded by pretty mediocrities. I'd like to see the model's head a little higher above the horizon line, for distinction and the light less harsh... but
won't argue. The image is arresting and better than so much.
Creative concept and great effort. It's unusual and different. I'm not sure, how to think about it, but it made me stop and think for a while. But isn't this the mission of photography? I voted 9. One point deduction, becaus I dont't like, that the horizon is "cutting" off her head. Good luck for the challenge!
wow. that's not random AT ALL...lol, I like this, it has an interesting mood to it. Don't know about the crop though, I would've cropped it more on the left, but hey...that's just me.
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