I enjoy capturing the fantastic shapes and moods of the junipers growing out of the rocks at Sand Gulch. The trees clearly have spirits of their own, and shapes appear without much help... This one reminded me of hands shaping a coiled pot.
Cropped, adjusted levels, Topaz adjust, unbalanced the colors, added black and white layer and desaturated to 13%, noise reduction,saved for web.
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04/17/11
Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to comment on this image. I have to admit, though, that I like this image very much and am puzzled by the comment I received that this image is not "created" enough for the challenge,and does not show much about me as a photographer. Here is the original photograph . The processing (creation) allowed me to reveal the colors I saw as well as make the connection between the abstract, randomness of nature and another depiction of created art itself (an artist creating a coiled pot). Here is another unedited shot of the natural form. I might also say that abstract is only one aspect of "fine art" and I believe I did indeed 'craft my own impact from the choices I made'. I chose to leave the tree visible and acknowledge the wonder of form, shape, texture and color which together creates something meaningful.
Statistics
Place: 67 out of 167 Avg (all users): 5.5466 Avg (commenters): 7.6667 Avg (participants): 5.4875 Avg (non-participants): 5.6049 Views since voting: 2607 Views during voting: 305 Votes: 161 Comments: 12 Favorites: 1 (view)
I should say up front, I did vote on this image and my vote is one of your lower ones. My views are therefore not representative of the wider audience and I note that you received many positive comments and three 10s.
For me, though this is certainly an interesting find with great textures and interesting colours, I don't find it 'created' enough for this challenge; I don't see much of the photographer here. I think that's less of a problem for pure abstracts that communicate the intent of the photographer through constructed form and colour; but this shot falls short of pure abstract and instead we see enough to discern its true form. This creates an impression of reliance, even dependence on the form of the tree for your impact rather than crafting your own impact from the choices you have made.
Is the scene well-captured? Certainly. Is it an interesting piece of wood? Of course. Is it an interesting photograph? Not to me I'm afraid - but as I said, I'm definitely non-typical of this image's voting audience. An outlier.
Overall, is it a successful image - yes it is, just look at that average vote from those who commented: 7.6667. All we can ask with our images is that we connect with others - and you certainly did that. Well done.
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