Gateway Drug

[Woodley Willie]

I was dusting off some old files while moving stuff to an external HD and came across this photo.  This was taken with my first 'good' camera, and the predecessor to my Nikon D7100 which I have had less than 2 years.
I post in this topic because I find it nearly impossible to judge my own efforts.  Some I like and they go nowhere when viewed by others.  That's seriously ok. 
So here it is, taken with my Fuji X100T, taken a couple of winters ago.

[Andrea B.]

I think the light in this photo is interesting and nicely captured.

To me, the photograph seems to be about the snow along the gates which acts like a path. That's where the eye immediately goes in this photo. So I think I would crop the photo to a square and leave out the shrubbery on the right. It doesn't add anything to the 'story'.

(I had a moment's indecision over whether that was snow or white sand!! Of course you mentioned winter, so that settled that.)

It looks like you might have raised the shadows a bit. It's best to be cautious about that, but maybe a tiny bit more light on the left would be ok so that we can see some more of the details of the vine.

What do you think about this??

[Woodley Willie]

Andrea
I believe your image is definitely less depressing than the original, which is probably a good thing.  Now to heighten interest in a focal point, I just wish there was a scarecrow in the playground at the end of the scene 
Thanks for your critique!

[Andrea B.]

You're going to laugh at me, but my eye kept traveling along the snow path back to the slide (in the playground) and on up into that cloud formation as though it were all a stairway to heaven! However, the unlikelihood that there would be such a celestial path in the backyards of apparent suburban housing does force me reconsider this flight of fancy. 

[Les Olson]

I read the mood of the image as ambiguous or downright sinister: something bad is going to happen or has happened in the playground at the back.  Several visual clues support that reading: use of B&W, the high contrast despite flat light and dark clouds, and the fence on the left pointing directly at the slide, which is right in the centre of the image.  Plus there is the title, which encourages reading the image as sinister. 

[Mike G]

Gateway drug?

[Woodley Willie]

I read the mood of the image as ambiguous or downright sinister: something bad is going to happen or has happened in the playground at the back.  Several visual clues support that reading: use of B&W, the high contrast despite flat light and dark clouds, and the fence on the left pointing directly at the slide, which is right in the centre of the image.  Plus there is the title, which encourages reading the image as sinister.

Les, don't forget that this is also a 'dead end.'  The wall behind the playground...

Gateway drug?

A reference to the camera I used, the Fuji X100T.  I sold it to finance the camera I use now, a Nikon D7100.

You're going to laugh at me, but my eye kept traveling along the snow path back to the slide (in the playground) and on up into that cloud formation as though it were all a stairway to heaven! However, the unlikelihood that there would be such a celestial path in the backyards of apparent suburban housing does force me reconsider this flight of fancy. 

Not laughing at all, but I do have a smile pasted on my face.  I left the your cropped out part to force the viewer to take the path of light.  It looks like the only brightness but sadly ends at the wall.  Alas, if one could only scale the wall...
The scene really does need the scarecrow.

[Andrea B.]

I just keep seeing that slide as a Swoop up over the wall to something beyond. 

Such interesting discussions happen on this critique board.

[Matthew Currie]

Of course it all depends on what you want and how you see it, but seeing it as a rather dark vision,  I rather preferred the original to the crop, as the row of houses on the right tends to funnel you toward the dead end, and the placement of the shrub in the middle seems more anomalous. 

[Woodley Willie]

I just keep seeing that slide as a Swoop up over the wall to something beyond. 

Yes, I see it now! It's not a slide, it is a ramp. And yes, it is brighter on the other side of the wall, or at least a promise of brightness...maybe if the scarecrow was mid air between the top of the ramp and the wall?

Of course it all depends on what you want and how you see it, but seeing it as a rather dark vision,  I rather preferred the original to the crop, as the row of houses on the right tends to funnel you toward the dead end, and the placement of the shrub in the middle seems more anomalous. 

I just realized I have practically no interest in photographing people, gulp.  This critiquing stuff is getting uncomfortable 

[Thomas G]

Yes, I see it now! It's not a slide, it is a ramp. And yes, it is brighter on the other side of the wall, or at least a promise of brightness...maybe if the scarecrow was mid air between the top of the ramp and the wall?
I just realized I have practically no interest in photographing people, gulp.  This critiquing stuff is getting uncomfortable 

Why uncofortable? There is some stuff in here to be pulled to the surface.


No movement, no life.
Someone might have left for good following the path of the light, leaving behind is a sinister mood of absence.
Now there is no immidiate thread from the bricks on the right.
Staffage buildings only on the left.
But there are traces,tracks, propably a path.
No physical exit.


I prefer the original version. It has much more stories to be found. A certain complexity. Framing and light perfectly how lI ike them.

[Woodley Willie]

Appreciate the comments Thomas G

[HCS]

Why uncofortable? There is some stuff in here to be pulled to the surface.


No movement, no life.
Someone might have left for good following the path of the light, leaving behind is a sinister mood of absence.
Now there is no immidiate thread from the bricks on the right.
Staffage buildings only on the left.
But there are traces,tracks, propably a path.
No physical exit.


I prefer the original version. It has much more stories to be found. A certain complexity. Framing and light perfectly how lI ike them.

I kind of agree, the original one has a certain "Twilight Zone" quality and atmosphere. The cropped version lost that IMHO

[Andrea B.]

But the cropped version stimulated such a wonderful participation and discussion!

Ten different photographers will always have 20 different opinions about how a given photograph should be processed. 

[Anthony]

Interesting discussion.  For me the first version is more dramatic, because of the dark framing of the snowy path.  I would consider toning down the houses on the right, as the light shades catch my eye.