“Keep your face always toward the sunshine – and shadows will fall behind you.” ~~ Walt Whitman
Often when “playing” with a photo the final direction it’s to take is initially unclear leaving me to seemingly follow along. The basics of the image above were already in the photo…beech leaves backlit by warm early morning sunlight giving off a reddish-orange glow. It was a “warm” scene, even tho taken in winter. So I tried to exaggerate those elements while letting reality fend for itself. I’ll leave my success at this, as always, to the eye of the beholder.
A photograph is not so much what everybody else sees but what the photographer sees. Nice work, Earl.
True, we make them from and for ourselves…but often hope some others might have a similar vision. Thanks, Ken!
Very appropriate title for this image as my first thought was a forest fire. As a beholder, I like how it turned out!
Thanks, Monte, exactly the initial perception I believe I was going for.
Forest fire was also what I imagined. Nice work Earl, as always. Like you, I too like where editing takes an image when I just let it happen. I found out a long time ago that an image has more chance of coming out well if I don’t get in the way. I’m sure you know what I mean :)
Thanks, Cedric. Especially at my amateur level of talent and skill, I’m certain many “better images” have failed for my having “gotten in the way” Haha!
I do find it hard to surrender control and accept sometimes almost unexplainable or incomprehensible results. I often flit somewhere between loving something and hating it while at the same time not being sure it’s finished. After multiple returns and viewings, I may decide to share an image hoping no one will ask, “How did you do that?” or “What does it mean?” or even “What is that?” :-)
P.S. I did think before I posted that an image that could be visualized as a forest fire might be insensitive to the great suffering and loss so many across the world have recently suffered due to wildfires. I hope it’s not taken that way.
With regards to your postscript Earl, I would suggest that art holds no morality or sensibilities. The artist may have those, as may the audience but I would say that neither may judge the other on such matters by using the artwork as a case in point. Those who would judge your picture as insensitive considering the recent fires would most likely be the same people who require a constant DEFCON 1 level of outrage to justify their existence. Those people are best left ignored.
I suspect that there are going to be some inspired, sensitive, poignant and moving artworks that will come out of these disasters. I’ll just consider yours as the first such work I have seen.
Thank-you, Cedric. I value your feedback on this!
Fire is the first word that came to my mind with this, before reading about it. I especially like the color contrast with the seemingly “charred” tones of the trees.
In a conceptual way, the light is the result of radiative fire from our sun. It can have both a nurturing and destructive persona, both of which I think are evident in this photo.
Thanks, Mark. It had rained the night before helping those “charred” darker tones of the trees as well as perhaps deepening the leaf tones.