The Future of Habitation

[purplehaze]

This is something that I shot at a nature centre bison compound last fall. Please let me know if it works and if not, how it might be improved. I am prepared to have you tell me to reshoot it, if that is how you feel.

[Geoff F]

It isn't really working for me, Janis.

I'm not sure what is the main subject; nor the overall purpose for that matter.

Possibly crop a little from the top so the fence doesn't finish; and concentrate more on the foreground?

But would that mean going to a square crop or losing something from one or both sides as well?

[Mark von Kanel]

mmm i cant see anything!!

[Dave Humphries]

mmm i cant see anything!!

I can (see an image that is) - are you using Internet Explorer or Chrome?
If so, try F5, Ctrl+F5, or Firefox.

Hi Janis,

I tend to agree with Geoff, it isn't too obvious what the subject is, but I might hazard a guess; I think you were drawn to the angle of the canvas tent and the fence posts, plus perhaps the patterns on the canvas that could almost be shadows. However, with all the grass, the field and building beyond, this is somewhat lost - unfortunately, I don't see how a re-shoot could solve many of these things.

HTH,

[Mark von Kanel]

Now thats weird! its there now! and im still using the same browser!! Got to agree with the others Janis, i like the tonality of the image and the mood but the image lacks a focal point.

[Karm Redland]

Janis, I agree with Dave. You obviously saw something, otherwise you would not have taken this picture. What did you see and what do you want us to see? (I often also get this question.)

Karm

[zen]

Hi Janis,

The title you put on the image, the location at a bison refuge and the side of what looks to be a tepee suggests a Plains Indian tepee abode. The problem is that there are no bisons in the image to tie it all together. A great concept, though. Just needs the bison as a focal point. I like the suggestion of the bison/buffalo, whose hide was used by the Plains Indians for their tepees, as being future habitation . . .

Good luck.

Zen

[purplehaze]

Okay, that's a fail. Dave and Zen came closest to divining my intent. On the occasion of my last visit to this location, I was dismayed to see the new housing development spoiling the prairie landscape, and getting in the way of many of my shots. So I decided I might as well make an image that intentionally included them. I was drawn to the angle of the tent and the fence posts, Dave, and so that contributed to the framing. I may also have been attracted by the color of the tent against the vegetation, but I obscured that with my processing, didn't I? It was just today that it occurred to me that the blurring of the houses could be interpreted as past or future. I thought by giving it a sepia tone suggesting the past and a title suggesting the future, that I could generate ambiguity about which was which. But obviously I failed, big time. No worries. I'm here for your honest appraisal.

Perhaps I will redeem myself somewhat with this. I will make a version without the tower one of these days; I just didn't have the patience to try to remove it cleanly today.



Thanks for all your comments!

[Mark von Kanel]

Ahhh Janis, now i understand, but not being from your area of the world i dont have the understanding of the culture that you have and so your meaning can be lost unless you describe it more clearly for us uneducated Europeans

With regards to to the last image i love the tones and colours but world go for a tighter crop to lose the foreground and the sky to the poit just above the top of the teepee's and of course the tower must go!

[Marie Hass]

Jan,

Just a quick crop in CS5. I did not re-sharpen or anything.



'Rie

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Mark & 'Rie. I think perhaps I will try to clone out the tower to preserve some breathing room on the right, crop from the top and bottom as you suggest, and shave off that little post on the left.