Casting long shadows

[andybarton]

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M240/24 Elmarit-M

 

No comment required here, but I will be doing a long blog post later about an extraordinary few days in Northern France

 

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[stuny]

Excellent.

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[Louis]

A beautiful composition and a gorgeous B/W tonality!

[Neil Macmillan]

You said no comments, Andy, but I am going to anyway.

I can't help but wonder that this would be immensely more powerful if you cropped to exclude the gate or archway on the right of the frame. 

As it is now, this structure competes for interest with the tree in the top left intersection of thirds (or close thereto).

The tree alone as the skyline point of interest would be more compelling, I rather think.

To add weight to this suggestion, the elongated shadows from the headstones even draw a line to the tree. You could also get away with less sky, dramatic though it is.

And of course you have the symbolism of the tree as a metaphor for life continuing versus life extinguished in the war cemetery.

This ranks up there with your Holocaust Memorial picture from when I first joined this forum. I can still see that image, with the man walking, in my mind's eye.

[luigi bertolotti]

You said no comments, Andy, but I am going to anyway.

I can't help but wonder that this would be immensely more powerful if you cropped to exclude the gate or archway on the right of the frame. 

As it is now, this structure competes for interest with the tree in the top left intersection of thirds (or close thereto).

The tree alone as the skyline point of interest would be more compelling, I rather think.

To add weight to this suggestion, the elongated shadows from the headstones even draw a line to the tree. You could also get away with less sky, dramatic though it is.

And of course you have the symbolism of the tree as a metaphor for life continuing versus life extinguished in the war cemetery.

This ranks up there with your Holocaust Memorial picture from when I first joined this forum. I can still see that image, with the man walking, in my mind's eye.

Is such an imposing picture that some variations in composition could give different but always significant feels.... with the standard format, I have the impression that archway has anyway a sense of its own (you are in a site you ENTERED into, I mean... it gives less feel of "generic life and Death" but more consciousness that this is a PLACE, established for one reason).

Anyway... tried this crop... just to see how a different aspect ratioimpacts the general feel of this wonderfully taken image.

 

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[Toshack10]

Odd - in writing, Neil's comments made sense to me

Having seen the crop, I think I prefer the original. Perhaps there's some hope in the light on the dome of the entry/on the right side of the picture!

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I think the crop ruins most of the carefully balanced geometry of the image. You lose the tops of the shadows and the elegant curve they describe; you miss the landscape seen through the portal altogether; the carefully arranged geometry of the plot with the pathways are so much less prominent that they're practically lost as well; even the very low position of the sun becomes an insignificant aspect while the original image has so many cues that make you realise where the light is coming from.

 

Besides all the things I mentioned above I particularly like the elegant crop of the plot on the left hand side. Making the diagonal gap the left border of the composition greatly aids the composition, even if perhaps it is only due to someone's car parked in that spot. What I don't like is the bit of white fence on the very right edge; I think the composition would be better terminated if ended with the shrub just to the left of that fence. 

[jaapv]

I too think the crop loses the impact of the image. The archway is essential to the composition.

 Pop's comment on the righthand fence is spot on - A very strong photograph.

[andybarton]

Thanks for all of the thoughtful comments, guys.

 

The "fence" on the right is actually the beginning of the next section of grave stones. I have a panorama taken from the entrance portico which I will share later.

 

While the cropped version is interesting, I do think that the entrance - not exit - from the cemetery adds balance to the tree in the composition. When shooting rows of graves such as these, it is easy for them to just run off into the distance without a visual "stop". This is in itself a not-unreasonable compositional position to take, as indeed, there are far too many of these and for them to appear to go to infinity is a valid proposition.

 

In this case, however, I was more interested in the long shadows cast by the stones and the symbolism that the shadows cast.

 

Here is a shot taken the following day, exactly 100 years to the day that my Great-Grandfather was killed while driving an ambulance. Here the stones do run away to the distance, but the eye is retained in the frame by a different gate and the trees at the end of the cemetery. (It's an iPhone shot, but used here to illustrate a point)

 

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[XVarior]

This shot is fantastic. The composition and the inclusion of the gate is key. As opposed to cropping suggestions, I find the gate an essential element that works as a balance in front of the tree but also as a symbol of crossing between 2 worlds. This shot should not be touched in my opinion.

[alun]

I thought the original a very fine photograph -- superbly composed, the sense of momentum (the flowing sky, the slight leftwards tilt of the bare tree, the static gravestones, the arched gateway, the distant spire...). 

 

But I also liked the iPhone image too, in fact.

 

Anyway, as I think Andy meant, comments are largely beside the point (although I rather think he meant *his* comments, not necessarily ours).

[luigi bertolotti]

November 1915... West front, I imagine... was it in the context of the tragic Loos attack ?

[topoxforddoc]

Andy,

 

A really powerful set of images. I'm glad that you found your Great-Grandfather's grave. It's a very fitting photo to remember his sacrifice by.

 

Charlie

[andybarton]

 

Anyway, as I think Andy meant, comments are largely beside the point (although I rather think he meant *his* comments, not necessarily ours).

 

Thanks Alun - that is exactly what I meant

[andybarton]

November 1915... West front, I imagine... was it in the context of the tragic Loos attack ?

 

It was on the Western Front, but my GGF was killed on just another ordinary day, driving an ambulance. My blog has a fuller description of what we discovered last week.

[Bateleur]

If I may. They leave long shadows indeed ...

 

Sincerely

Charles

Edited December 4, 2015 by Bateleur