Sunday, December 11, 2005

On assignment


A larger version of the image can be found here.

My wife sent me out to the local forest preserve the other day, having really liked the look of open land in December.

The wide shots of the ground never came out, but one reason I like digital photography is the flexibility in post-prodcution -- I don't have a dark room at home. The resulting photograph is the best of the bunch, and in its way shows Northern Illinois in a kind of stark beauty.

msd

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I really like this shot. It is evocative for me. It reminds me of parts of forests that have been cleared and are growing up with small trees and undergrowth. It actually really reminds me of a small pasture that Josh and I used to play in as kids that bordered our family's woods.

Josh Gentry said...

Wow. I love this photograph. Not only is it a really nice photo, but like for Luke, it has real resonance with me.

I really like black-and-white. I am much more interested in value than color. This is really nicely composed, with the very dark value of that tree as the center of interest. You also have a nice range of value with the very dark tree, the still dark but less dark bottom, left corner, the midtone of the shrub in the midground, and then the lighter values of the receding grass. Very nice.

Unknown said...

I see that having an artist for a wife has caused some knowledge or concept of composition to rub off on Josh. I'm afraid I won't be able to get beyond the emotional response of the first glance.

Josh Gentry said...

Well, I've learned some words, anyway ;-)

Jae really values my opinion on her paintings precisely because I don't know much. I have the uneducated taste of the buying public. It turns out that because of that, I can more acurately predict which pictures will be popular than she can.

Matt Dick said...

Very interesting. Glad you like the photo -- I was happy with it, but Beth really was pleased with it.

That field has very much a raw Illinois look.

Unknown said...

Susan is a big fan of a Champaign/Urbana based photographer named Larry Kanfer. Check out his Prairiescapes. I don't mean to compare your work against a professional's, but I think this guy does a great job of capturing that "raw" look you commented on.