Watching My Own Existence
by posthumous

Comment by Louis:
Well, you have three of my top three favourite photographic subjects: water, sky, and children. So I can't help but say this is an awesome photograph. I really love it. With a composition like this, people usually say, "Subject too far right/left/outside the golden mean", and end up completely missing the point. Your "subject" is almost incidental to his environment, it seems, and is so completely part of it, advancing as he does from the painfully beautiful concentric swell beneath him, that thrusting him into the centre of the frame or somewhere other than where he is would completely destroy the effect, for me. His captured stance is dreamy as he looks into water. The radiating ripples are breathtaking, making this image for me. They originate with your subject's gaze, and go out to touch the edges of the visible water. The dead vegetation at left pushes the scene to the right and touches the small strip of sky (awesomely coloured, by the way). I love, repeat, love the tilted horizon, and would not like to see this "corrected". It isn't razor-sharp, and who needs it. His life preserver adds a really subtle nuance to this scene that grabs me, somehow. What a tender, thought-provoking image. I'll admit that your comments really helped me to appreciate this all the more, but this already has so much, for me, that it wasn't really needed.

Literary Outtake 4
by posthumous

Comment by Germaine:
Beautiful morning capture. I love the mist and dew. I'd like to see you get rid of the stray branches at the right.

Yellow Outtake
by posthumous

Comment by Germaine:
Wonderful, sweeping lines.

Gold in the Heartland
by posthumous

Comment by neophyte:
I like the 3-D effect you captured here.

Gold in the Heartland
by posthumous

Comment by Ashuuter:
I like this shot, the angles, but the color of the sky is too distracting !

Gold in the Heartland
by posthumous

Comment by Younger:
looks too sharpened

"I wandered lonely as a cloud" -Wordsworth
by posthumous

Comment by bood:
Outstanding image with immense mood! Well done.
Thanks for the comments, really appreciated
david

Watching My Own Existence
by posthumous

Comment by posthumous:

Originally posted by agenkin: The way I understood your alegory is that he's looking at his reflection, distorted by the ripples that he created. Am I missing something?

Well, once you mentioned his reflection, it seemed obvious. But actually when I came up with the title I was only thinking about his ripples. In a sense, he created the ripples (as we create art, create photos), whereas the reflection is more passive. Though in another sense, the reflection is caused by light waves rippling out from us, so really isn't that different after all. So, no, you're not missing anything. We have two elements now: the ripples and the reflection, and we can combine them any way we wish to create various meditations. :)

And we are watching the boy as the boy watches himself. And as the photographer, I am watching myself, since this photo "rippled" from my actions. And as a viewer, you become the photographer watching himself. I need a drink.

Watching My Own Existence
by posthumous

Comment by agenkin:

Originally posted by posthumous: No I wouldn't expect you to get it from the picture. The title is kind of its own poem meant to interact with the picture. Hopefully, the picture has its own merits. To be honest, I sincerely doubt the boy IS looking at his own reflection.

What matters is the illusion, created by the picture. Even if the boy is simply trying to recite the multiplication table in his head, if it *looks* like he's looking at his reflection, that's good enough. :)

Just to make sure you understand, I'm not trying to shoot the picture down. It's a beautiful picture with a mood.

Originally posted by posthumous: Oh, and another obscure point: you could say he is looking at his ripples, not his reflection!

The way I understood your alegory is that he's looking at his reflection, distorted by the ripples that he created. Am I missing something?

Something Fishy
by posthumous

Comment by agenkin:
Well, this is texture to me. Perhaps the texture alone in a picture is not enough...