Mohonkby
davisspragueComment by emorgan49: Hello from the Critique Club- First I have to say that I know nothing, absolutely nothing about infra red photography. Since this is your first submission I don't know if it is your favorite method. The critique club computer assigns pictures randomly so perhaps someday, on a future submission, someone who knows infra red will review you.
This is New York, right? I know what this coniferous/deciduous landscpe looks like in the winter - bleak. And I also know how cold it was last week. You were brave to get out there at all. I totally disagree with the people who thought this might look better in color, blue and green and grey and white are not so interesting. At first glance it looks almost south western with that jutting rock formation. I think they were expecting some red clay or something. We forget that the East Coast was shaped by the same dramatic geological forces as the rest of the country because it is all covered with trees. Your picture portray a vast, lonely, emptyness that we don't associate with New York.
Your choice of black and white (and probably infra red, but I can't say) empasizes the Earth below and the Sky above, And deemphasizes the trees and bushes that try to cover it up. your sky of course is stunning, no one could have missed that. I like the way that the clouds are mirrored on the land in the corresponding patches of snow.
I like the compositional lines, the Z shape is a nice one for the eye to travel. Leads right to that pinnacle on the bluff. And a matching smaller peak of snow at the other end of the Z is a nice balance. What ever that pinnicle is, it looks man made. It even looks like a religious point of focus - saying "Look what God made".
However, I'm not religeous so I will accept it as an awesome visual point, like a beacon in the wilderness.
Out of focus? I don't see that, the blurry look is just all this bare tree, right? the sky is in focus, the ridge is in focus. My first thought was that this is the wrong venue for a picture like this. Small format, low jpg size doesn't do it justice. It wants to be a BIG print. I seems to vast a landscape to fit on my little screen. Not saying you should crop it, because the compostion is REALLY nice. I'm just thinking it might have scored better if it was less ambitious. 95th place is fine, doesn't make it any less of a photo! It's the same picture no matter where it places.
On the infra red issue, I will repeat what another commenters said. "if this is an infrared image, which is my guess at the moment, then I know firsthand how tricky it is getting things in your image sharp. Infrared has a different focusing point than the one given by your camera". DPC is a bunch of amateurs. I wonder how many even recognized that it was infra red?
Forgot my disclaimer - Please remeber that this is only one persons. far from expert, opinion
Message edited by author 2003-01-23 09:58:32.