I really dislike usual examples of grunge photography (as seen when "Googling" the term): adding scratches and dust as an overlay over a boring picture does not make it interesting in my book. And if the picture is good, it doesn't need such processing trick. Way too artificial as far as I'm concerned (yes, I know, strange words coming from me!)
So I deliberately decided to not use such overlay, despite the risk of low votes (which I can live with). Instead of that, I tried to show how grunge I can sometimes feel inside, how everything around me looks meaningless at those times, despite my efforts to try and behave accordingly in my direct environment. I'm sure I'm not the only one to feel like a total stranger from time to time, even though I'm supposed to stand in a friendly place.
Technically, the scene is mainly a creation:
- I found the abandoned staircase near a river, while having a walk in the evening. It is in fact halfway shorter (2 shots of it were combined to make it longer). I did not shoot it the first time I saw it, because I wanted the light to come from behind it, so I came back the next day in the morning.
- the leading path was shot separately, at wide angle to fit in adequately.
- rocks were shot separately.
- same goes for sky, keys, keyhole, body, and face.
I'm particularly happy with the tree-dimensional composition: it took me a lot of tries and adjustments to get there and obtain proportions and shapes suiting my eye. I probably would not have been able to create a similar picture a few months ago, it's a great satisfaction to feel some progress. I think I'm going to continue working more and more in such personal way, and avoiding spending time on "usual" pictures: too much fun to pass! ;)
Thanks for all your helpful comments and nice votes!
[Apr. 16th, 2012 06:45:38 PM]
PS: I would like to answer that comment: "Unfortunate Christophe, I don't like overly photoshopped images. I have a real disdain for them, and thus vote accordingly. It's hard to offer a real critique because this is simply a case of I simply don't like it."
By all means, do not feel like you have to "offer a real critique". If you really disdain such images so strongly, to the point you won't recognize any merit to it as soon as it qualifies to this category, then your comment and opinion are purely and simply totally unhelpful and meaningless to me. A bit like if a guitar hero would tell to a classical musician how lame his cello is. The visions are simply not compatible and irrelevant to each other: photography contains many genres, and there is no point in writing such comment, unless your want to discourage people from doing what they like, but I'm sure it's not the case.
Statistics
Place: 4 out of 120 Avg (all users): 7.1450 Avg (commenters): 7.5789 Avg (participants): 6.7538 Avg (non-participants): 7.5303 Views since voting: 3972 Views during voting: 413 Votes: 131 Comments: 37 Favorites: 4 (view)
Unfortunate Christophe, I don't like overly photoshopped images. I have a real disdain for them, and thus vote accordingly. It's hard to offer a real critique because this is simply a case of I simply don't like it.
That's a little ridiculous, this was an Expert challenge - the Photoshopping part is pretty much the point of the rule set.
If you feel like that, then don't vote in Expert challenges.
An excellent creation. I was going back and forth on using the overlay, but decided to go with it since it was the first time I have used one. I think my entry made more sense to use one. I think they can add a great deal of mood to an image, but not make a bad image better. Congrats on HM Christophe.
Hmmmm... I forgot this was titled "headache", and since I have a bad one at the moment, it's making it worse! Hanging upside down is one of the worst things to do with a headache, plus upside down and twisted makes me realize the pain that I didn't realize in the first go around.
You probably would have hit an 8 if people all voted with headaches. :)
Congrats on the HM!
And how unfortunate that people just automatically vote down what they don't like without exploring further. There are so many things that I didn't care for when I first started here -- blur and abstracts were high on the list. But I looked at each one for what it was and opened my mind to possibilities. Though I don't shoot many blurs or abstracts, I have a great appreciation for them now.
People should open their minds to all the possibilities. :)
You're right. There is a great sense of depth in this image, which is very difficult to achieve. So well done! Good job with the stairs--I didn't notice.
The lack of ears is really disturbing!
Also, your voting distribution was the most chaotic in the challenge, so you get this
The thing I love about your images is that all the details have a reason for being there. There is nothing gratuitous about any element in the image. Congrats on the HM.
Unfortunate Christophe, I don't like overly photoshopped images. I have a real disdain for them, and thus vote accordingly. It's hard to offer a real critique because this is simply a case of I simply don't like it.
Probably more surreal than grunge but oh how I can relate to the subject matter. Sadly, I don't believe there is a key that fits, and yet we all still continue to search, don't we? Awesome sky, by the way, and a pretty nifty staircase as well.
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