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The Secret Garden
The Secret Garden
lunachicken


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Classic Novels (Advanced Editing VII)
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Tamron AF 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical IF for Nikon
Date: Oct 13, 2013
Date Uploaded: Oct 15, 2013

In the story there is a little boy tucked away in a room that the main little girl discovers. It was that simple connection that I was going for here. The house is the Henry S. Persse house in Roxborough State Park. It's about an hour hike to get to the house (and that's why all you see in the reflection are grass and old fence posts). It was built at the turn of the century. I liked my son's reflection in the window, and shot it spur of the moment with not a lot of thought to the composition as I was there more to shoot the fall colors. Of course in hind site, I should have spent a little more time thinking it through...

It has been a while since I have done much photography. I appreciate all the constructive criticism, it reminds me all over again to take the time to really examine my photography.

Statistics
Place: 54 out of 86
Avg (all users): 5.6055
Avg (commenters): 6.1667
Avg (participants): 5.7442
Avg (non-participants): 5.5152
Views since voting: 288
Views during voting: 205
Votes: 109
Comments: 18
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
10/22/2013 11:47:03 PM
almost but not quite. 4
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/22/2013 09:53:09 PM
The sense of enclosure matches my guess of what the secret garden is like (to be honest, I haven't read it). The lighting on the child is lovely. I like how ethereal he is in the window... through or reflected? not sure. I think, reflected, and there is some kind of field behind him?

The framing of the window is a bit awkward, so the only thing that struck me at first was the subtle reflection of the child. But on further looking, this awkward enclosure creates a story. 7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/22/2013 08:50:40 PM
I don't know how this relates to the book. I like the reflection of the little boy in the dark room, and I don't know if you could have shot this at a different angle, but the composition seems a little off to me. I do like the B&W conversions too.

gave it a 5
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/22/2013 11:30:29 AM
Subtlely powerful
i find myself unable to truly put all of my feelings on this into words as i could easily end up going down a series of tangents
a 7 from me
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/21/2013 11:30:58 PM
Nicely understated.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/21/2013 11:21:06 PM
Comment Challenge: I like this subtle but effective picture. The girl in the glass is potentially missed, but the subtleness of her adds to the feeling of hidden / secret. The image seems to say, "I am hiding something from you."
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/21/2013 08:58:50 PM
6...definitely conveys a sense of loneliness. My main 2 problems with this image are; the bit of window frame at the top, I might have cropped that out and the B&W conversion seems a bit flat...it could do with a bit of a levels or curves adjustment.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/21/2013 06:55:46 PM
Hmm.. This novel evokes images of fantastic English gardens and high-culture.

The image doesn't really do that for me - this seems far more American and rural, and not like the imagery of the novel.

With that being said, a lonely child was a strong theme of the novel, so points there.

Overall, the image doesn't really intrigue me, and I find the reflection to be the most interesting part - yet even then it's still not terribly interesting.

5
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/20/2013 09:09:48 PM
I find this image to be quite appealing. The emotion I wish to see in this child ties it in nicely with the book. The image itself really is beautiful. 8
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/19/2013 01:01:46 PM
Does not tell me much of a garden but I do like the reflection of the boy. I would have tried a different crop, straighten a bit the frame and play more with light contrast. 6
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/18/2013 09:53:19 PM
A good mood created that focuses more on a study of the child rather than the environment. I like how you have the faint image of the boy set in his usual surrounds. One of the few entries that really makes me feel the connection. 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/18/2013 03:55:21 PM
This relates well enough to the novel but the photo lacks impact. Some processing could help and a modified crop to better relate the strong lines of the window to the framing edges of the image. 5
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/18/2013 09:03:04 AM
nice
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/17/2013 07:59:12 PM
This one took me a second until I thought back through the book. Part of me wants the boy to be lighter, part of me likes just how dark he is. The stones on the left seem intrusive, though. I'm curious what it would look like cropped in more, or with a heavier vignette, something to de-emphasize the stone since the rest is so wonderfully subtle. -7-
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/17/2013 10:22:37 AM
I think this shot may have worked better for the Doors/Windows/etc challenge.
The lighting is odd. It's too much "grays" for my liking. I don't understand the photo and title combination.
Gave it a 4
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/16/2013 09:28:41 PM
For some reason, I find this image to be very unsettling and eerie! The reflection of the child is almost ghost-like! Quite sinister feeling. Fits well with the title!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/16/2013 08:17:53 PM
Beautiful, well felt shot, I particularly like the B&W treatment. I am glad that I looked at this shot on a different monitor because the darkness obscures almost totally the little boy.
It lacks though this element that I was looking for here: the magic.
7
  Photographer found comment helpful.
10/16/2013 12:28:27 PM
Dull and too indoorsie , all the elements seem to clash.5.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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