questions the artist can ask him/herself: Why is the subject on the side? Why darkness? Why a pinecone? (or is it a fircone?) Is it about the layers? Is it about the seeds?
When you put a subject off to the side, you create an unbalanced composition, which causes the viewer to teeter into your photo. That's great, but now that the viewer is there, in your photo, what does s/he see? I want more. I love darkness, but you are not being fair to darkness. It seems to only be foiling the glowing cone.
think of it this way. you made certain decisions based on standard ways of presenting a good looking photograph. The composition, the lighting, a single subject. You did this all skillfully, but this is a fine arts challenge. Your skills were in service of creating something familiar to the reader. The pleasure comes from familiarity. But fine art stresses unfamiliarity, and challenging the viewer.
That being said, I assume that you acknowledge "fine art" by making it darker than you would normally, and showing a rough texture on the floor. the chiaroscuro lighting does echo some great artists of the past. It's more of an homage to art, than it is art. |