Architecture Comparisons

So in this scene from Cathedral Gorge State Park, who is the better architect … Civilian Conservation Corps and their water tower from the 1920s, or Mother Nature with sculpted mud fins?
I thought the contrast was interesting, both in subject matter and textures. Color was not interesting in the scene, so monochrome was the obvious choice.
Old Digital Rebel xTi, f/22 24mm cropped

I like it. The light on the rocks looks great. I’m wondering what it would look like if you pushed the overall contrast a bit more

Thanks @Nathan_Klein . Not much room to darken the darks, but raising the whites provides more delineation … land and clouds

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Excellent find and composition with great light! I’m pulled through that gap to explore the tower and the interesting BG behind it. It’s interesting that an older, simpler camera gave you such a great file. I’m sure the photographer gets a lot of credit for that. My only nit is that the detail in the LR corner competes a bit. Maybe some lower contrast there? And then I notice the small narrow highlight on the right edge. Maybe it could be burned down.

Thanks @Diane_Miller I will attend to those rhs details. Happy you enjoyed this.

Very nicely done, Dick. It’s great light, very soft, almost as though lit with a soft box. You’ve done a marvellous job bringing out the textures in the mud fins. I especially like how you’ve framed the water tower, which gives the image its depth. Very tactile image and I’m glad that you didn’t push the darks too far.

This is such a lovely image. The great light really brought out the texture of these ‘fins’. The composition is really good as well. Just a really good overall image. In looking at this from an iPhone I can’t tell if the rework is an improvement or not.

I vote for Mother Nature - no contest. The comp and alignment spot on. I too admire the texture in the natural cathedral.

@Larry_Greenbaum. Thanks Larry. I had not thought about it until you mentioned “cathedral” but Mother gives a fair imitation of Gaudi’s work in Barcelona

See www.123rf.com/photo_9697661_-barcelona-cathedral-sagrada-la-familia-.html

@Dick_Knudson: True that, Dick, but I think it has to be the other way around - Gaudi gives a fair imitation of the “architecture” of the natural world.

Yes @Kerry_Gordon . LOL
I saw that response coming the moment I hit Reply