Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.
Questions to guide your feedback
I would like to get some feedback as to the general impact or resonance that this image has for you, whether aesthetic, emotional or whatever. Does it hold your attention and draw you to spend time with it?
Other Information
Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.
Image Description
The making of this image was a real challenge. My wife and I found ourselves at a campsite perched at the top of a fairly steep rock face about 40 feet above the water. As soon as we were settled in I started scouting around to see what caught my eye and file it for better light. You can get a glimpse of what caught my eye by looking at the lower right corner of this image. Down at the bottom of the rock face was this little spot where a Black Spruce was growing at the water’s edge around lush grasses and foliage. I spent hours over the next couple of days trying to take that picture and it always felt ho-hum. And, indeed, when I downloaded the pictures at home those shots were pretty but a very standard concept. However, on one occasion as I was heading back up top to our camp, about halfway I turned around and basically saw this, (though in post, I cropped it off the bottom to square ). I wasn’t sure if this composition would just end up being a chaotic mess, but I feel like there are a few strong elements, principally the branch crossing diagonally from the upper right, the repeating diagonals from the top of the frame, and the strong splashes of green upper left and lower right, that give it sufficient structure.
I usually shoot landscapes in my camera’s Velvia film mode, which boosts the colour so I can see more clearly what colours the camera is capturing. But these days I find myself taking the colour the camera saw and working with it quite a bit – selectively desaturating and generally playing with the colour tone and balance. Here I wanted to retain just a touch of the orange/magenta cast but keep the colour subdued.
What I like best about this image and what drew me to take it in the first place, is the relationship between the grasses rising from below and branches hanging from above against a background where the water and the horizon are ambiguous. I like the abstracted nature of the image which feels to me to be more about spatial relationships rather than any attempt to take a picture of a Black Spruce.
Kerry, Initial reaction - they mystery and obscureness of the background; how obvious water/grasses start fading to obsucurity - coincidentally as the branches of the pine come in to play bottom to top. Your title works perfectly - although given my bottom up reaction, how about “As below, so Above…”
Now I have to say something. As recent as 1, maybe 2 years ago I wouldn’t have “got” this image. Relative to my own bias of pretty and cleanly composed images, I would have been hard pressed to understand this. Kudos to you, @Igor and NPN for expanding this site to more than just a “commenting” site, to more of a “critique” and thinking site. I’m still a “pretty picture” photo kinda guy, but I’m learning to see and understand what other photogs are trying to say. And this image speaks to that.
IMHO, the only suggestion I have in order to keep that “as above as below” concept would be to adjust the tone/contrast/luminosity of the darker trunk in the UR. I think it’s presence is important, I’m just thinking of lessening it’s presence to let the rest ofthe story be told. Hope that makes sense.
This is a really interesting breakdown of foliage and shapes. The two anchoring green corners help to frame and contain our interest. The grasses seem longer and more prominent for their reflections. Energetic counterpoint to the more languid tree branch and all that hangs from it. Ambivalent about the tree trunk in the URC - not sure you could have done anything about that and kept the same geometry.
My initial reaction is a slight sense of melancholy because of the drooping (and apparently) dead branches. That is countered, however, by the bright spring greens of the shrubs and grasses which are pushing upwards through the water. That inherent tension in the subject is there even though the composition and square crop are so well balanced.
Off to read your comments…
Well, you succeeded in that I saw what you wanted to show - the relationship of the branches vs. grasses. Whether you wanted to convey melancholy or not is irrelevant. Our interpretation of the subject is, well, subjective (to a certain extent, that is - I’m not 100% ready to concede that point to @Igor_Doncov yet - ha).
After reading Bonnie’s comments I think that she got what you were trying to convey. The story of new life vs old s represented by the young shoots in the water and the dead branches hanging from above. I often don’t get other people’s work as well as my own. I think that may be just due to the time put into it.
Maybe I totally missed the intention in this? Maybe not?
@Igor_Doncov’s response prompted me to be more specific about my interpretation.
When I first saw this image, I felt like I should be looking for a horizon where the water and sky meet but in reality, I was looking for something that wasn’t there.
The shooting angle from above means that the area behind the branches has to be water as well but my mind was trying to interpret it as sky.
The BG behind the overhead branches feels like an overcast sky even though I know it’s water.
The gray/brown foliage in the central area provides a ‘Virtual Horizon’ that allows my mind to reconcile the sky and water feeling. With that virtual element in play, the horizon confusion is gone.
The title “As Above, So Below” to me means that they are the same, the sky is the water, the water is the sky.
I changed my mind about the title BTW, I prefer it as it is.
In the end though, there is no right or wrong interpretation, there’s only the one that we are happy with even if it isn’t the intended interpretation, and I am perfectly happy with my personal interpretation.
It seems to me that you feel the interpretation of a photo (art in general?) should rest mostly on the beholder and that knowing the intent of the maker is irrelevant.
No, not at all. I believe that the image in some way reflects the maker and may or may not be interpreted as he/she made it. Because the viewer has her own personal makeup which determines how she will see the image (her own memories, experiences, even her own unique genes).
Lovely work here, Kerry. I think the framing is well done and the image is nicely balanced. I think this is about the marriage of the branches and foliage above with the grasses and bush clump (LRC) below. They seem to be intertwined/linked together although the relationship between the two becomes murky with the grasses reaching up and beyond some of the branches that are dropping below. There is a lot of texture in this image and the texture and light light play nicely off each other. You may consider dodging the darkest areas in the URC and also the LRC as they draw my eye ever so slightly. I really can’t think of anything else that could add to this beautiful image, Kerry. Now, I need to go and read your own comments about this.
@Lon_Overacker - I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your thoughtful response. This site has a lot to offer but one of the most important aspects is its capacity to broaden our experience and help us to go beyond liking or not liking an image and think, instead about why we are being affected - what is the photographer doing that elicits this response from me. I have found what is going on on this site over the past couple of months to be very exciting. More than a place to post pictures, it is becoming a place to grow as a photographer.
I plan to tinker with this image around your suggestion re the URC, so thanks for that as well. @Merv - Wow, Merv - a look, a second look, and even a third. This is the kind of feedback that feels so valuable to me (and I imagine to many around and about this site). Of course, as you say, there is no right or wrong interpretation. I have notions about what it means to me and, hopefully the central theme comes across. But once an image is released into the wild, as it were, there is a level of dialogue between the maker of the image and, as Guy Tal puts it, the beholder, that takes on a life of its own. I think that dialogue is incredibly important to all who participate but is not something that I would like to control, even if I could. @Kris_Smith - As always, Kris, I appreciate your thoughtful take. As to the URC, several have commented. Personally, I like what’s there as an anchor but tinkering with the contrast, clarity, and colour might help to reduce the visual mass that seems to pull the eye. @Bonnie_Lampley - I think, Bonnie, that interpretation is subjective but, at the same time, the photographer is setting certain parameters, likely the same or similar to the ones they set when taking the picture in the first place. But as I said in my response to Lon, I was taken by a recent article by Guy Tal where he talks about the relationship between the creator of an image /the image in itself and the beholder. That level of dialogue is so important to the life of an image but, at the same time, is something that the creator may not have any direct experience of or access to. Still, if reality is more like a field phenomenon, then this level of dialogue matters and is one of the most important things to which an artist can contribute. Thanks for taking the time to respond. @Igor_Doncov - See, that’s the thing, Igor. The notion of old life versus new wasn’t on my mind at all either in composing this image or working on it in post. But you see that and then when you share that with me I’m going, “Oh yeah, that is there”. Personally, I know I have found a good solution when it answers more questions than I was asking and I think that is true for making art as well - that, at its best, there is a an inherent depth that allows for a continuous unfolding of meaning. As always, thanks for participating in this little dialogue. @David_Haynes - The realm of existence in which we find ourselves arises out of the tension of complimentary opposites, at least so I believe. I am always aware of that tension, especially when making photographs. This one is certainly about that - above and below, dark and light, and as Igor pointed out, new life vs. old. The Sufi and Kabbalist mystics believed that it was out of this tension of opposites that soul arises. That works for me and I think most of my best images tap into that. Thanks again for taking the time to respond.
Hi Kerry! My initial reaction was very positive, but it became less so upon viewing longer. I don’t mean that as an ugly comment at, just an honest remark. The reason it became less positive after viewing it longer was that the larger bright area in the top middle began to really draw my eyes more and more to that area. Everything else is gorgeous, but I find myself drawn back to the big white spot. I think perhaps croppin some off the top might (like cropping just half way through the white spot) may break the attention grabbing aspect of this. Better yet, I think just filling in a little bit of leaves/branches into the blank area would solve it completely without having to crop anything (see my feeble attempt below). I love the mixed diagonals within the hanging branches and the juxtaposition between the clumps of leaves versus the very straight grasses in the water. The composition feels very balanced left to right. Overall, quite a beauty.
@Bill_Chambers - I really appreciate your taking the time and making the effort to share your thoughts around this image. That beings said, considering how minor the difference is - your version compared to mine - I have to say that I prefer mine. Your version is “nicer” in the sense that by filling in the blanks, it relieves some of the tension in the image. But I actually want that tension. I don’t really want the reader of the image to be completely comfortable. I believe a little dis-ease can be good for the soul
