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
Although visuals are essential to me as a photographer, the emotional aspects of photography are of even more interest to me. So what do you feel looking at this scene? How would you describe the atmosphere? Does this make you think of a story, true or fictional, and if so, what is it about? Thank you for your thoughts.
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
This was taken one afternoon in February 2017 in the woods near Waimes in Belgium. What impressed me most and had a great impact on the mood was the acoustics. The snow seems to swallow a lot of the sounds, but there is the sound of branches breaking under the weight of the snow and the creaking of your shoes in the deep snow. The silence does sound different than in other silent places. I thought that I felt like Robert Frost’s “Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening”, even though it was afternoon and not evening.
Technical Details
This was shot with a Nikon D3200 with a 35mm f/1.8 prime. 1/125th sec at f/8 and ISO 100.
Specific Feedback
Please let me know not so much what you see, but what you feel, as this is what at least in my opinion is the true value of a photograph.
Holger, I love the image you shared here. When I first look at it, I see the reverence of the leaning tree toward the others across the way. My first reaction was that the small tree was bowing to the other trees. When I think of benediction (the title you gave this image), I am taken back to my Catholic upbringing. Generally, when receiving benediction, I am in a position similar to that small tree in your photo. It is as if that tree is expecting some type of blessing from its elders. The image has a high impact because of the immense size of the two rows of large trees. That was accentuated by the portrait crop you chose. The B&W edit is also very effective in augmenting the solemnity of the scene. This is a very beautiful image.
Thank you for your kind words and the emotions and thoughts you shared. I think your connecting the title and an interaction between the trees and implying religious motifs in the image is very interesting. The quiet mood in the forest can be compared to the atmosphere in a cathedral and for me nature can be something like that which depends on your relationship to religion. For me you could use the word nature instead of naming something god. Semantics, but I agree that there is something divine in a snowy forest like that. Thanks again for your insights.
Holger, you have expressed very similar views I have regarding nature. It is a place of reverence, peace, and commune. You presented us with a very powerful image.
You’re welcome. It was an interesting exercise to compare what you envisioned with your image and what I interpreted your vision to be.
Hi Holger, to me this image feels like a scene without a subject. The pine trees are framing an empty gap, the leaning tree doesn’t draw enough attention, and the foot prints don’t really add anything and only draw my attention away from the other stuff. There isn’t really any one thing that the scene seems to be about, and collectively it’s not very cohesive either. Feels a little haphazard and unintentional to me. I guess removing some of the top of the frame could help draw more attention to the tree and would be an improvement.
Thank you for your thoughts, Eric. I think it is interesting to see how different the reactions are to an image that I know is not necessarily great, but that has emotional value to me for I was there, remember who I was with and what I saw, heard, and felt. I wanted to see whether this could still have an impact on someone and it had, ranging from good to not that good. Thank you again for your honesty.
This is something I feel all of us as photographers struggle with: does the image actually convey what we experienced? It can be difficult to look at our own work objectively, and from a sort of detached perspective in order to determine this. What I have also found is that some experiences just don’t translate well into photographs, and might be better expressed through writing, music, or painting. This is why I practice more than one art form. I am glad to hear you appreciated my honesty and that it was somewhat helpful to you.
I think no image can actually convey what the creator experienced (I wrote at length about this in my article “A photograph’s message. If any.” here on NPN). The best we can hope for is that the viewer has an emotional response, I would even go as far as to say that even a negative emotional response means something.
I agree that practicing other art forms is more than just helpful. I often combine a short text with my photographs and have experimented to add music to that, which makes presenting images, prose, and music more of an effort, but I think it can amplify the emotional impact and allow more people intellectual and emotional access to what you do. The readings by Jack Kerouac backed by a jazz combo come to mind.
I found that a lot of the photographers I am interested in and inspired by were also writers and musicians.
As soon as I thought about it I realized I’d phrased that in the wrong way. It’s more like: does the image actually convey the experience you intended to convey? In the case where we like an image because it brings back fond memories, we then need to ask ourselves if it really conveys those things since viewers can’t see the image with the same memories in mind.
I can’t remember if I reas that or not, I’ll have to go back and read that one. Sounds interesting!
That is, indeed, a very important question we all should ask ourselves when capturing a scene, Eric. That is one reason I like this type of critique for an initial reaction. Often, I believe we will get different responses from different people. We all come to photography from different perspectives. For example, when I read the caption and saw the photo, I had all these religious tones infused in my head.
For me, I often have music associated with an image. Maybe it’s because of my long-standing practice of writing music reviews. I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. I like to couple music and photography.
I keep going back to this image because it’s an example of the difference between a meaningful image and an aesthetically beautiful one. If you are after a lot of likes or to win a photography contest then this is not the type one would submit.
Good thing I’m not after that Of course I would like it if everybody loved what I’m doing. But I also like that this image and what I had to say is sparking a bit of a discussion here.
On the contrary, I like it very much. Don’t know how you got that idea. Sorry if I appeared unfriendly. When I say something isn’t beautiful it’s a compliment.
I don’t think my definition of beauty is any different from the normally accepted term. Balance, proportion are some terms I think of in terms of classical Greek beauty. Michelangelo’s David is a good example. But for an image to have depth and profoundness it needs to evoke an emotional response. It needs to have meaning beyond the external appearance of its subject. I saw that in your image. During the classical period of art people didn’t really understand the inner world as we do now. So it’s not surprising that there has been a shift in art to reflect that.
Of course I would like it if everybody loved what I’m doing. But I also like that this image and what I had to say is sparking a bit of a discussion here.