My wife and I recently visited Death Valley, which was somehow a first for me. The area received nearly an inch of rain the night before we arrived, so many of the roads were closed for most if not all of our time there (we obviously didn’t run out of things to see, though). Some of the unpaved roads turned into pudding. Several days later, the edges of the pudding began to dry and crack, forming these incredible mini-scenes.
Oh wow, this is amazingly beautiful. The varied shapes, design , tonal range and textures could be part of a glass sculpture or picture window. Never would have guessed what it actually is. Hope you took more to share with us.
Wow, this is really cool! Crazy mud patterns - I’ve never seen a transition quite like that, and I’ve seen my fair share of crazy mud in DV.
The composition looks nice and balanced to me, but I think it could be improved slightly by losing a little bit off the bottom where it gets fairly busy with those small sections.
I would then darken some of the white mud along the right edge, and maybe brighten the dark section in the lower left to preserve the dark-top-to-light-bottom gradient.
Other than those small suggestions I think this is just super! Here it is with these suggestions:
OH, MY, Goodness! Unique for sure and perhaps one of the most fascinating mud-crack images I’ve seen.
I’m with Bill on seeing a stained glass window - right away. Then my imagination kicked in to high gear. does anyone see a bunch of human figures? On the top row right of center, a woman is comforting a small child. To her right perhaps a father figure with his arm comforting the two. Bottom right, a small child with its head between his arms or legs. In fact there are many figures all seemingly submitting to - the two hooded figures on the left… Or am I hallucinating? It was a weird dream…
Back to reality, I like Alex’s edits - subtle tweaks that make a noticeable difference.
This is so good, it almost doesn’t look real or even a photograph. Very impressive image, you should be very happy.
Beautiful. I was just about to mention it looked like a stained glass window, but I see I am not alone in that thought. Great image! I like Alex’s tweaks, as well, but looks sweet as presented.
What a curious and unique design. It looks like one of those jigsaw puzzles I would buy for my kids where you had to fit the right block into the right hole.
I also see ghosts in this image. Or a group portrait of faceless people. One of them doesn’t look too happy. Maybe lead the viewer into that direction with a crop that’s suggestive of a group portrait. Will they get it? I don’t know. The best abstracts for me are those which suggest something.
There was seriously a mile of mud in different states of drying. I wish I could have spent more time shooting there. It was a gold mine of mud.
Thanks for the suggestions. I will keep them in mind when I rework this image. I especially like the decluttering crop advice. It’s amazing how subtle tweaks can make such a difference.
I definitely see a crowd scene as well. I imagined the group anxiously awaiting an announcement from a being (out of the frame to the left) following some tragic event. I still haven’t found a suitable title to go along with that imagery.
I agree with the idea that an abstract should suggest something. Coming up with a decent title would have helped. That has been the most challenging part of this image.
I have looked at your image and the other versions several times. Although I like them all, I prefer a crop off the bottom somewhere between those of Alex and Igor. Reminds me of people trudging along or fleeing/escaping from something, perhaps oppression. Maybe “The Departing”? “Escape”?
That’s stunning. I actually prefer your original crop no nits at all. I was actually left guessing whether it was an overhead shot from a drone as some of those tracks looked like roads. Very well found and one of the best abstracts I have seen in a long while.
Wow. Really beautiful. I certainly appreciate this new take as opposite to the usual mud cracks being displayed across social media these days. Fantastic job. Curious, since I can’t get my brain around it. Is it top down or how did you shot it?
Thanks. I shot this with the camera held directly above the mud with my arms extended in front of me so I wouldn’t trample the mud patterns. The glare from the sun made it so I couldn’t see my screen from that angle, so I had to take a few shots, review the images to check my composition, and then repeat until I got the one I was shooting for. It was bright enough for me to use a fast shutter speed to avoid blurring the shot. An awkward technique for sure, but it ended up working out.
This is such a fantastic photo, Cameron. I love the mix of shapes and colors all in one patch of mud. Overall, I think the composition and processing both look spot on.
