Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction
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 is an image of the beach at Domburg, The Netherlands in the morning, when the fog just gave way to the rising sun.
Technical Details
The photograph was taken using a Nikon D7100 at ISO 200, 1/200 sec at f/11 using a Nikon 18-70mm, f/3.5-4.5.
The emptiness of the foreground, the remnant post, and the newer buildings fading into the background speak to man’s retreat from the edge of the shoreline. There’s a bit of a melancholy feel to it, but it’s not really sad because there’s enough light coming into the scene. Lovely work.
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Thank you for your thoughts, Bonnie. I always enjoy to hear what people feel and think when they look at my photographs because it usually is so very different from what my emotions and thoughts are. This is what makes photography so interesting and fascinating for me. Thanks again!
Bewilderment. My reaction is bewilderment. The post doesn’t seem to belong in the scene and yet it echoes the lighthouse and therefore it does belong compositionally. It’s black nature also separates it from the rest of the scene. The other thing is that we seem to see the reflection off the surface of the water as well as through the surface to the bottom. All in all there is a lot of intrigue in this image. It’s just mysterious. And also poetic.
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Very good, Igor. I like what you said. The post is something man-made in the middle of sand, water and clouds. The buildings are at least partly covered by the fog, but the post just stands there somewhat defiantly. I think mysterious and poetic are good words for this. Thank you.
