Moth and Rust

Image Critiques
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Original - Moth-and-rust-.jpg
Original - Moth-and-rust-.jpg2000×1325 2.77 MB

Additional image 1
Additional image 12000×1325 2.83 MB

Weekly Challenge

Reclaimed by Nature
6/28/26 - 7/4/26
Critique Style: Standard

The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.

Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive

About This Image

In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus admonished His listeners not to lay up treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy but lay up treasure in heaven where rust and moth can’t destroy. As soon as I spotted this 1949 Dodge Wayfarer on one of my flower hunts in Washington County this verse came immediately to mind. It was especially poignant to me since I was also born in 1949. Now I found this old dear over 20 years ago so its demise after about 45-50 years was a little disconcerting. Fortunately for me, even though this old junker is long gone, I’m still going fairly strong but how long will that last? Whenever I see an old derelict like this I try to picture what it looked like on the showroom floor so many years ago. I find that hard to do but can imagine the level of neglect it took to get to this stage. I think I’ll try not to neglect myself so that, even though I’m not shiny and new, perhaps one day I’ll achieve classic status. :roll_eyes: >=))>

Feedback Requested

Do old wrecks like this give you pause or do you just find them curiosities or mere eyesores?

Do you prefer the full color version or the desaturated?

Technical Details

Taken with a Minolta Maxuum 7, probably Velvia or Provia with a Minolta 24-85. Techs long since forgotten.

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Interesting text with this one, Bill. Somehow, I’ve never associated the decrepitude of inanimate objects with my own mortality-though there are plenty of reminders of that often enough.

I thing I prefer the full color version. The desaturated works for the car and the barn?, but the grass looks odd in it to my eye. The full color version is a treat, and it’s interesting that most of the body at this angle looks in pretty decent condition aside from the paint, though I suspect the interior is pretty ugly.

I couldn’t resist looking this baby up:

image
image1614×876 552 KB

1 Like
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Nicely done, Bill. I’m torn between the two color treatments. I prefer the more muted one. It communicates the same sense of fading away that the car itself represents. I see Dennis’ point about the grass. Maybe it needs a touch of warming?

I wonder if time crushed that roof or a roll over, and that’s why it was left to decay. Great story here, especially for car lovers (count me as one).
ML

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Bill, the color version works best for me. I think the rust in that image provides a strong message of decay if you will. Thinking back, one of my parent’s first cars was a 1950 Dodge Diplomat. I recall the hood ornament as a small rams head. It worked perfectly as a place to hang two canvas water bags as it’s radiator was a leaker…:nauseated_face: