Please share your first response before reading the hidden notes below. The photographer is looking for an unbiased initial impression.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
Questions for Viewers
As this is dried mud, I’m curious about the feeling you get when seeing this at first glance. I’m also interested in your thoughts on the composition and how the elements of the image flow…or not.
Are there any distractions I missed?
About This Image
I was in the Arizona and Utah deserts about 2 months ago starting in Page Arizona (both upper and lower Antelope canyons), then Coal Mine Canyon, followed by Monument Valley and then Alstrom Point high above Lake Powell. I then ventured into Utah where I hit Canyon Lands, Moab, Arches and finally Capital Reef. These two images were made near Capital Reef but not in the park. I had severe storms for most of the trip making for some interesting and unusual mud patterns. After spending the better part of a day searching for various patterns I decided I would try and find elements, that when framed appropriately, would appear like trees and/or tree branches. All in, I have about 25 images that I think fit that bill. I’m sharing 2 of those images here.
Please let me know if these appear to be trees. Also, which of these images do you prefer?
I saw a tree in the second image at first. Then realized that a tree with falling leaves was in the first image. Very creative work. I prefer the second image overall.
The second one brought an Art Deco poster to mind, which is a positive association in my view. Like Igor, I saw a tree, but I also see a woman dancing. I think the second one has a better and more balanced composition. Very cool.
David, the visual flow in these two looks great. They do look like works of oriental art. I would crop some off the top of #2. For me, the “heaviness” from all the “splatters” at the top takes away from the smooth gentle flow in the rest of the frame. #2 also has more to see, with the bit of horizontal flow along the bottom.
These are amazing! The top one looks like an inverted tornado to me, with the debris flying through the air. The seocond verymuch looks like a tree. The rocks form the “leaves” perfectly. Don’t know that I would change a thing about these.
Ho. Lee. Cow!! These are amazing and wonderful! I loved the first one until i saw the second, which is a piece of art to me – a fantasy tree!! It feels better balanced but also just resonates with my brain, the fantasy way the base of the trunk flares out. I could wonder about a gradient lightening near the top, as it feels a bit heavy there, but I’m not even going to mention it as I find this so amazing as is!!
Hi David,
I liked these immediately when the thumbnails came up on my phone. Tried to do the eye path markup and found it more linear than my eye, but I would describe it as coursing along the dark, down into the “trunk” and then around the rocks, and then up and down the trunk. The cracks in the light mud were the last thing I noticed.
[D2] I drew a couple of arrows where the rocks intersect with the end of the frame. I would be inclined to delete those two
[E1] through the dark and down through the trunk and around the rocks, the cracks came last
I noticed with the new beta system, I couldn’t see the second image. I’ll edit in composure and see if it returns.
I had to go to composer and then minimize this to see the second image. I think I find the first one more interesting. FWIW, I think the second one and first one have “two-fer” potential, as I like to call it. I see two square or horizontal images in each of them, so you have two wonderful images and also four possible images.
Edit: Having seen your comments now, I think you achieved that tree effect. I, like Diane, am not getting up from my chair until you post more.
It appears that the second tree is the favorite. It is definitely a little more “Art Deco” as Don puts it. I also see the woman dancing in the second one Don. Good catch which I had not noticed until you mentioned it.
Mark, I get how you see Oriental Art from these. Yes, the top 10% or so of the second image has a lot of rocks which makes it heavy looking. I was worried about the bright spot to the right of the main subject in image 2 but nobody brought that up.
I find mud amazing in the same way I find melted glacial water in Alaska and Iceland amazing with all of the grey/blue fingers and abstract designs they create.
Thanks Marylynne and Diane for encouraging me to post some more of these. I’ll post a couple more in the coming days but I will definitely wear out my welcome if I go much beyond that.
I’ve been meaning for days now to comment and finally getting here! OH MY, these are incredible!
Back when I first viewed, my initial impression came from just viewing the smaller thumbnails. The mystery and abstractness were off the chart and it really wasn’t as obvious as the Title led me to believe. For sure, I definitely see the “Trees”, and the darker things (I guess rocks) as fallen/falling leaves as others have pointed out.
The larger view, these are even more impressive, although the details in the mud make it a little clearer what the subject matter is. Still, the patterns and what you framed are simply outstanding. I’m hard pressed to pick one over the other. The first has a a more simple shape and perhaps more recognizable as a “tree”. Those rocks really, really add to the story and image.
The second one is so much more nuanced; flowing and graceful. I still see a tree, but I see more of an animation, a dancer… just so much more dynamic and mysterious too. So I think I’ve talked myself in to the second one.
Processing, top notch, I have no suggestions. Great work!
The only suggestion I have and I think may have been pointed out, in the first image, you might consider cloning out the rock in the LLC. To a lesser extent the rock breaching the edge, bottom middle. Otherwise, WOW, these are just wonderful.
I’ll look forward to more from the series and wonder if you might be putting a “Project” together to post?
Treating myself to another look here! If I didn’t have a life, I could spend 24/7 seeking scenes like this!!! Maybe I found out about him here in the first place – maybe even from you – just don’t remember --but just in case, do you know about Li Huayi? https://lihuayiarts.com His “figurative” work with trees makes me feel like I died and went to heaven!
@Diane_Miller and @Lon_Overacker
Thank you both very much for your kind thoughts on these abstracts. I found one of these and then not long after I found a second. I then spent quite a lot of time driving around, looking for more mud patterns that might show me tree and branch shapes on the last portion of my trip. I became obsessed with it.
First, I’d never really seen mud cracks with so many stones lying around before. So I immediately thought that this was kind of unique. Then I started to see patterns, colors, shapes and textures.
It wasn’t until I got home and downloaded these that they really spoke to me. The tree shapes and the branch shapes came to fruition and my project has some good legs.
Diane, I don’t know the artist you are referencing but I loved the website and the history. Thanks for sharing and thanks for having a second look at these. That really means a lot to me.
Lon, glad you’re doing better and are back home and enjoying some NPN screen time. I pretty much have your same thoughts on the two images. The first one says tree and the second one say tree but it says lots of other things as well. I always appreciate your feedback and thoughts. Have fun with that new lens.
Oooh, I love dark rocks on mud. Both of these are wonderful, but the second one is really lovely. Like Don, I see a dancing figure in a flowing dress. The second one has such a feeling of gracefulness. In the second one, I can see some white in the “figure”. I wondered what it would look like if that was brought out more. Here’s my idea, done solely by dodging lights and burning the lighter darks just in the “figure”. Maybe that’s not your cup of tea for nature photography (I’m tending towards interpretation these days vs. leaving things well enough alone - ha).
Hi David,
I am trying to figure out how I missed these two very intriguing abstract images on the first go round. Shame on me. They both have this wonderful flow and grace about them which I find very inviting. I could see these hanging in a doctor’s office or some other medical building as they are just so relaxing to gaze upon. My only suggestion might be the already mentioned small crop from the top of the second image. I am looking forward to viewing the other dried mud images as well. I can’t pick a favorite.
