Seasons of a tree - 51°26'35"N 7°03'50"E

Image Critiques Project Critiques
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Project Images

Seasons of a tree - 51°26’35"N 7°03’50"E

Project Description

It was one time in May, a couple of years ago, when I found myself in a creative rut and I haven’t been able to get out of it for a long time. Maybe a shoot at an iconic location would have helped to get out of it, but I wasn’t willing to drive several hours either. So I asked myself if there’s any subject nearby that I could go to. I live in an urban area in Germany, very much dominated by it’s industrial culture, and there isn’t much going on with regards to landscapes. Fortunately there is a small park only 5 minutes away from where I live. And there is a tree that I always thought is somehow missplaced, as it has far too much character to stand and grow in this man made environment. It would fit so much better in a deep dark forest. Anyway, I made this my go-to-subject when I fancy a little shoot but wasn’t willing to spend a whole day on it. My seasons project was born. From that time on, when the conditions outside where special I photographed my lonely oak tree

Self Critique

This project is about longevity. About commiting to one subject, portraying it in all it’s variations over time and seasons. It shows that even in urban and industrial environments, there is a chance of regularly shooting landscape pictures. It also shows the importance of having a nearby subject.
I want to improve on the creative aspects on this project. I’m looking for ideas and feedback on how I could portray the tree on future shootings. Maybe ICM or a night shooting. Maybe details and abstracts.

Creative Direction

My aim is to portray the tree and it’s environment in as many different variations as possible. I only wanted to limit myself to one subject. But other than that, everything is allowed. It should be unclear to the viewer where this tree is located. The urban environment should not be visible.

Specific Feedback

All Feedback is welcome. But especially on the creative side. As the pictures have been taken throughout the major part of my photography journey, there are some newer and some older ones included. For the time beeing I decided not to reedit the pictures, although my style of shooting and editing has changed over the years.
Aesthetic:
Conceptual:
Emotional:
Technical:

Intent of the project

Gallery on your website

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Sandro, I’d say this project was an excellent idea to rejuvenate your photographic vision. Technically all the images work individually on their own merit. The real plus is enough weather variation to provide seasonal thoughts and to a point some drama too.
Thank you for sharing your project and it does inspire some similar ideas overall… :sunglasses:

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It is certainly a characterful tree and you’ve captured the seasons beautifully. All of the photos are lovely by themselves.

For me, I think it would be a more cohesive series if the photos of the (mostly) entire tree were all in the same orientation and size. That’s one of the things that folks who do a lot of series recommend. In your series, the landscape orientations which show more of the tree’s environment are the most appealing to me. I feel like the tree has room to “breath” in those frames. In the portrait orientation frames, with a tighter crop around the tree, the tree feels constrained. Mixing the two sizes gives this a bit of tension, which I suspect you’re not going for. Also, the winter version with a portrait orientation feels unbalanced because of the amount of open space between the large upper branches (I do love everything else about that one though!).

Since your focus is on the seasons, other views of the tree (details, night, etc.) would need to fall into that theme, also. I could see adding in detail or night shots for each season, putting them in between the larger views of the tree. Not sure how ICM would fit into this more or less “documentary” series, but maybe it could.

Anyway, it’s an interesting project - good luck to you continuing to work on it.