I have often made images of Utah’s canyon walls with generally disappointing results. Years ago, Brooks Jensen showcases his work in a Lenswork issue of Utah’s walls and it was most impressive (all B&W). It inspired me to give it a go and I found it tough to do. This is one from my recent trip to southern Utah. I am happy with how it turned out, but your feedback and opinions are always welcome. This was not in direct light and blue sky was overhead. I decided to leave the traces of blue in the image.
I really like this! All lines created by the changes in colors, with the almost black just off centre, the change of luminosity towards the right and then all the tiny details one doesn’t see at first glance, beautiful!
‘With generally disappointing results’ sounds familiar. I enjoy scenes like these too and try finding and photographing them too, but mostly I’m not satisfied in the end either. But it’s really interesting to try to find them and improve.
Although not an abstract, the scale is impossible to determine. I like it. Great lines and color, and the near-black stripe adds a nice bit of drama. The hints of blue are a nice touch. The processing looks spot-on to me.
-P
Harley, this can surely be seen as an abstract . But, at the same time the southwestern “varnished” canyon walls are unmistakable. Ordinarily we see these being used as a backdrop to some other somewhat recognizable subject. However, you’ve chosen to isolate the scene to stand on it’s own as a very impressive subject here. The streak of darker tarring or possible water lacquering adds very nicely to giving the image a bit of center balance too…
Harley, I think this is a very unique and effective take on the Utah red rock walls. The lack of scale and the patterns make a wonderful abstract that is quite interesting.
Nice seeing on this one!
Flat out gorgeous image, Harley. I love the lack of scale and those bands of color in the rock make are quite striking and work perfectly with the horizontal format. No suggestions here.
Absolutely love this one Harley. Outstanding job isolating this comp (oh, and of course seeing and recognizing this in the first place!)
Really had to take a hard look at the dark streak in the center - then of course the larger view reveals a bit more… and what a great nature story this tells - BTW.
The vertical striations with the varying tones of red, pink, salmon, etc… (and hints of blue - excellent job here… ) are wonderful - but I think the overall image is elevated further by the more subtle diagonal streaks. This is just full of intrigue.
Hard pressed to find anything here… perhaps a very minor thought would be to burn down slightly the smallish area emanating from the LRC; maybe like a 15% rounded area in that corner? Again minor, but thought I would mention.
Wow, the large version of this is really stunning. I like that you decided to use a horizontal orientation for an image of vertical lines, it makes the image much more dynamic. I also really like your decision to to leave the blue cast. I agree with @Lon_Overacker about burning down the LRC, in fact I could even see an LRC burn plus a reduction in overall luminosity of the right 25% of the image. I think a balancing of the luminosity would focus more attention on the center. But, this is really quite a find, a very striking image.
Harley, this is great. I love the colorful stripes, the placement of irregularities in the rock, and the zig-zag of the black streak. Very well seen. I do like Ed McGuirk’s comment about burning down the right 25% of the image, but this is wonderful as is.
I felt that the lights were too light for the subject, that the subject was too contrasty. This is peculiar because you want to bring out the contrast with texture. I also felt the color was too rosy so I mixed yellow into it (even though I never saw it in person). Here’s how I would have interpreted this wall. Burning in the highlights also added color to them which was helpful. It’s just different.
