The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is a place I like to hang out. It’s very dramatic because there is a sheer drop on the right. The Mexicans have several Madonnas inserted here and there with candles. So they must see the significance of this place as well. I have always shot along the ridge looking downwards. It’s been sitting on my drive until I converted it to b&w. The colors didn’t add anything.
Specific Feedback
I feel that this presentation makes it look menacing. Do you agree? I never thought it was in person.
This makes a wonderful black and white Igor. The ruggedness works well with it, and the eye can focus on the forms and features without color. I like the dramatic contrasts, both in tones and the way the background gives you just enough to know this is on the edge of something deep and dramatic.
Where in Mexico is this? I know you hang out in Baja some, but don’t normally see the deep this type of topography from there.
As best as I can tell that’s it. A paved road leads to this spot. If you continue further you reach the cave paintings that you can walk to. There are more dramatic views further up but I like that fractured rock in this area. At the end of the road you can hire a guide and burros to take you into the canyon for the best cave paintings in Baja. This is all central Baja near the town of Vizcaino.
This is cool, Igor. The title works for me too. I love the texture and structure here. Part of me wants a slightly wider view to appreciate that deep canyon beyond, but that could just be idle curiosity on my part rather than actual photography critique.
And, weight loss or not, remember that anything wider than 35mm makes you closest leg and turned torso look bigger than it is. I was reminded of this recently while doing a self portrait that will never see the light of day.
Dear Igor, I am fascinated by the image too. Like Marylynne, I curious to see more of the valley to the right, and I am also intrigued by the layered and horizontal texture of the citadel’s front. Would it be possible to crop it differently? A horizontal format with a close view of this layered texture and more of the valley and distant mountains to the right? Would that work?
I took a look at that area in Google Earth, and that area is now on “my list.” Once I retire, a long Baja trip is a high priority. I haven’t decided if I want to ride it on my bicycle or drive/photograph it (maybe I need to do both!), but I’m looking forward to it.
Riding a bike is very dangerous in Baja. The main highway is a 2 lane road with no shoulders in most places. You’d encounter large trucks every 10 minutes of so. Yet people still do it. The side roads are safer but they’re all washboard. There is a paved road here to promote tourism but few are interested. So I would travel both ways.
I don’t have much more on the right to expand. I don’t see how a horizontal can be made from the picture.
A very cool image. It definitely looks like one of the many ruins of strongholds in Europe, your title “The Citadel” is well chosen.
Great B&W image, and as the subject is clear I don’t wish to see more of the valley.
No, I don’t think it looks menacing. If I wasn’t so old and stiff, it looks like a place I would enjoy hiking up and enjoying the view. I do like the B&W processing though.
“I am Heathcliff”
Marvellously moody and perfect in black and white. I have no desire to see any more left, right, top, or bottom. In my estimation, this photograph is entirely about mood and you have succeeded admirably. One of your best.
