I'm sure you meant this for Emily privately. Shyrell ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert Earnest" <robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students" <photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 5:15:30 AM (GMT-0500) America/New_York Subject: Gallery Emily, I don't feel compelled to comment on the gallery very often but your image grabbed me. The solidity of the straight line formed by the train works nicely with it's reflection on the water which both gives it more mass and yet somehow diminishes its weight as well. Perhaps by smearing it across the water? I don't think it would have worked as well if the reflections had gone all the way from the bottom of the image to the train. Praise the photogods for that weird bit of wind chop which seems to die out on the right side of the image, eh? Why would it do that? Was the wind traveling and dying from left to right? Still water runs deeper. Was it a shallow area? It seems thicker on the left which means more wind or less depth there? It would have been too solid without that bit of chop and would have felt like a failed compositional attempt at thirds. The wind chop gives a little bit of weight and connects the water tonally with the stone above. Without it the train would have felt to me like it was ready to slide down off the page. Try it for yourself with the stamp tool. The orange cars contrast nicely with the green foilage and their placement suggest perhaps a secret code. Mystery abounds! Wouldn't it make a great plot in a murder mystery novel? The caboose murder finally solved by the clever detective that percieves the morse code of the cars as they pass by. The straight line of the train works so well in counterpoint to the slightly right rising road and the sinking left fault lines in the rock below it. Above the road the growth of bush suggests sinking right faultlines in the decidedly darker formation. (Weathering? Carbon dioxide staining from the exhaust of passing vehicles? I am going to find the answer to that question myself.) On closer inspection, the bushes on the bottom slope down to the right while on the right they follow the faults. As I look at it my head follows the lines up and down and side to side. Imagine Stevie Wonder. You can't "see" an image like this. You can only respond at the time and hopefully recognize it in the edit. This, to me, is how real photographers function. Congratulations, Auntie Em. This is wonderful. Can I get a higher res copy to use as my computers desktop? My visa# is 493873209873 Expiry 14-69 Secret code 023 R P.S. Even though you state that you were so impressed with the rivers width, isn't is wonderful that you didn't make it a photo about how wide the stupid river was? P.P.S. Thank you SO MUCH for not making me have to deal with your big fat annoying watermark right smack dab in the middle of the (EXPLETIVE REMOVED by Shyrell) image. I never would have spent so much time with it if you had and would not have fallen in love with it. P.P.P.S. Kisshug kisshug. P.P.P.P.S. I'm serious about the desktop image. Don't make me come over there.
