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Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:10 pm
by Denny
Image

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:26 pm
by s1m0n
It's a good pic, but the 'shooting through the driftwood stump' effect is too arch. Yeah, we get it - volcanoes cause destruction and can leave tree roots looking burnt.

I think the composition would be stronger without the ham-fisted reminder that entropy comes to this tropical isle, too. I think it would be stronger if a serene foreground contrasted with the volcano across the water.

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:02 am
by hans
s1m0n wrote:I think the composition would be stronger without the ham-fisted reminder that entropy comes to this tropical isle, too. I think it would be stronger if a serene foreground contrasted with the volcano across the water.
You are right. With some palm trees, beach loungers and tourists sipping cold drinks....

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:13 am
by emmline
I didn't even think about the charred-looking driftwood as a reminder of destruction until you mentioned it.
My initial reaction was just: Cool photo--color! composition! action!
But I get the point. I still think it's mucho cool, but maybe a slightly less predictable angle and balance or something.

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:28 am
by Pammy
I think it is an excellent photo. The tree trunk on the beach leads the eye through and the roots lead your eye around the photo. The contrast of the eruption is excellent againt the surrounds which still has enough light to be able to investigate the surrounds.
I think a lot of thought has gone into it.
Perhaps there aren't any beaches with loungers with such a wonderfull advantage point.

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:35 am
by mutepointe
I think we can all agree it's not Denny's best and it's definitely working hard to be artsy fartsy.

This is exactly why some folks decorate their McMansions with books and bookcases. Everyone has an opinion about art but it takes knowledge to mock books. (This was my point from a different thread a while back.)

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 9:33 am
by Denny
so no one minds the two boats?

I don't find the center one too obnoxious....

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:18 am
by Pammy
Ideally they should not be there but the alternative is to photoshop them out or miss the moment. I can live with them.

MMM it would be nice to be living on them - well on a trip on one of them to see the volcano erupting

You could mock peoples choice of books. It can say a lot of things about them.

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:23 am
by Pammy
Wow have you seen the other pictures in the series

http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/perm/ ... rs-en.html

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 10:40 am
by tin-titan
Stunning. Life Magazine quality.

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 11:29 am
by Denny
Pammy wrote:Ideally they should not be there but the alternative is to photoshop them out or miss the moment. I can live with them.
I think that I would have edited out the white light

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:42 pm
by s1m0n
hans wrote:
s1m0n wrote:I think the composition would be stronger without the ham-fisted reminder that entropy comes to this tropical isle, too. I think it would be stronger if a serene foreground contrasted with the volcano across the water.
You are right. With some palm trees, beach loungers and tourists sipping cold drinks....
It's very Black Diamond Bay, now that I think about it.
...

The desk clerk heard the woman laugh
As he looked around the aftermath and the soldier got tough
He tried to grab the woman's hand
Said, "Here's a ring it cost a grand"
She said, "That ain't enough"
Then she ran upstairs to pack her bags
While a horse-drawn taxi waited at the curb
She passed the door that the Greek had locked
Where a handwritten sign read, "Do not disturb"
She knocked on it anyway
As the sun went down and the music did play
On Black Diamond Bay.

"I've got to talk to someone quick !"
But the Greek said, "Go away" and he kicked the chair to the floor
He hung there from the chandelier
She cried, "Help there's danger near
Please open op the door"
Then the volcano erupted
And the lava flowed down from the mountain high above
The soldier and the tiny man were crouched in the corner
Thinking of forbidden love
But the desk clerk said "It happens every day"
As the stars fell down and the fields burned away
On Black Diamond Bay.

As the island slowly sank
The loser finally broke the bank in the gambling room
The dealer said "It's too late now
You can take you money, but I don't know how
You'll spend it in the tomb"
The tiny man bit the soldier's ear
As the floor caved in and the boiler in the basemen blew
While she's out on the balcony where a stranger tell her
"My darling je vous aime beacoup"
She sheds a tear and then begins to pray
As the fire burns on and the smoke drifts away
From Black Diamond Bay. [(c) Mr Zimmerman]

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 12:51 pm
by s1m0n
Pammy wrote:Wow have you seen the other pictures in the series

http://www.swisseduc.ch/stromboli/perm/ ... rs-en.html
Oooh, well spotted!

I like this one:

Image

Although it's as far from 'subtle' as it could be.

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 1:55 pm
by Nanohedron
I like the above one better for its asymmetical composition.

Re: Erupting Volcano Anak Krakatau

Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 2:23 pm
by The Weekenders
I like em both for different reasons. To me, the first conveys a magical feeling of what it is really like there. The second is more abstract, but scientifically fascinating, with everything happening at once.

I think it's quite possible that the burnt wood in the first is for symmetrical framing, not to make some point as objected to. I appreciate more that the shooter didn't photoshop out the boats; he wasn't going to get the shot without them, I guess.

Every great once in a while, I see and experience something that is "out of time" for a moment, where things truly look poetic and/or momentous, usually because of weather, light, etc. The first pic reminds me of the sensation more than the second.

Last Saturday evening, we had a very atypical sky in the Bay Area. We almost never get rain in the summer, but a front passed through, dropping little rain, but making fantastic clouds and double rainbows from SF over to Eastern Contra Costa County. I was driving down the hill to pick up my son and saw the rainbows, a weird tune came on the radio and at that moment, things were extraordinary; like something even more unexpected was going to happen. Once again, the first picture evokes a similar feeling...