I looked at his site. His nationality is known for good craftmanship etc. My first cousin lived over there with her husband and son. She unexpectedly developed a brain tumor, I think it was, and passed away last summer.

I was kinda amazed at Reugels' globe map in a water drop.

But this one below, seems even more unusual and difficult to capture. How the heck can you get a drop of water, to splash into a shape that makes a complete lamp, with base, bulb, shade, and the whole shootin' match?

http://500px.com/photo/3923935

Oop! I take that back. No bulb. But how about the pattern of metal wiring, holding the top of the lamp shade?

But I can see, all of these drop/splashes are inverted. So at least I got that part right.

[2 21 2012. No I didn't get it right. I thought it was inverted because a droplet would have to be falling down, due to gravity. Actually, the droplet is bouncing up. That's what happens in a splash of water. My memory and concentration about physics eludes me many days. seems like there's something about water surface tension here, in addition to gravity. Claire Crocker probably knows the full answer. She has a photo of a leaf partly in water. The surface tension there, affects the diffusion of light and shadow, a short distance beneath it, onto the dirt floor of the pond. http://jpgmag.com/photos/2638400 There, not only are the colors not as expected, but also the shape. Claire told me the unexpected blue shape shadow, is due to the surface tension effect. I wondered if UV portion of sunlight is also involved. Physics was not my strong suit in high school.]

Yes. I started to pick some favorites of Claire's photos, but when I noticed I had picked every other third... hmmm. Maybe not worth the while heh.

I am not capable of review their value in technical meaning, but they are beatiful and make one think. Also some of their names/titles are chuckling.

They look familiar also. Some of that can be explained by scenery (streams, forrests, lakes, frozen trees with golden tops) to be similar to my home. But not all. They make me feel like I am on the spot myself. Or at least have been. Or should be. Whatever.

Which reminds me about old story when my Dad brought a beatiful picture book of Canada, from one of his journeys in the 70s. It had those classic photos of lots of snow and open lakes with dark water from the Rockies and I decided that I just HAD to go to country like that some day. Well. Toronto was nothing like it, but I made my dream come true a few years back and travelled to Banff and Jasper with my family.

On the other hand I live in scenery much like it in Finland heh. Lots of snow anyway... with frozen lakes and dark winters (very short pink rosy/baby bluish days for 3 months) instead of open waters and sunshine.

_________________
I'm not always strong - and sometimes I'm even wrong...

Invasion of the Dunes


Author's description, by Marsel Van Oosten:
In November and December I traveled in Namibia for a photo book I'm working on, and to make final arrangements for the photo trip I'm leading there in May this year. One of the places we'll visit is an old and deserted diamond mining town near the Namibian coast. The dunes are slowly claiming back their territory, covering this little town with sand. The result is a very surreal and eery place, but stunningly beautiful. D2Xs, AF-S 12-24, 3.6s @ f/16, ISO 100, tripod

Color commentary by Bob A:

This photo was published in the National Geographic Magazine, in April 2011.

When I first saw it on photo.net, it caught my eye as a good candidate for this top photo thread. I like the warm, soft and calming colors and texture. But mainly, I liked the view, through a series of rooms and doorways, and the increasing natural light, as you get toward the distant end. It relaxes the pupils and the mind visually. It seems so comfortable and informal.

Yet when I stop to think about the content, it's a caution, that we don't last forever, either as an individual, or a town, or as a species. A multi-dimensional hour glass, that reminds, our time is running out. The dust bin of history is filled with ...,

A few months ago, Ren posted a retrospective photo series about the Maple Leaf Hotel here. In it's heyday of the 1970's and 80's, that was a jumping place in Timmins, with the most popular musical groups performing, including Eilleen Twain's early band, Longshot. By 2005, the building had been abandoned for some time and was falling into serious disrepair. Later it was demolished. But in 2005, Ren, Tracy and Jack Watson visited the place, and eventually salvaged some key heirlooms for use in the Shania Twain Centre. Ren described his sensations as he saw and smelled the old place. But it wasn't Ren's own place, so it was somewhat second hand.

I've been through more poignant and melancholy experiences with places I once knew. Some were buildings I grew up in and worked in, already as a child, in the family business. It's quite an adjustment to one's reality, to return 50 years later and see the floors buckling, the ceiling falling down, the roof caved in, the walls leaning over. This was once a vibrant part of my life, one that I and my family strove mightily to maintain and improve. Now it was owned by someone else, and was let go, falling down, trivial, unremembered, of no consequence.

That is how it will be some day, for all of our lives.

And this photo is an inescapable reminder, for those who view it.


Viewers can see the above photo without the hidden and embedded watermark at:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6838492

This is the 3rd and final image in the series by Marsel Van Oosten, displayed for discussion in this thread.

It's title is "The Edge", and was selected by National Geographic for their January 2009 magazine.

A viewer can look at this and not notice much. Or that same viewer can look at it and notice a lot. It may be more a mirror of the viewer's spirit, than of the scene from which the photo was captured. Am I preoccupied from a life full of demands? Or is there room to reach out for a moment, and discover something new and different?

In a way, this is a solid, flat plate of scenery that means nothing to me. I've never been there. I never will. It does not relate to me, or to my life experience.

In another way, the elephant draws my focus. It takes a chance and goes near the precipice to reach for food. Why so near the edge, when there is so much other food in safer places? Do the mists bathe the plants to grow extra nourishment or flavor? Does the elephant like the soft moist air, on it's thick dry skin? Does it like the sound or sight of rushing water? Does it enjoy being near something so much larger than itself? Is it just curious, exploring the rarest of places?

I have no idea of the answers. And I'm not sure I care. What matters to me, is what I see, and imagine hearing and feeling if I were at that location. As a mountain climber, I know how attending to manageable risk, can be a fully absorbing experience. It frees the mind and soul of the usual worldly and social concerns. As an adventurer, I know how to revel in the excitement of new experiences from skillful understanding of dramatic and powerful nature.

The contrasts in this photo are unusual. The falling streams of water, soften into the mists. The stolid rock drops into vertical harshness. Life and potential death seem so close together here.

I'm not sure what caught my eye, to think of this as a top photo. Probably the whole package, including some things that I'm not fully aware. I'm a bit puzzled by the lighting. It almost looks like sepia (an aged photo effect). Oh yes, the answer is in his description - the elephant is having breakfast. So it's early morning light. I believe Marsel sticks to natural effects without editing. And that is something I've been looking for in top photos. Unnatural coincidences or gimmicks are not as special or valuable, as breath-taking real life, if one takes the care to find it.

Viewers can see the above photo without the hidden and embedded watermark at:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=8394641

Photographer's description:
"An African elephant is having breakfast near the edge of Victoria Falls, Zambia - a very rare sight.

Hope you like it!"

Backlit portrait of a man.

Hamid has a number of photos on photo.net with a similar feature. The light catches just enough of the surface on people or objects, to give a 3 dimensional impression. This portrait also has back lighting, and is the one I like the best in his group. It looks like it's in black and white, but it's actually color.

People have commented on this photo, in the critique forum on photo.net, including me. I wondered if it would help, to lighten the dark areas on the neck and back of head. I tried that in photoshop, just out of curiosity. It did not help, instead it actually detracted from the photo. Some things are best left alone, especially if they were done well in the first place.

You can see the photo without the hidden and embedded water mark, at:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=14774854

The photo I've displayed below is by Wojtek Kwiatkowski.

Like Marsel Van Oosten, who took the "Lion Charge" photo above, Wojtek is on photo.net. He has some sumptuous photos of horses there. Some of the most appealing and romanticized I've ever seen.

However it is one of his other photos that caught my eye.



Sled racing with horse and man. The dynamic action here is powerful. You can almost feel and touch the extreme effort of the horse and man.

Although Marsel's "Lion Charge" may have greater initial impact, from it's unique setting, lighting and natural human recoil effect; I think Wojtek's "Horse Sled Race" photo has greater enduring effect. The viewer is drawn in to recognize the motivation and effort of the man and his horse, and cheer them on.

The Lion photo possibly has more consistent focus and pixel resolution. But in the horse sled racing photo, it's the content, not the pixel resolution, that shows such dynamic action. The front of the horse is in very good focus. The gradual blurring toward the back and sides, conveys fast speed and motion. It's almost like the horse's nose, is going to hit the camera, in the next gallop. I like a lot of things about this photo.

You can view this photo without the embedded watermark, on photo.net at this link
http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=12537412

Tho it has no title, this pic has been viewed 4,350 times on photo.net. 25 members there have given ratings. Average rating is very high, at 6.36 on a scale of 7.

Wojtek's other photos are at the link below. Those include 1-2 other horse racing pics you might like better. I think many viewers will like his special photos of arabian horses.
http://photo.net/photodb/member-photos?user_id=1561226

This review is my own impression. I have no intent to substitute my view for yours. The rest of you are able to think for yourself, and if interested, share your own impression of the photo. A simple thumbs up or down would do.

I'm considering the creation of a viewer poll, updatable or accumulative, at the start of this thread, if that feature is available here. vbulletin has it, but I'm not sure about phpBB.

I am enjoying the photos you post, Bob. I myself have been collecting impressive photos on my computer but I am reluctant to post them publicly. Unlike you I have never bothered to note the photographer (even if I knew his or her name) or the source of the photo. This has never mattered because I downloaded them just for my and Kay's enjoyment on our own computer. A major recent source of photos has been stumbleupon and usually they don't included the provenance. I don't want to post photos here and encounter objections from the vocal copyright crowd.

_________________
Roger

There are a sizable number of photos I had in mind to post for review and discussion.

However before doing that, I'm going back to Todd & Brad Reed, who I wrote about earlier in this thread, on page one, November 10, 2011. They agreed to let me show a few samples of their photography here. And I had 3 picked out.

However today, their newsletter included not only some recent photos, but a video, of their adventure in acquiring these special nature photos. You get to see on live video, where they're going, what they endure to find the right subject, in the right setting in the right light and weather. In addition to seeing them in front of the camera, as they get to their photo sites and set up; you also get to look through the camera lense with them, as they describe what they do to compose the scene, and give a few considerations key to the success in this particular situation. They also explain very succinctly, how to adjust camera settings and usage, to compensate for limitations in the lighting or other factors. I've never seen anything quite like this before.

The video is on Youtube. As it rolls along, it periodically stops to freeze on what turns out to be a very successful photo. I know these two fellows have been doing some very creative and special quality work. And it's now my pleasure to introduce some of it to the viewers on this message board.



They do a variety of classes, workshops and many other photo activities, in addition to their intensive photo shooting, their store, calendars, community volunteer work, etc.. So they're very knowledgeable and skilled at what they do. Perhaps above all, they have fun.

This particular photo caught my eye, because I'd tried something similar on a lovely, snowy day along the small Onion River, where it winds through the woods and over rapids. I didn't fare so well, but I didn't invest as much time. I had a bunch of deer hunters in my family, with whom I needed to coordinate schedules and locations. There was also a wolf pack nearby, that didn't leave me comfortable spending too much time alone, and unarmed.

This photo was in their February newsletter, on their photo project of "Tuesdays With Todd & Brad Reed". You can see more about that on their website at:

http://toddandbradreed.wordpress.com/we ... dium=email

The video that leads to this photo is on Youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGiLPgBteWA

It starts out a bit slow, and has some slow spots, showing the difficulty and wait to get the right scene, etc. But some good visual stuff shows up pretty quick, and at various spots during the several minutes of footage.

I'll be taking a photography course starting in March so maybe pretty soon people will be talking about my photos.

_________________

Best wishes on your photo course Ren. Maybe you can do a thread on this msg board, and describe what it's like going through the course, cite new photo tips that surprised you the most, and share a sampling of the results. March is a good time of year to start - Spring season provides some good photo ops outdoors. Of course your spouse provides good photo ops any time of year. But she's a bit on the shy side about that, last I knew.

You've already posted a good number of photos on this messageboard, over the past several years, from the fan conventions and other topics; which have allowed fans and friends, to enjoy the events and experience from afar. Some of your own personal photos have also been very artistic and pleasing.

I can't remember for sure, but I had some exposure to a class or presentation about cameras or photography 30-40 years ago. It was 'over my head' at the time, and I didn't know half the terminology. Once somebody starts talking about a word or concept that I don't know, my mind seizes on that, until I find the answer. And I can't listen or pay attention to hardly anything else. So I don't think I got a lot out of that 1-2 hour seminar, or whatever it was.

Mostly, I learned by trial and error on my own, after I got a good used camera from a friend who was upgrading. We were all still using film cameras in those days. And this fairly high quality single lense reflex (SLR) I got from a friend, was quite a big leap, from my prior, mostly automatic little camera. I also read some reference book info. However reading a book and practicing out in the field, are two separate things. So I bridged at least a little bit of that gap, by writing a few key notes from the book, and carrying the notes on a piece of paper with me into the woods or where-ever, to try it out. I had fewer 'hits' than 'misses' in the results, many times.

Perhaps one of the things that motivated me to keep working to improve my skills, was some of the phenomenal scenery I sleuthed out, but which I rarely captured in full photographic effect. There's a place north of Harbor Springs, Michigan, where for a few days in spring time, the white Trilliums bloom, and cover the forest floor, in a dense carpet of white, tulip sized blooms, on deep green foilage. The trees are mostly dark brown and bare. There is just a hint of a haze of green from the early buds at tips of branch and twig. But the blue sky still shows easily through the trees, and the sun lights up the whole forest, featuring the stunning floral covering of Trilliums. They carpet not only the ground, but the fallen logs, stumps, hollows and hillocks. It's as close to the feeling of being in heaven, as I can remember.

I have a couple enlargements of 2 photos, matted, framed and hanging on my walls. But even the best composed one, is diminished by a slight breeze which moved the blooms out of focus, and my polarizer filter was not set right, so there is glare of the sun off the green Trillium leaves. Great photos require a combination of about 4 things. Skill, patience, setting, and luck. With digital cameras coming of age in recent years, you can see the results of each photo almost instantly. That spontaneous feedback, is a huge benefit, to speed up the learning process in photography.

Glad you (and probably others) are enjoying the photos I select, get approved and post here, Roger.

Yes, there is some variation in views about copyright, and some folks are more bossy, than diplomatic. Surprisingly, the most vocal ones, tend to be representing others, rather than themselves. Maybe their livelihoods and/or egos, are sort of dependent upon being the middleman or merchandizer/marketer, than being the actual creator or artist.

These top photographers I've been contacting, are almost universally diplomatic and accomodative. Many of them could easily brush me, or this discussion thread aside like an annoying fly. But they don't. I have found that to be somewhat true in other fields of life too. When I talk to someone not very well informed, they tend to blame me, for their inability to understand. If that's a representative of an organization from whom I need to get a problem solved, I get discouraged. But when I talk to the top people in almost any profession, not only do they understand me, they appreciate me and often are happy to collaborate. Sheesh! It's like my IQ suddenly shot up about 40 points. Almost takes my breath away.

The photo and slide show quoted above, are temporarily separate from Todd and Brad Reed's regular website, which is going through maintenance at the moment. They have a large display of photos and other activities.

Todd and Brad's website and business is family owned and operated in a small port town in Michigan. That's quite a bit different than photo.net or jpgmag.com which are large commercial sites, involving hundreds of photographers and multiple business connections.

Even so, I was beginning to wonder if I was getting in over my head, working with some of these very busy photo website artists. Their photos, displays and websites are so professional, that my discussion thread here on this message board seems like it could be 'out in the boondocks' by comparison.

So you can imagine my relief to hear from Todd Reed again today, the following:

"Looks great Bob,
and your comments about our work were kind. I hope it helps drive more people to our Tuesdays blog, especially because were are putting so much time, effort and money into the all-day shoots.

Shooting is what photographers need to be doing and the Tuesdays project is another big self-assignment we have given ourselves to make certain we make time to shoot, which becomes more and more difficult as a business grows.

I enjoyed the other images and comments on the page and, coincidentally, have always been a big Shania Twain fan.

Thanks for writing. Thanks for exposing our work to other photographers.

Todd "

This looks like the mother of all tidal waves.

It caught my eye several months ago on Todd and Brad Reed's website at:

http://www.toddandbradreed.com/lightbox ... etail/6926

I liked the colors on this one.

The dark shadows of the breakwater, lighthouse and tanker in the distance, make a good contrast to the bright aqua water and bright golden sky.

Nautical imagery has always held a mystical quality for me. I couldn't swim for my first 20+ years of living. But I started crossing the big Lake Michigan already when I was about 4 and a half yrs old, with my parents, on those big railroad carferries. It was strange to see a railroad train disappear into the bowels of a ship, and try to imagine where it was below us passengers, as the ship headed out to sea. I've been going across ever since 1950.

Didn't realize I have to open my browser window pretty wide, to see the full view of some of these pictures.

http://www.toddandbradreed.com/lightbox ... gan;_.html

http://www.toddandbradreed.com/lightbox ... igan;.html

This is the 3rd in my series of 4 photos from Todd & Brad Reed, which I'd selected a few months ago.

I picked this photo, because I have made this crossing for 60+ years, and I still ride on this ship. It's a nice photo, but not necessarily top quality solely in photographic analysis. It's the history here, that makes this special for me.

The S.S. Badger is the last of the long line of coal fired, steam powered, railroad car ferries that crossed Lake Michigan, from before World War ONE, until the present. It was built in 1952 and is the largest of it's type ever to sail Lk Michigan, and is 410 feet long. Originally, it could load about 10 boxcars on each of 4 sets of tracks, totaling about 38 box cars. If it is unable to convert from coal fired power, to something more eco-friendly, like natural gas, 2012 may be the last year this ship operates. If so, not just this ship, but the 100+ year line of ships that preceded it, will pass into the dustbin (or watery grave) of history, forever.

The main purpose for these ferries in the 1870's until the 1950's, was to transport coal, from the Appalachian coal fields, without having to go through the railroad bottleneck at Chicago on south end of Lake Michigan. I don't know why they were named car ferries instead of rail ferries. The word "car" referred to railroad cars for most of the history of these ships. Only in the last 40 years have automobile cars become the primary cargo.

My first experience aboard one of these steam ships (S.S.) was at Christmas of 1950. My family was returning to Michigan to be with relatives for the holidays. We'd we'd just moved a month or two earlier, kit and kaboodle, to Wisconsin. The ship was the City of Flint. It was old and creaky, from the wood paneled passenger lobby. We waited a long time for the railroad cars to be loaded. They got priority, then we sailed during the night shift, in rough weather. Many passengers got seasick, including most of my relatives. I was 4 and a half years of age. I didn't know how to swim. I couldn't see the cold, black, raging water outside. But I sure could hear it and imagine it. I was too scared to get sick. When the boat rocked rather severely, my older brother and I would run from the hull wall on one side of the lobby, to the hull wall on the other side about 30 feet away, just to have something to do, at least until he got sick.

In late November, 1966 I was aboard the City of Midland. It was the prettiest of the line, and almost as large as the Badger and Spartan, which were sister ships. There was a big storm brewing, the type that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald in the years soon after. We were the last ship to depart, thinking we could beat the storm. Later scheduled departures were cancelled. Instead of taking the usual four hours to cross, we were aboard 3 days and 3 nights. We wound up beached off shore on the other side of the Lake. I'll never forget that ride. A lot of us thought the ship would capsize and we were all going to die.

The lighthouse in the above photo, is at the end of the breakwater in Ludington. The City of Midland was beached near there in 1966, with me on it. If you go back to the second last photo I posted, called "Rolling Thunder" you can just barely see this same lighthouse and breakwater, as the tiniest speck of light and dark, under that ominous cloud, that looks like a tsunami.



Todd and Brad Reed's business seems to be thriving. Their 365 photo book is "SOLD OUT". What is going on? With so many photo options available from other photographic businesses and online, why is the demand so strong in this particular business?



Oh, I guess they only had a limited edition printing of 1,000 copies. They still have the pics available on DVD, and some also on a calendar.

http://www.toddandbradreed.com/lightbox/index/cms/13