Big Mitton
This Monument Valley landmark has probably made Kodak millions. The first thing we all do when we arrive is take this shot from the visitor’s center. Come on admit it, you have too. The good photographer will be there just before sunset to capture the brilliant oranges of the landscape.
Except the photographer that wants to make his mark needs to find a new way of interpreting and transfiguring icons we have all seen many times before. It’s not easy to be the first to conceive of a new approach to a subject but if we are to standout from the rest that is the mission, if you chose to accept it. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. But when they work you have a work of art.
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December 17th, 2007 at 6:16 pm
Good stuff!
December 17th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Jim, I think this is a wonderful photo. Do you think cropping a little from the bottom to remove a little of the dark bottom right corner and to move the horizon out of the center position would improve photo?
December 17th, 2007 at 7:12 pm
I personally like the proportions.
December 18th, 2007 at 8:53 am
I like just as it is too! But at the same time I ask myself, and I do not have the answer, why is it that I am not distracted by the horizon so close to the middle. Usually it is not a good idea to have a horizon in the middle position as it makes the photo more symmetrical. The shadows are is a little distracting, but then on the other hand it makes it more interesting. It’s like finger stretching out into the valleys. So my question is more like, why is a centered horizon ok here and feel so much more wrong in other compositions.
December 18th, 2007 at 9:37 am
We should never get hung up on rules. They are there as guides.
When an artist breaks the rules and it works they have created art. When it does not work that is when we say “you should have followed the rules”.
December 18th, 2007 at 11:08 am
So at an advice you could say: Always take different takes of your object. Some those follow the rules and some that break them. Decide later in the digital darkroom what makes the more powerful photo. Time will train your eye have it naturally come to you when shooting the photos.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
It costs nothing to use pixels. Work the subject where possible. Do your safe shot first and then play. You never know what you will get.