While saying this is probably the kiss of death as far as any subsequent comments go, this is by far my favourite shot since I started this blog – just don't ask me to explain why. It's something to do with the detail, and the colours, and the quality of the light, but beyond that I really can't explain quite why I like it so much. But, as always, feel free to disagree ;-)
Oh, and if I hadn't been entering this shot for this week's Photo Friday challenge – Landscape – I would have called it "in amongst the light", which is rather more fitting than "Photo Friday: Landscape".
And that's the good news.
The 'bad news', if you want to look at it like that, is that I'm going to make a couple of changes to when and what I post to chromasia. Over the last month or so my expectations as to the quality of shots I should be putting up has risen to a point that I really can't sustain without seriously neglecting some other aspect(s) of my life. So, after just over four months of posting something every day, I may stop posting at the weekend (which will give me a bit more time to go out and shoot some decent stuff) and I may post some shots that don't quite meet the standards I've been trying to match over recent weeks.
And I suppose that part of my thinking has to do with the reasons I set up chromasia in the first place. First and foremost, chromasia is a means to an end, the 'end' being better photography on my part. And posting the best shots that I can take day after day certainly addresses that aim, but it's starting to wear me down a little. Another reason, to quote Amanda (from a recent discussion we had concerning the purpose of photoblogs), "photoblogs are personal journeys"; i.e. they're about my life, or your life – the things we see around us, the things that bring us pleasure, the things we think are worth drawing to the attention of others. And in recent weeks/months I think I've partly lost sight of that aim. So instead of always trying to produce technically and aesthetically wonderful work (at the expense of everything else) I'm going to spend a bit more time thinking about why I started all this in the first place.
camera capture date aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO focal length image quality white balance
Canon G5
3.39pm on 4/6/04
f4.0
1/1000
program AE
+0.0
evaluative
50
7.2mm
RAW
auto
Indeed, this one is better than your last landcape shot, allthough I like them both. It looks like it will rain in the very near future and the warm sunlight is wonderful.
comment byTintil at 08:09 AM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
I really like this shot. The colours and lighting are excellent.
I think you're right to pace yourself. I started my photo blog around six weeks ago and have only been posting daily for four weeks. I am already finding it quite difficult to maintain and you obviously put so much time into your images as well.
I'm interested to know if being the most popular site at photoblogs.org is an added burden. It must be great to have the recognition (which, in my opinion, is totally deserved) but I wonder if that creates further pressure on you to keep 'your audience' happy?
Anyway, I'll look forward to seeing whatever you continue to post. It's always interesting.
comment byforrest at 10:23 AM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
I would have to agree with you that this is one of the better images I have seen you post :)
The textures are amazing. And the clarity of the sky in the background is absolutely amazing!
I find your work to be very inspirational. So, I look forward to whatever you will be posting in the times to come :)
Thanks for sharing
comment byKjetil at 11:07 AM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
Definitely one of your best shots. I think it is the blue sky that does the trick! Very good!
And about the posting; I have only had a photoblog in 2 months, and I think it almost get stressful, trying to get good photos every single day. I am no good photographer, but trying to hold the low standard I have can also be hard. I think we photobloggers can need a break sometimes. Or maybe go somewhere, take 50 good pictures and know you can relax the next 50 days! :D
I think you should do what is best for you. Not the ones who are looking. You have made a lot of people happy and overwhelmed every day for a long time. That I think should be enough. But don't stop taking photos, myself, with a lot of others, might protest.
Wonderful. The colors are alive and it pops through the middle despite the moody corners. Wonderful! Any color processing or is this as shot?
I've not kept up on the comments on this site -I've got the RSS so I can be dazzled daily- so my apologies if process/workflow has been asked about and talked to death...
I see beautiful grasses and have such trouble capturing how they really look. This shot captures how beautiful wild grass can be when experienced in real life.
Beautiful
comment bybtezra at 04:18 PM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
~I have always viewed my photo section as a good release valve for all that I keep inside, emotionally...when I meet a subject on the street and listen to them, find out what makes them interesting and then shoot and expose that moment I find it an xlnt way to let go of what troubles me, as exercise may help relieve tension for most folks...I have enjoyed watching your eye impreove and your technical editing/presentation skillz get better and better with each entry, thnx for sharing what your eye sees and I/eye look forward to seeing more!~
comment byMando Gomez at 05:25 PM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
I love it too!
comment by'daisies at 06:14 PM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
One of my favorite things is to lie in the grass and breathe in deeply the scent. This captures the beauty of that experience ... wonderful photo.
I started my photoblog about three months ago and am enjoying the motivation to focus on learning photography but mostly I am enjoying documenting my life experiences and what I find beautiful and emotional about life. I would not like to feel pressure to produce within that and I don't think you should. Your photography is amazing and I think regardless of what you put up, it will be, in part perhaps because your life is amazing to you.
Quality, I think, is more than the technical but a melding of both the technical and the imaginative. Just my humble opinion but I will continue to enjoy the images of the world through your eyes.
My 1st impression of this image? Awesome! It's a mixture of colors and mood.
The reason I started blogging is to improve (and get ideas) my photography. But somehow I lost focus. I became a snapshooter instead (to keep-up with the 'quota' of posting daily). Time to re-focus? Perhaps...
comment byJason Wall at 07:44 PM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
You captured a great range of color in the greens of the tall grass. The blue of the sky really helps balance the scene. It says spring, with the rich saturation typically found in Autumn.
comment byJoseph Holmes at 09:01 PM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
Dave -- before I read the comments I was going to tell you that this is probably my favorite of your shots. The lighting is so wonderfully dramatic, especially that layer of light that goes through the grass.
As for your plans to change the blog schedule -- it's an excellent idea. You do need to pace yourself -- no one wants you to burn out. And as for posting shots that don't meet your ideal, I say, hooray. I think it'll be liberating. But I guess you'll be the judge of that!
Keep us posted. -=-Joe
comment bydarragh at 10:28 PM (GMT) on 7 June, 2004
Both me and my girl really like this shot. Nice perspective from the grass line.. not to mention the colours. Thanks for all the inspiration over the past few weeks since I found your site.
My blog is still alive after more than 2 years, and it is only because I have paced myself. I am a little different than most bloggers in that I get paid to take lots of photos every day. Realizing that my profession was taking away my passion for photography, I started the blog to keep the hobby side of it.
If you find that posting every day becomes more of a burden than a pleasure, do slow down.
comment by Tom B at 04:54 AM (GMT) on 8 June, 2004
I almost don't know what to say as my praise may begin to sound redundant. I certainly love the vantage point as well as the colors of the leaning grass against the clouded blue sky. The lighting has a very nice glow to it. Very nice.
This shot is absolutely wonderful!
I think you are really talened and I have been a silent watcher for almost a month now :) this is the first time I'm commenting.
So, I have something to ask.
Well.
Do you think I could use one of your shots to do a painting?
I won't be using it for commercial purposes. Probably I might do a painting of it and hang it in my house =)
A lil info, I'm 14, female, from Singapore.
So, pretty please?
:D
I'll check back =]
comment by djn1 at 07:35 AM (GMT) on 8 June, 2004
Thanks Everyone, I'm glad you liked this one.
Tintil: yes, I suspect that being #1 at photoblogs.org has made a difference to what I'm prepared to put up. And that's a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it keeps me focussed and makes me concentrate on producing worthwhile shots, but it's not so great in the sense that I really don't always have enough time to create shots of that standard.
Kjetil: I wish I could take 50 good shots at one time. This one was taken on my way home work. I spent about 40 minutes walking around this abandoned factory and this is the only shot of around 40 or 50 that's worth putting up.
mjn: the colours are reasonably faithfull to the scene but the contrast, particularly in the mid-tones, was boosted by just using a Curves adjustment on this image rather that adjusting the gamma first. Normally I use a Levels/gamma of 2.2 on my RAW images but this time I just used a fairly dramatic Curve.
medya: Movable Type and hours and hours and hours of frustratingly painstaking HTML and CSS coding ;-)
ningx: yes, that would be fine. Let me know which one you decide to paint.
comment byhannah at 06:00 PM (GMT) on 8 June, 2004
i can understand why this is your favourite shot. i can really relate to it. when you look at it you can nearly smell the weather and feel the grass. its a perfect shot! it would make such a perfect desktop image.
comment by Danielle at 10:39 PM (GMT) on 8 June, 2004
This shot is really good, but it seems kind of fake to me.
comment bySandra Rocha at 01:11 AM (GMT) on 9 June, 2004
love the perspective in this shot, a beautiful image as always :-)
having said that I must leave a not on the subject at hand: I read one that we should always remember that our photos will never mean to others what they mean to us and that says it all, I think
why not post what YOU like and when YOU like? if people like it, they'll visit again, if not there's plenty of other choices out there lol
stress is self-created, doesn't exist by itself
be happy, you and your family, thats what matters :-)
~~
comment byDavid at 07:13 AM (GMT) on 11 February, 2005
"What is it about photographers and wheat?" my wife asks me about one of my own pictures. There's some sort of innate draw to it - the wind and the light and the mixture of complex and simple - I love wild grasses, long rays of golden light, deep shadows, and this picture would make even my wife like wheat!!
comment byTara H. at 07:38 AM (GMT) on 28 February, 2005
Really love this.
comment byKeith Povall at 08:09 PM (GMT) on 29 April, 2005
Your work is stunning. If only i had half your talent.
Great Blackpool pictures
Keith
comment byEduardo at 06:01 PM (GMT) on 28 June, 2005
Hi, i speak jus a little english...sorry....
I like this image very much...congratulation for your work.
now in spanish
Me han gustado mucho tus fotografías en general, pero esta en especial. Creo que tu trabajo es muy bueno, felicidades. Esta imagen me trae recuerdos muy especiales...gracias por ello.
While saying this is probably the kiss of death as far as any subsequent comments go, this is by far my favourite shot since I started this blog – just don't ask me to explain why. It's something to do with the detail, and the colours, and the quality of the light, but beyond that I really can't explain quite why I like it so much. But, as always, feel free to disagree ;-)
Oh, and if I hadn't been entering this shot for this week's Photo Friday challenge – Landscape – I would have called it "in amongst the light", which is rather more fitting than "Photo Friday: Landscape".
And that's the good news.
The 'bad news', if you want to look at it like that, is that I'm going to make a couple of changes to when and what I post to chromasia. Over the last month or so my expectations as to the quality of shots I should be putting up has risen to a point that I really can't sustain without seriously neglecting some other aspect(s) of my life. So, after just over four months of posting something every day, I may stop posting at the weekend (which will give me a bit more time to go out and shoot some decent stuff) and I may post some shots that don't quite meet the standards I've been trying to match over recent weeks.
And I suppose that part of my thinking has to do with the reasons I set up chromasia in the first place. First and foremost, chromasia is a means to an end, the 'end' being better photography on my part. And posting the best shots that I can take day after day certainly addresses that aim, but it's starting to wear me down a little. Another reason, to quote Amanda (from a recent discussion we had concerning the purpose of photoblogs), "photoblogs are personal journeys"; i.e. they're about my life, or your life – the things we see around us, the things that bring us pleasure, the things we think are worth drawing to the attention of others. And in recent weeks/months I think I've partly lost sight of that aim. So instead of always trying to produce technically and aesthetically wonderful work (at the expense of everything else) I'm going to spend a bit more time thinking about why I started all this in the first place.
capture date
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
focal length
image quality
white balance
3.39pm on 4/6/04
f4.0
1/1000
program AE
+0.0
evaluative
50
7.2mm
RAW
auto
Indeed, this one is better than your last landcape shot, allthough I like them both. It looks like it will rain in the very near future and the warm sunlight is wonderful.
I really like this shot. The colours and lighting are excellent.
I think you're right to pace yourself. I started my photo blog around six weeks ago and have only been posting daily for four weeks. I am already finding it quite difficult to maintain and you obviously put so much time into your images as well.
I'm interested to know if being the most popular site at photoblogs.org is an added burden. It must be great to have the recognition (which, in my opinion, is totally deserved) but I wonder if that creates further pressure on you to keep 'your audience' happy?
Anyway, I'll look forward to seeing whatever you continue to post. It's always interesting.
I would have to agree with you that this is one of the better images I have seen you post :)
The textures are amazing. And the clarity of the sky in the background is absolutely amazing!
I find your work to be very inspirational. So, I look forward to whatever you will be posting in the times to come :)
Thanks for sharing
Definitely one of your best shots. I think it is the blue sky that does the trick! Very good!
And about the posting; I have only had a photoblog in 2 months, and I think it almost get stressful, trying to get good photos every single day. I am no good photographer, but trying to hold the low standard I have can also be hard. I think we photobloggers can need a break sometimes. Or maybe go somewhere, take 50 good pictures and know you can relax the next 50 days! :D
I think you should do what is best for you. Not the ones who are looking. You have made a lot of people happy and overwhelmed every day for a long time. That I think should be enough. But don't stop taking photos, myself, with a lot of others, might protest.
Have a lovely day!
- Kjetil M. Bergem
You are right. This rocks. Amazing colours.
gorgeous. the wheat is like birds taking flight.
Wonderful. The colors are alive and it pops through the middle despite the moody corners. Wonderful! Any color processing or is this as shot?
I've not kept up on the comments on this site -I've got the RSS so I can be dazzled daily- so my apologies if process/workflow has been asked about and talked to death...
This is a great shot.
I see beautiful grasses and have such trouble capturing how they really look. This shot captures how beautiful wild grass can be when experienced in real life.
Beautiful
~I have always viewed my photo section as a good release valve for all that I keep inside, emotionally...when I meet a subject on the street and listen to them, find out what makes them interesting and then shoot and expose that moment I find it an xlnt way to let go of what troubles me, as exercise may help relieve tension for most folks...I have enjoyed watching your eye impreove and your technical editing/presentation skillz get better and better with each entry, thnx for sharing what your eye sees and I/eye look forward to seeing more!~
I love it too!
One of my favorite things is to lie in the grass and breathe in deeply the scent. This captures the beauty of that experience ... wonderful photo.
I started my photoblog about three months ago and am enjoying the motivation to focus on learning photography but mostly I am enjoying documenting my life experiences and what I find beautiful and emotional about life. I would not like to feel pressure to produce within that and I don't think you should. Your photography is amazing and I think regardless of what you put up, it will be, in part perhaps because your life is amazing to you.
Quality, I think, is more than the technical but a melding of both the technical and the imaginative. Just my humble opinion but I will continue to enjoy the images of the world through your eyes.
My 1st impression of this image? Awesome! It's a mixture of colors and mood.
The reason I started blogging is to improve (and get ideas) my photography. But somehow I lost focus. I became a snapshooter instead (to keep-up with the 'quota' of posting daily). Time to re-focus? Perhaps...
You captured a great range of color in the greens of the tall grass. The blue of the sky really helps balance the scene. It says spring, with the rich saturation typically found in Autumn.
Dave -- before I read the comments I was going to tell you that this is probably my favorite of your shots. The lighting is so wonderfully dramatic, especially that layer of light that goes through the grass.
As for your plans to change the blog schedule -- it's an excellent idea. You do need to pace yourself -- no one wants you to burn out. And as for posting shots that don't meet your ideal, I say, hooray. I think it'll be liberating. But I guess you'll be the judge of that!
Keep us posted. -=-Joe
Both me and my girl really like this shot. Nice perspective from the grass line.. not to mention the colours. Thanks for all the inspiration over the past few weeks since I found your site.
Hi I am medya 18 from Kurdistan ( amutur photographer)
can You please tell me how did you create your site? I like your desinging !
My blog is still alive after more than 2 years, and it is only because I have paced myself. I am a little different than most bloggers in that I get paid to take lots of photos every day. Realizing that my profession was taking away my passion for photography, I started the blog to keep the hobby side of it.
If you find that posting every day becomes more of a burden than a pleasure, do slow down.
I almost don't know what to say as my praise may begin to sound redundant. I certainly love the vantage point as well as the colors of the leaning grass against the clouded blue sky. The lighting has a very nice glow to it. Very nice.
This shot is absolutely wonderful!
I think you are really talened and I have been a silent watcher for almost a month now :) this is the first time I'm commenting.
So, I have something to ask.
Well.
Do you think I could use one of your shots to do a painting?
I won't be using it for commercial purposes. Probably I might do a painting of it and hang it in my house =)
A lil info, I'm 14, female, from Singapore.
So, pretty please?
:D
I'll check back =]
Thanks Everyone, I'm glad you liked this one.
Tintil: yes, I suspect that being #1 at photoblogs.org has made a difference to what I'm prepared to put up. And that's a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it keeps me focussed and makes me concentrate on producing worthwhile shots, but it's not so great in the sense that I really don't always have enough time to create shots of that standard.
Kjetil: I wish I could take 50 good shots at one time. This one was taken on my way home work. I spent about 40 minutes walking around this abandoned factory and this is the only shot of around 40 or 50 that's worth putting up.
mjn: the colours are reasonably faithfull to the scene but the contrast, particularly in the mid-tones, was boosted by just using a Curves adjustment on this image rather that adjusting the gamma first. Normally I use a Levels/gamma of 2.2 on my RAW images but this time I just used a fairly dramatic Curve.
medya: Movable Type and hours and hours and hours of frustratingly painstaking HTML and CSS coding ;-)
ningx: yes, that would be fine. Let me know which one you decide to paint.
i can understand why this is your favourite shot. i can really relate to it. when you look at it you can nearly smell the weather and feel the grass. its a perfect shot! it would make such a perfect desktop image.
This shot is really good, but it seems kind of fake to me.
love the perspective in this shot, a beautiful image as always :-)
having said that I must leave a not on the subject at hand: I read one that we should always remember that our photos will never mean to others what they mean to us and that says it all, I think
why not post what YOU like and when YOU like? if people like it, they'll visit again, if not there's plenty of other choices out there lol
stress is self-created, doesn't exist by itself
be happy, you and your family, thats what matters :-)
~~
oh wow, I see why this one is your favorite. I understand -- the feeling this image evokes is ineffable. the best shots are. =)
Beautiful image. It was almost shocking to me after I came here (haven't been in a while) having just posted this shot:
http://www.lowresolution.com/archive/000228.php
I think that your's is far better but it was interesting to see such similar subject matter and how great your eye is for light.
Congrats of your "noteworthy" at Photo Friday - this picture certainly is.
congrats on the noteworthy!
"What is it about photographers and wheat?" my wife asks me about one of my own pictures. There's some sort of innate draw to it - the wind and the light and the mixture of complex and simple - I love wild grasses, long rays of golden light, deep shadows, and this picture would make even my wife like wheat!!
Really love this.
Your work is stunning. If only i had half your talent.
Great Blackpool pictures
Keith
Hi, i speak jus a little english...sorry....
I like this image very much...congratulation for your work.
now in spanish
Me han gustado mucho tus fotografías en general, pero esta en especial. Creo que tu trabajo es muy bueno, felicidades. Esta imagen me trae recuerdos muy especiales...gracias por ello.