Let me be the first to say that this is an amazing shot. I think that's a tribute to how gorgeous the lighting is. Where was this taken?

Myla: as with yesterday's shot this was taken on the Ingleton Waterfalls Walk (North Yorkshire, UK). This one is Thornton Force, and if you follow the link you'll see a large rock in the bottom left corner of the shot. Matt was stood on this rock and I was shooting from further back on that side of the waterfall.

i personally think the human figure is a distraction to an otherwise excellent image. the extreme contrast between him and the background gives the impression that he was cut and pasted in, even though i know it is not. perhaps if his pose and clothing were different, he would have seemed more appropriate. it just looks as though you photographed a photo at a museum, with another viewer standing in front of it.

the waterfall itself is extremely impressive and original.

While these are both great shots, I'd have to say that I prefer yesterday's. I think that the figure in this shot looks awkward and posed, and just generally out of place in this image. If he was looking contemplative or actually doing something that would fit into a scene like this, it would make for a much more natural looking image.

I have to concur really - it's the contrast between foreground and background, and does look very much as though he's been Photoshopped into the image. The actual shots of the waterfall are, however, utterly stunning.

Sir, you have one very jealous admirer of these photos!

whoa... surreal!

wow... excellent. You look like a god who'e enjoying his creation :-)))

I did have another shot, with a slightly wider angle of view, that better contextualised Matt in his surroundings; i.e. it linked the foreground and background much more thoroughly than this shot, but it was too badly blurred to use. Matt was actually looking up at the rock face to see whether it would make a good photograph - hence his rather 'surreal' pose ;-)

I prefer the first shot, albeit it's a bit "frigid", almost morbid, unnatural. But your work is very good, indeed.

heaven :)

Something must be wrong with me, because I COMPLETELY disagree with most commetns so far. While I agree Matt's exposure is a little hot in contrast to the background, that's going to happen on a long exposure. The waterfall detail in this shot is so much more slammin than yesterday's post. Whether it would work without Matt in the shot or not? I dunno. I do know that when I fire up your site today, I was like "Whoa". Good job, as usual, mate.

I prefer today's shot. Although yesterday's was excellent too, I like it when it has life in it. The previous one looked too simplistic to me, but this one tells a story. It's almost surreal.

i like today's shot better, if you'd like to know. i think the guy does look out of place and i think it's great. if he wasn't there, you'd be left with just a conventional shot of a waterfall. conventional, but very good obviously. i also think the waterfall looks more interesting in this shot. good work and all that.

Today's image is MUCH better than yesterdays, in my opinion. I don't like taking pictures with people in it, but the importance of having a human element can't be ignored. Composing your friend into the frame takes this image out of the ordinary and puts it into eye catching territory. Good job!

I think because it's a shot from further away, or because of the angle, this one is more striking than yesterday's. The water definetely looks more attractive, and in my opinion the composition is better. I really like it.

i like both of the pictures (today and yesterday's). for today's photo, i'd rather prefer if it didn't have someone in it. but still, this one looks great (most of your pictures are, anyway). it shows how majestic the waterfall is.

do you have a msg board? most of us have a lot of questions, you know :-)

Yeh its all about yesterday's shot for me, as it has an almost abstract quality and a greater variety of texture in the water as opposed to the more 'standard' waterfall shot for today. I agree the shot could do without Matt (sorry, Matt!) as it looks like he's standing in front of a giant photo print. But still, as far as the falls go you've done a great job!

Today's picture is so much MORE than yesterday's! Yesterday's was a very nice compositional treatment of a phenomenon (fast water, slow shutter speed) most relatively serious photographers have toyed with--lovely but not a particularly original idea. BUT TODAY you've taken a well know effect and used it to make a statement!

What statement? To me you've toyed with the whole question of man and his intrusive relationship with nature. You have this beautiful flowing natural scene that you've juxtaposed the stiff almost surreal existence of a human. He's an intrusion and looks like he doesn't belong or that he's been manually placed there, yet we know he hasn't been. It begs the question as to just WHAT is he doing there. It is haunting.

In the end which photo is "better" depends on what you want concerning the photos. Yesterday's photo is a lovely example of nature photography and can be admired as such (and I do.) Today's photo is beautiful, disturbing and incites emotion and asks a question. In my book that's pretty powerful stuff (as well as a great challenge to achieve.)

Great work, thanks for sharing!

Freakin' fantastic man!

Oddly, Matt's presence makes the waterfall look artificial to me, as if he were a visitor in a museum. I'm sure that's because he's so much sharper than the waterfall itself; the waterfall has become a painting. (To me.) Although his clothing is certainly appropriate for anyone near a waterfall, he's not wet enough.

I guess yesterday's shot is "better" because it's more unified, but if today's waterfall were sharper it would be a rival.

:)...

Commenting only on the waterfall in the picture, this fall is far superior to yesterdays...

Matty initially did look pasted in, Its cause he hasn't changed over the time frame of the picture where the fall has.....

M

It's interesting that the comments seem to have gone one of two ways, both starting from the same premise: Matt, or Matt's presence, renders the scene unnatural or surreal. And from this it's concluded that this is either a bad thing (if you start from the assumption that this is a natural scene that Matt's presence disrupts), or a good thing, if the disruption itself is seen as the central focus of this image; i.e. the juxtaposition of Matt and the waterfall is the point rather than the problem.

Both positions are as valid as each other, and I don't think that either of them - as I took the shot - were my intention, but what both share is that they're ways of making sense of what we see. And in this instance we have a slightly odd, maybe unbalanced, photograph, that makes us think about what it means or what it says. Which, as far as I'm concerned, is a big part of what good photography is about; i.e. challenging the way we look at the world. Technically this shot is somewhat lacking (Matt would have been pin-sharp if it had turned out how I'd wanted), but conceptually I'm pleased with the result.

All of which, of course, is just an overly long-winded way of (partially) agreeing with all of you ;-)

I prefer yesterday's photo because to me it has a heavenly feeling. It reminds me of paintings I saw in my grandmother's old bible when I was a kid - where light was shining down from the sky, depicting God or heavenly power or something. I never learned much about the bible but I did like to look at those paintings. On special days here on the west coast of Canada I occasionally see that same kind of light, shining down through the clouds to the ocean. It is that kind of majesty that I see in yesterday's photo.

How did you manage to produce such a black background by the way? What time of day was it when you took these photos?

I don't like either one.

Kidding, kidding. I much prefer today's for two reasons: Firstly, the waterfall's overal shape is more appealing to me, much like a shapely cityscape is more interesting to look at than a single skyscraper. Secondly, I'm a big fan of the human element in the otherwise pristine nature scene--perhaps because of the implicit commentary. Shake it up a bit, baby, that's what I say.

Thanks everyone.

And Joan: this was shot at 10 past 6 in the evening, and the black background was partly a result of the exposure - the far side of the falls were mostly in shade - but was enhanced in Photoshop using the Curves tool.

Definetly like this one - think the human aspect makes the shot much more interesting than yesterdays. I'm surprised the guy is not blurred at all given the shutter speed...nice one!

Somehow I missed this one... funny, as I usually catch every photo on my photoblog list during the weekdays.

My immediate impression what that this one was much better than the day before. The day before doesn't provide enough context to be interesting, and looked blurry and vague. The waterfall scene in this one is fabulous.

I'm not sure what to think about having Matt in the photo. I would have liked the photo either way, as the waterfall here is good enough to stand on its own feet. When I first glanced at the photo, my thought was, "oh, some guy is at a park looking at a waterfall, and David must have been along and snapped a photo." I was impressed with how sharp Matt was, given the evident slow shutterspeed, and how dark the surrounding environment was.

It could be seen as sureal, but it stands out to me as a typical vacation or outing snapshot, albiet a gorgeous one. I personally think it is best viewed in this context, because if viewed from an art perspective it seems to vague, but when placed into concrete surroundings, it takes on a host of emotional feeling. For example, I'm struck with the evident beauty of the scene, more so because it feels like the place is real, not contrived. Matt's coat carries with it the whole REI, mountain climbing, hiking and camping phenomenon, with its associated feelings of rustic beauty and charm. His expression is a little odd, in that it doesn't look posed, like you caught him doing something natural, which lends itself to the idea of it being a snapshot as opposed to a contrived scene.

From an abstract perspective, it looses much of its charm. The waterfall is gorgeous, but aside from its beauty, it says little. The very idea of it being surreal robs the scene somewhat of the warmth associated with the earth. It becomes cool, and with the coloring as it is, it becomes almost depressing. Matt's presence then raises questions, but not concrete ones, leaving me with a vague feeling of discontent.

Gorgeous, two thumbs up :)

Dave, I didn't realise you had taken this shot while I was looking at the other small fall. I also must have missed it when you were showing us the pictures later in the evening.

To all other viewers of the picture:- I was not posing in this shot, just looking up at the other fall and trying to decide whether it would make a good shot. Dave took many shots here (as you might have guessed) including on of me behind the fall in this shot with my hand in the water flow. That was one I liked when he showed us them, but this does make a much more interesting shot overall

Hehe I love it, I think Matt looks like one of those guys that does the signing in the corner of the TV screen =P