I can thoroughly understand your fascination with this structure! It's quite an oddity isn't it. I really like the angle that you've shot this from. It gives the structure the feeling of almost being like a ship, or a truck coming past. Great shot!

I think the last few shots of this structure have been excellent. This one reminds me of a giant millipede crawling across the sand towards the camera! ; )

Love it.

i think its very good photo, oh furthermore, i tjink that its the best photoblog i have ever seen!

I've been looking at this picture on two monitors and I can't decide if the foreground is out of focus or not. A minor niggle I know- was it the wind that forced the fast shutter speed?

But a beautiful image nonetheless, making the most of the expanse of sand and the afternooon light.

Justin, PhilB and blind-man: thanks.

peterv: I don't think it is, at least not when I look at the full-res' version. If anything this is probably a post-production issue; i.e. I didn't sharpen the image as thoroughly as I might have done. And yes, I was finding it quite difficult to keep my balance, hence the relatively high shutter speed for the focal length.

Delurking...

It is a fascinating structure: aged, symmetric, repeating, and the right shape for photos. I like this picture, even better than the others, perhaps for what it's not. It's not an extreme perspective shot, it's not a perfectly centered symmetric shot, and it's not the typical reflection-in-the-water shot.

This shot illustrates one of my own failings. I am troubled by the off-center composition of the shot. I like it but I always seem distracted by it when I look at a shot, and perhaps because of that, I've never been comfortable taking photos that are off-center. Perhaps you can advise me on when it's good, when it's bad, and how to tell the difference.

I'm also really intrigued by this object. To me, it illustrates dedication and loneliness. Sometimes we forget the two go hand-in-hand. I think this might be my favorite of the batch, because of the angle and the ominous clouds, but I can't wait to see tomorrow's!

Dave,

absolutely beautiful light. It's a compelling and mysterious image. For some reason, I keep wishing the horizon was a little lower in the frame, with more of the sky visible.

It looks like something you might find on another planet.

Because it's so far to the left of the frame, I think you're wanting me to compare the left to the right.. as if it's not just about the structure itself. But when I do that, I come up blank.

Best of the series so far; it's an interesting composition which still gives you a sense of the whole.

The only thing I regret is that without any anchoring objects (such as a person walking by, or a running dog) you have no feel for the immensity of this separated pier. Because it's not immediately recognized for what it is, there's a bit of a head scratch moment.

If you went there alone, you were dependent on who else was there.

But of the three, I think this is several rungs better than the others. In fact, I think I like this more than anything else you've done in the past couple weeks. There's a lot here that I like in terms of the desolation, and even if you had a person walking by, not noticing it, the sense of desolation wouldn't have been hampered.

And from this angle, there's practically no signs of civilization... I can only imagine what it looks like from the outside looking in.

Bravo!

Pixpop: RE the left/right thing, one of the things I like about this is how the pier's vanishing point makes me look to the right half, partly expecting to find something. Finding nothing, my feeling of desolation is increased.

for some reason, this reminds me of the game, Myst. I guess it is the feeling of desolation everyone has mentioned. The utter vastness... It's as if you were just walking along and suddenly stumbled upon this massive THING that offers no apparent definition or purpose. It's just so...odd. This shot is definitely my favorite so far, though I wish the sand were a little less flat in tone. It seems like the contrast is too strong on the structure but not quite enough in the sand and sky. Not sure though....I like my stuff a little more contrasty than most people.

Very very nice. I like the expanse of space and the and the interrupted horizon line. Such an interesting structure.

Now this shot is much more dramatic and entrancing. I like this one best of the two.

Wow. This structure has proven to be quite photogenic. This is my favorite out of the 3 so far, just due to how well you've captured the lighting.

I have to agree with Picturegirl -- When I first saw this series, I thought of the game Myst. The shape, the isolation, the mystery, makes this an intriguing subject. Very cool! Can't wait to see the last in the series.

Great shot. To me this shot makes it feel like its in motion either sailing at me or marching towards me. The fact that everyone sees something different is a tribute to your art.

Thanks everyone.

tif and pixpop: I did try to reshoot this on the following day, to place the structure a little lower in the frame, but the light just didn't work out.

pixpop: I think I'd agree with Frank regarding the left/right issue. For me, and this keys into your point about this looking as though it were from another planet, I see this structure as I would some ancient or alien artefact – almost as though it were a sentinel watching over the desolate landscape.

Frank: had I included a lone figure I think the sense of desolation would have been compromised, maybe. Anyway, this is only about five miles from where we live, and I suspect I may well shoot it again at some point so we'll see :-)

picturegrl (and bob): the contrast of the structure is 'as shot' but I did increase the foreground contrast and the top half of the sky. The only way I could have balanced them more thoroughly would have been to have masked the structure in PS, and in this instance I didn't think that would be all that effective.

And yes, it reminds me of Myst too.

That landscape could go on forever and the solitary structure "keeping watch" really serves the composition well - definitely my favorite shot of this stucture so far also.

That is a great subject indeed! Isn't it neat what the 17-40mm lens does to the sky with clouds like the ones in this pic. I've noticed that it captures them with so much more depth than my other lenses. I've not figured out why... maybe it's my imagination. Did you have to correct any keystoning in this image. The two spires seem not to be in the same plane, good work!

This is the best of the three. Makes me think of Dune for some reason.

HuskyDSL: yes, the keystoning was significant, and in reality the two spires are both vertical (my 'fix' wasn't ideal). Actually I'm waiting for DxO to develop support for the 20D with their new Raw Engine which should go some way towards alleviating this issue.

As for the 17-40: I can't say that I've noticed anything in particular with respect to the sky, but it is an amazing lens - I'll watch out for it in future.

Great shot, i liked the low angle, l liked the sky, kinda of omissive, dark, nice colors, i like how the line of piling draws you away to the sea. It's modern, but its old, juxipostion in its own reallity, yes, you could a 1000 photos of it.
I like this the best so far..
thanks for sharing

I've not been that keen on your shots of this structure so far. Compositionally I like this one better, although I'd be interested to know why you didn't go a bit wider or use a smaller aperture?

I think the main problem is that the foreground lighting is rather flat - compromising the impact of the shot.

This photo absolutely reminds me of the photorealistic computer games, Myst and Riven. Stranger than fiction!

OK this is my favorite of he 3
I don't quite know why exactly, it jsut works for me.

(And I suspect the lens does a good job on clouds because it is well color-corrected. I have a 24-70mm L zoom which also is quite amazing)

Brilliant stuff Dave. Definitely something very sci-fi about it. The next one, too. Makes me wish I lived near the ocean...