Ice in Black and White

simply wonderful...

You sure made the most of that deep freeze, Mary. This is another fine image with interesting textures and nice lines. I like the hard contrast, too.

mary, this is great - love the lines, textures and spots! super

Beautiful.

- Dan

Very well done. You angled the shot so the lines give interesting depth to the image.

Awesome, Mary! If youll forgive me for being super picky, id say the middle dark line disrupts the flow a bit, but thats real minor, overall i just love this shot!

Mary, your abstract photos of the ice and in general are very nice! The diagonal lines of the cracks as well as the ice bubbles work well together adding fluidity throughout the image. The horizontal dark line running across throws me off, but not too bad! Well done!

I disagree with Stan. The dark middle line creates an opposing diagonal to the white cracks in the ice. Without it the white lines would lead the eye through the image without stopping. With it, the eye bounces back and forth between the white lines and the black line. This creates compositional tension which holds the viewer's interest. But of course, Mary already know this! I think this is perfect as is.

BTW, Mary, George Stocking turned me on to your work. Love the stuff on your website -- great use of shape and space in your images.

The composition is subtle and the use of shape and line is masterfull. What Ian said on the dark line near center.

So beautiful, the bubbles and lines.. I love it! The square format works well for this too.

This is great!! Excellent job on the conversion. It is a fascinating subject and image. Great work.

Thanks for the very interesting and thoughtful responses folks. I always appreciate and value them.

In my opinion, and Ian already mentioned this idea, that diagonal dark line (ridge in the ice) is essential to the composition. In all honesty, if it weren't there, I don't think I would have taken a picture of this particular section of ice. The variety of cracks, bubbles and textures on either side of that line is interesting, but without that line in the frame, the image would have been way more static and one dimensional to my eye. What I try to do with a lot of my images is walk that fine line between having a lot going on that is stimulating and sortable to the eye and brain without crossing into chaos for the sake of chaos territory. I tend to think of it as simplified complexity and that line helps achieve that goal, hopefully, for this particular image. That said, it's cool with me if it doesn't work for everyone.

Ian--thanks for the huge compliment and I really appreciate you (and George!) taking the time to check out my website.

Nicely seen - Fantastic shot!

I saw the thumbnail, and I thought: Mary posted another great shot! I opened the full image and I *knew*: Mary posted another great shot (Note *not* "just" another). Really amazing how you see and compose these scenes. Very inspiring.

simplified complexity...I like that...

Beautifully composed and executed! This series of images taken as a whole is truly wonderful.

Fantastic work Mary. I think you could call this "Fractures" as well. Great eye to see and catpure this one. I love it.

Lon

I wish I could simplify the complexities of life sometimes as elegant an beautifully as you can with your images Mary!
georg

This is right up there with the others! Just wonderful! The cracks are really emphasizing the whole scene. A great series!

Thanks for the additional comments. I really appreciate them.

Georg--you and me both!! Photography is so much easier than life. Don't you just wish you could turn a few dials, press a few buttons, tweak a few curves, and everything would come out exactly as you envisioned it would in life! Ahhh, to have that amount of control....

Hi Mary...
This image works well for me in the group or the series you show on your website(I just made my first visit there and... yeah, It made a really great impression on me...solid work that let me look and think and feel and I do have, as the viewer, my own relation with the work...all of the stuff isn't quite eluded yet)
In the NATURE II folder the 'ice' images tend to keep the viewer inside the frame here I feel the lines are throwing me out and in... maybe because they are(the lines) so prominent with a rather minimum amount of interesting texture or color...to make it simpler...I guess I prefer the ice images on your site

see you

keep on

michel Legendre

Interesting abstract. Like the b&w treatment.

i like this a lot mary.

Thanks Michel, Morris and Prashant.

Michel---so nice to see that you are still checking in at NPN. I miss seeing your photographs and reading your thoughts about things. Have you been working on anything new lately and is there any place on the internet to see your images?

Hello Mary,
no web site for now...I work daily in a MTL museum photo-department ,,,so, my personal work is on ice for now.
Kids, cycling and too much computer presence in my life keeps me away of doing " new photo work "
I like your work
see you

mleg

What a wonderful mix of tones, lines and shapes. No nits here's... good stuff!

Truly amazing abstract! I love this! I agree with you completely on the dark line. The B&W presentation of the image is just fabulous. Congratulations.

Very nice abstract. Beautiful texture, and I love the 3D perspective defined by gradient light.

stunning image. Like the fine lines on the black ice. Plus those white circles. Neat!