Dream Foresaken

Very cool. You conveyed the mood well and great comp. I would like to be able to see the original. Well done.

Thank you John, but the original sucks! Showed my ignorance in digital capture. Only had the D30 for three months beforehand and a big reason for getting the D30 was for the trip out to see my wife's brother. Decided if we were going to visit, it would be by land, as I had not been further west than Chicago at that time. And if we were going, I wanted a camera that I didn't have to worry about the cost of each click of the shutter. The D30 was the first serious digital camera at an "affordable" price.

My only time west of Chicago since! If I get the opportunity to do it again, my wife flies, and I drive! That way, I can stop the car as often as I want to shoot what I want and not feel guilty. I think my captures would be better exposed now than then, as I think I have learned a wee bit since 2001 about digital capture and exposure parameters. And the cameras have advanced a lot since then too.

Came upon this scene late afternoon, sunny day, August. Would have to look at the files to see what state this was captured in. Remember passing it, hitting the brakes, and backing up. The scene just tugged at me. My goal for the trip out and back was to see what I could capture from the side of the road. This was one of those situations. At the moment of capture I had the vision of this image as a winter scene even though it was capture in the middle of summer. Winter suggested the feelings I had about the abandoned forelorn nature of the scene in front of me. The sense of desolation I was feeling viewing this farm. This is the roadie image that impacted me the most from that trip. Will try and post the original, but just warning you that it sucked, but I saw the potential. Took several years to bring it to fruitition.

Fine art.

John, posting the original capture. Nothing to write home about.

Thanks for the explanation and for sharing the original. This is such a great composition in my opinion because I like old rugged barns and broken down wooden fences. You came across a great find here. It's funny the way things catch the eyes of people that love photography. I spend every day driving to and from my job trying to imagine how different things I see along the way would look through the viewfinder.

A very nice treatment, Steve. Well done!

Thank you John, and Marc. John I had forgotten that the area surrounding the fence, the enclosure and the barn were farmed. Can see the evidence of recent harvesting in the original capture. The farm house and other out buildings evidently were now abandoned too, and in a state of disrepair. Hence my feeling of a dream foresaken. It was the raggedy fence line that lead me to thinking I had a composition to work with. I wished I had been able to capture the complete enclosure, and my mentor changed the composition from portrait to landscape and added a wee bit of fence line upper left. Hence the inclusion in the Photo Art Gallery. I will not claim this to be photographic in nature (no pun intended).

John, I can so relate. Wherever I go, my eyes tend to briefly look in the rear view mirrors and then scope the surrounding scenery, looking for possibilities and making mental notes of places of interest.

If you read this post again John, where do you live, as we might be "neighbors". Just met Brian Vance and see that another NPN member, Kathy, lives in GR. I live in Portland.

Steven this is really exceptional.

Wow Steven, I really like your treatment to this photo. Your large print must look fabulous!

Thank you David, Carol. Carol I/we think it does. John, barns hold a special place for me too. Photographed one in the UP on the way back with the D30, would love to go back and see if it still there to do justice to it. Had a similar feel to it. Just got a GPS tracking system. Would be nice to know where exactly it is/was. All I know now is that it is somewhere between Ironwood and the Porkies.

A beautiful piece of art you've created here, Steven. I love it!

Steven: This is spectacular. I understand your musing and often wonder the same things when coming upon old structures. Remarkably good image. >=))>

Beautiful rendition of a sad situation.
Congrats on the EP!

Sandy r

Thank you Bill and Sandy. Sandy, what is an EP?

It's a wonderful picture, Steven. Thanks for posting the original.

BTW: EP = Editor's Pick

Very well done. The delapidated fence is indeed a great leading line. You did a great job conveying how you feel about this image. Congrats on the EP!