Newfound Gap Shale 3

All, looking for opinions on this one. This is from a rainy/foggy day at the Newfound Gap overlook in the Smokies. The rock face was wet and the colors were amazing. Took this shot while protecting the 4x5 from a steady drizzle.....what do you all think?

CJ

Great colors!

This works very well for me, great color contrasts. I like the section you isolated here, compositionally it flows well. In an "ideal" world, I'd prefer the red patch in the upper-right corner to be a touch further from the top edge of the frame, but that's a nit more than anything. I'm sure the edge placement is quite deliberate. Images like this are well suited for use with a large format camera, I'm glad you captured it with one. I noticed some time ago that Ron has a similar image of this area on his website - you two must have gone together!

Very nice CJ! It will make a very nice print, no doubt.

I just LOVE geology/rock shots like this!

OK, so now I'm going to be really nit picky. My eye/mind want to read this from left to right, but this photo actually reads from lower right to upper left... Like I said, my nit pick...

As much as I look for images like this, I rarely find 'em, so great eye, great capture.

Tim!

Christopher,
You did a great job isolating the patterns in the rock. The colors work great as well. I also love this stuff!
JG

Great colors and details, CJ....very nice!

I love this stuff. At first I was bothered by the red rock in the upper right corner. My eyes focused on it and they didn’t flow to the rest of the picture. After looking at it a second time my eyes focused on the lower left and there was a natural flow to the upper right.

This is so much fun! I got some folks reading it right to left, others left to right, checking out the red rock - it's all good! For what it's worth, I always hope that an image like this has some sort of flow, but I want the viewer to explore the whole frame.....this might just fit that bill. Some specific responses....

Joel - thanks buddy, I hope to print this at some point. I really wanted to include the red rock, and there was other stuff higher on the rock I didn't want to include. You are right that having that spot a touch lower would be nice....always compromises. Ron and I worked this rock face at the same time - he was standing about 10 feet left of me when I took this shot, probably shooting the one on his website. I have 2-3 more I might just share now for kicks....

Tim and Philip, interesting that you read the image in opposite directions. I can actually read it either way (definite indication of a twisted mind), but my first inclination is lower left around to upper right, then circling to the jumbled rock in the lower right. Whatever that means.

Thanks all for the comments - hopefully other's will share thoughts as well. I actually took 4 shots at this location, of which 3 came out and my favorite composition was damaged by light leaks behind the bellows (don't ask, I'm still in therapy over that and I took the trip in March). Maybe I'll post the other 2 now just for comments, as I conceived of them as an overall series.....

CJ

I love the colors, textures and flow as others commented. I wish there was some indication of the scale so I could get a better perspective.

I assumed that was probably the case CJ, and it makes total sense. It's hard not to be extremely deliberate when shooting 4x5! It's better with the splash of red than without, no question. On a side note, it's always amazing to me how different photographers interpret the same place at the same time, but with such different results.

I like the comp and the color, Wish I could have seen the whole setting A drizzly day in the Smokeys not much better.

The contrasting colors are wonderful, Christopher. The flow of the lines across the image work well and the detail makes me want to spend some time looking up close.

Ken - this section of rock is perhaps 4-5 feet tall - not really very big. The entire rock face/cliff was quite large though. With time and patience (and less rain) you could have found dozens of compositions. I shot 4 in the space of about 60-90 minutes.

Joel, I completely agree with you - it's amazing to me that 2 guys can work the same section of rock for more than an hour, take images in spots that clearly overlap, and yet not even come close to the same composition. I always enjoy shooting with someone else when we get the chance to compare the final images and see how someone else interpreted the scene.

Kendall - my thoughts exactly. Keep the bright sunny days, I like the moody ones!

CJ

Nice abstract CJ. Looking at it, I almost have a sense of vertigo...almost as though I'm hovering above this rock face as it falls away from me. Very intriguing.