Pine Trunks ~ Snow...or ode to Joel T!

Hey all, Joel posted an image of pine trees in a snowstorm a while back, and I noticed the image in his ebook as well (you DO have his ebook now, don't you??). I had promised/threatened at the time to show my take on that sort of scene, and seeing it again reminded me I never posted it. So here you go....interesting that we had the same basic concept about a year apart (I was first, but Joel never has seen my image as far as I know, so no comments of infringement please!). Also, while the concept is similar I think the execution is surprisingly different once the images are compared closely.

Guess I'm kinda starting a theme here - anyone else got any pines in snow shots? Oh, small size and compression is absolutely murdering this image.......I shot it with LF on a 6x12 back, so a nice 20 x 40 might be on my wall someday!

Thoughts? CJ

I'm sure it is much nicer in a larger format however it still gives you something to think about here. It is one of those that makes me think I would have like to have been there and seen it in person.

Jpeg compression really ruins LF images. I'd like to see it on the light table. I bet it just glows there.

Scenes such as this one are always difficult to show on the web due to the high compressions we must use.

Well captured, CJ...love the blue tones and the snow on the branches!

Nice shot. I like the colors on this one.

I clearly remember you mentioning this image, so it's great to see it. No infringiment by any means - neither of us saw or knew of the others image when we made the exposures. Plus they are very different in my opinion. This strikes me as a pushing towards abstraction a bit more due to the tighter pano format- something I enjoy. The blues certainly contribute to the mood, and they aesthetically strike me as very film-like. If pushed to offer a critique, I would argue that the left side of the image would be stronger if the tree that merges with the frame (and the snow covered branch that belongs to it) was cropped out. Other than that, it's very nice. Did this make it the book cut? I'd really like to see a print. Sweet!

Joel..thanks for the reminder of this image being in the book. It is indeed included and it looks great!!

Beautiful textures and color, CJ. I could spend a lot of time wandering through this image.

Thanks all - I also shot this full frame on the 4x5 and while it is a nice image, it didn't translate the feel I wanted as well to me. Joel makes a very astute observation about abstraction, that was a big part of my thinking. The full frame doesn't have the same abstract feel.

Interesting comment about the slight left side crop Joel - something to consider if I print it but I really like to pano look, so a corresponding crop from top or bottom might be included to keep the pano look....

And as Toni said, this one DID make the book cut if you want to see a better reproduction!

Thanks all....CJ

Nicely done, it's too bad we can't post larger images in these forums! Here is my pine shot, mine is a four image stitch taken along the Gunflint trail a couple weeks ago! There is a larger version available in the ESS gallery.

I do have one more taken during a snowstorm if anyone is interested to see it. Just let me know!

Take Care,

Ben