On the face of it, this is a pretty dull image, right?
I came close to not taking this shot as I held the camera to my eye. I sort of knew there was any image to be had but, at the time, I didn't quite know why.
On processing the file I realised it was the story that unfolded sometime before humans arrived that was the pull; two red foxes, sometime before dawn, had wandered into the same territory and for a brief time had been united by tracks in the snow. Or was it just one animal retracing its steps? Who knows?
So why does it appeal to me - the gentle curve in the main track; the foreground meeting of the two tracks; the tracks parting just inside the tree line? Probably all these things. Above all though, it is the fuel the image gives to the imagination.
C&C welcomed.
Cheers,
Chris
PS. Thanks to Pete Cairns for his vision in spotting the potential for a shot.
Did you try a shot in portrait orientation as well - it would have given a stronger leading line. - For me the right hand elements and the left tree are superfluous - a bit of the "less is more" philosophy to give the track only leading into the central tree cluster
The beauty of shots like this, as you point out (and as Pete has realized) is the stories they conjure in your imagination......
I've had a passion for environmental poetry for a couple of decades, triggered by the purchase of an inspiring anthology, now sadly long out of print, which has strongly influenced the way I see the world, and one of my absolute favourite verses is by Tomas Transtromer, entitled simply 'From March '79'
Tired of all who come with words, words but no language
I went to the snow-covered island.
The wild does not have words.
The unwritten pages spread themselves out in all directions!
I came across the marks of roe-deer's hooves in the snow.
Language but no words.
I think we photographers need to learn the lesson poets learned long long ago - too often we try to cram it all in to our shots, we leave too little for the viewer to imagine, yet poetry in a few sentences can conjure up a myriad of imaginings, and as in this case hints at their being something communicative in the marks of nature but which we cannot read, simply guess at.
We need images like this to keep our imaginations fertile and keep us wondering......
You guessed it, I like it!
Posted by David Taylor on August 7, 2009 at 4:48 AM
A natural 'Brief Encounter', I think, as the tracks diverge in the trees as you observed.
An excellent evocative image.
Posted by Lewis Thomson on August 7, 2009 at 5:09 AM
I like it too, but i really think it depends on who you are aiming the image at. Images like this are great for people like us who have an interest and arguably a better understanding of wildlife, but would joe public get it? I don't know.....
Cheers,
Lewis.
Posted by David Sewell on August 7, 2009 at 5:31 AM
I agree with Mike, for me this image just cries out to be in portrait format. You lose none of the story, but gain a lot of impact. Either way a beautiful picture that gets the imagination going.
An image with mystery and one that certainly gets the imagination going.
I think it works ok as it is but perhaps it would have been stronger if shot in portrait format, as already mentioned.
Posted by Craig Jones on August 7, 2009 at 6:46 AM
The image is brillant and so is your 'story telling' chris, very clever man I love things you have to 'look' further into and my own images in a sort time scale are more drawn to this, so for me the image tell's of a chance meeting between to fox's maybe? , because of the absense of flatterened snow I'd say they did'nt meet or fight, you can see clear tracks, no double foot prints or different patterns to say they met,stopped,sniffered,fought etc, but the mistery here is in the image, very well thought out photo Chris
Mike: I agree about the vertical crop, it would emphasize the track more - your suggestion would definitely work well. I can't help thinking that the loss of the prints leading in from the right may diminish the 'story' a little though.
Lewis: You're right, this is definitely a portfolio shot, part of a photo-story - I intend to use it in conjunction with images of a fox in snow.
Craig: Thanks, but I wasn't clever enough to shoot it in portrait format, was I ? Doh!
I think there might be a misunderstanding here. 'Portrait format' was a reference to what others had posted in reply, not you - i.e. Mike Smith and others suggested the image could have been improved by shooting it in 'portrait format', not landscape.
In your first response to my image, you commented I was a "very clever man". In my response to that comment, I was merely pointing out that I was not quite clever enough, because I hadn't shot the image in 'portrait format' - which, in hindsight, may have been a better approach.
Obviously, my attempt at humour got lost in translation. Hope this clears things up?
Lovely image indeed! With regard to the crop, I don't believe in "standard" crop proportions and would just crop a little from the left leaving it squarish - you can make a frame to fit!
A portrait comp may have proved better as already pointed out but from what you have here I've just tried cropping into a more pano shape and converting to b/w to see how it looks. It is great when an image tells a story and I think there certainly is a story here. Just let me know if you want the image deleting. Tristan
Thanks for your interest in my image - I like your treatment; b&w works well and the pano crop suits the image because as I said in my reply, I think the shot requires the tracks in from the right - something that would be partially lost with a portrait crop.
Another thing the b&w conversion does is frame the centre foreground between the two dark bands top and bottom - very effective.
Cheers,
Chris
PS. No need to delete your version - it is nicely processed.
Discussion
13 repliesI came close to not taking this shot as I held the camera to my eye. I sort of knew there was any image to be had but, at the time, I didn't quite know why.
On processing the file I realised it was the story that unfolded sometime before humans arrived that was the pull; two red foxes, sometime before dawn, had wandered into the same territory and for a brief time had been united by tracks in the snow. Or was it just one animal retracing its steps? Who knows?
So why does it appeal to me - the gentle curve in the main track; the foreground meeting of the two tracks; the tracks parting just inside the tree line? Probably all these things. Above all though, it is the fuel the image gives to the imagination.
C&C welcomed.
Cheers,
Chris
PS. Thanks to Pete Cairns for his vision in spotting the potential for a shot.
Did you try a shot in portrait orientation as well - it would have given a stronger leading line. - For me the right hand elements and the left tree are superfluous - a bit of the "less is more" philosophy to give the track only leading into the central tree cluster
Craig
www.craigchurchill.co.uk
I've had a passion for environmental poetry for a couple of decades, triggered by the purchase of an inspiring anthology, now sadly long out of print, which has strongly influenced the way I see the world, and one of my absolute favourite verses is by Tomas Transtromer, entitled simply 'From March '79'
Tired of all who come with words, words but no language
I went to the snow-covered island.
The wild does not have words.
The unwritten pages spread themselves out in all directions!
I came across the marks of roe-deer's hooves in the snow.
Language but no words.
I think we photographers need to learn the lesson poets learned long long ago - too often we try to cram it all in to our shots, we leave too little for the viewer to imagine, yet poetry in a few sentences can conjure up a myriad of imaginings, and as in this case hints at their being something communicative in the marks of nature but which we cannot read, simply guess at.
We need images like this to keep our imaginations fertile and keep us wondering......
You guessed it, I like it!
An excellent evocative image.
I like it too, but i really think it depends on who you are aiming the image at. Images like this are great for people like us who have an interest and arguably a better understanding of wildlife, but would joe public get it? I don't know.....
Cheers,
Lewis.
David
I think it works ok as it is but perhaps it would have been stronger if shot in portrait format, as already mentioned.
Mike: I agree about the vertical crop, it would emphasize the track more - your suggestion would definitely work well. I can't help thinking that the loss of the prints leading in from the right may diminish the 'story' a little though.
Lewis: You're right, this is definitely a portfolio shot, part of a photo-story - I intend to use it in conjunction with images of a fox in snow.
Craig: Thanks, but I wasn't clever enough to shoot it in portrait format, was I ?
Thanks again,
Chris
I think there might be a misunderstanding here. 'Portrait format' was a reference to what others had posted in reply, not you - i.e. Mike Smith and others suggested the image could have been improved by shooting it in 'portrait format', not landscape.
In your first response to my image, you commented I was a "very clever man". In my response to that comment, I was merely pointing out that I was not quite clever enough, because I hadn't shot the image in 'portrait format' - which, in hindsight, may have been a better approach.
Obviously, my attempt at humour got lost in translation. Hope this clears things up?
Cheers,
Chris
Thanks for your interest in my image - I like your treatment; b&w works well and the pano crop suits the image because as I said in my reply, I think the shot requires the tracks in from the right - something that would be partially lost with a portrait crop.
Another thing the b&w conversion does is frame the centre foreground between the two dark bands top and bottom - very effective.
Cheers,
Chris
PS. No need to delete your version - it is nicely processed.