Great B&W.

You have some really nice work here. I am glad I found your blog.

really stunning bnw image!!….excellent work!!

wow… very mysterious mood! love this alot!

Powerful image; powerful message, too!

Love these limited light b&w_s of yours.
Another fantastic shot.

Great in b&w!!

Good choice!!

:-)

magnific! ;))

Like the darkness engulfing the world!

Fabulous darkness and light. I love the bonfire. :)

This picture says a lot! Faved!!

incredible Mike!

Hey Mike
OK…. Here we go.

Very interesting picture. Very artistic treatment. You obviously had a picture in your mind of what you wanted to create and my guess is you have achieved it.

It really is an interesting composition… I_ve been staring at it now for quite a few minutes. It has an interesting effect on me…. I love what I can see. But it makes me want to see more. Even if the more is just the vaguest outline… I feel like I want to peer into the blackness to get just the tiniest bit of detail to suggest what the darkness is hiding.

I love what I can see… but I want to see more. For my taste there is just a bit too much too dense black. Perhaps if you did show the detail it would totally ruin the image… I don_t know but it does leave me wishing for more. I actually quite like the softness of the water.

On hte horizon there looks to be something a little funny (I_ll put a comment on the photo that you can delete) I_m not sure what it is but it is mildly distracting.

As for the bon fire and the star, personally I don_t think they add to the picture. The star almost looks like a burnt pixel and the bonfire isn_t quite big enough in my opinion.

Very interesting image, I_m looking forward to reading others opinions of it. Thanks for sharing this one, I have enjoyed studying it.

Brent

EDIT: Whoops, for some reason I can_t add comments on this picture.

When I go to your archives and can see this one in thumbnail form, it is one that I like just seeing the basic shape that the light forms into the black.
Opening up the picture and seeing the full composition, I get to see the bonfire (or triangular dot really). I don_t think it is doing the piece any favours really – it is too white and too ambiguous. It looks like a mark on the photograph – a flaw – rather than an important piece of the composition. I needed you to tell me that it is a bonfire.
The light of the sea and sky is great and I love the idea of framing it on three sides with the blackness of the night. If you don_t mind me suggesting a crop, I would be tempted to crop in from the bottom, right and top (if possible) to alter the balance of black and white. As currently portrayed, I feel the black to be too heavy and dominant in these areas.

hi guys, thanks for taking the time to critique this one. i was thinking about cloning both of those spots out, but decided to leave them in. now i_m thinking to clone them out :)

Hi Mike,
It took me a while to think on this one. I looked at it a bit, then went and wrote critiques on the others, saving this for last, came back, looked and thought some more. I am kind of torn about a few elements of this photo. But I will see if I can work that out in writing this critique.

First I really like this shot. It is simple, that is a quality that gets overlooked too often. Sometimes landscapes need to be all flash and bang and eye-melting colors. But I definitely have an appreciation for those photographs (and photographers) who can say more with less.

I really like the sweep of the lit surf. That is easily my favorite element of the entire shot. The incredible black negative space of this photo threatens to be overwhelming, but it ends up being balanced by the bright area over the ocean, and creates a lovely mood for this photo. The quote mirrors this nicely too by the way.

I am torn about the star and bonfire though. The star is just so small. I wouldn_t miss it if it were removed. It does almost seem like a flaw in the image, if you didn_t know what you were looking for. But at the same time I like how it accompanies the bonfire. Ultimately though I do not think the photo suffers at all if it is taken out.

And then on to the bonfire. Sigh, it looks like a white blob. Just too small. I can tell it is a bonfire, it is too big to be a burnt pixel. I almost wish it had a bit more, some other element to accompany it. Whether that was seeing a trail of sparks flying up out of it, or the silhouette of some lonely individual standing by it watching the last play of light over the ocean. Unlike the star though, I think the picture would change in mood if the fire were removed. The fire reinforces the sense of solitude in this image, and I think it is a vital element. But ah well, I am splitting hairs here, it really is a very nice image.

Mike
For me, visually the image is secondary to the idea it is presented with. (Kind of like my one in this circle). I like the way the text makes me feel, looking at the fire in the foreground and then up to the star in the VERY fare distance (nobody can say this hasn’t depth). It makes me think of the conversations I’ve just had with my son who is 7 and just wondering about the stars. I described to him how far away and that it was in fact a sun. It reminded me how insignificant we are (strongly I feel at ease with this), a kind of warm reassurance at that. I get the same feeling when I see large mountains. I think it indicates how I feel about the power of nature to control us, not us it. Its in charge, I feel good with this knowledge (sorry old hippy in me).

Visually I think the fire is too small to be seen as a fire, (I did see your text in the thread in the pool and as yet haven’t read what other have said). Maybe if you had got closer for a more dynamic visual image but it would change the meaning for me. I’m torn here. To be honest I’m not that keen on the image visually but as usual you have me thinking (and I do like this very much!) so overall this image has been a present experience, thank you.

Interesting how others reed your images (I had a wonderful comment from a person who was reminded from one of my images of playing with her son on the beach, she thanked me for reminding her of that. I was really touched, I was so happy that id unwittingly sparked an emotion in her from years ago. Of course I couldn’t take credit, I didn’t try and do that but what I presented to the community did do that. I think this image will do that for others (as it has for me) (o:

Well, I_ve been reading everbody_s comments above, and it is clear to me that this image has made them all think as much as it has me. So, at that level, a success.

I really like the idea of this image. A lot. I really like many elements within the image – a lot. I love the surf. I love the tones, the composition. I have been unable to ignore this image – it has grabbed my attention. It has also made me feel something (though I_m actually unsure what that is – but maybe a sense of smallness, loneliness, insignificance, solitude I guess).

But, on initial glancing at this picture, I just knew there was something which was going to madden me as much as the rest of it delights! Let me explain… Firstly, and this is actually quite a minor point, I agree with others above about the star, and to an extent also the bonfire – which if it wasn_t pointed out that it was a bonfire, I would never have known. But the main thing for me is the dark extent of dense blackness on the right hand side. There is so little detail over there, that I have ended up being distracted by it. Essentially, I think the reason for this is that so many elements of the picture draw the eye to the right hand side, and just where the interest should be settling, there is nothing. This feeling reminded me of a feeling that I often have whenever I look at one of my own, ever so slightly unsatisfying images – also of a dusk beach scene I took when I first bought my camera and forayed into the adventure that is flickr ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/seancrawford/399055928/ ) in which the darkness ends up absorbing my attention more than it deserves. I wonder with this pic if it is worth experimenting with some different crops, and exposing just a little more of whatever lurks over in the right hand side? Go on, just a hint…!

Anyway, these are clearly just *my* thoughts – it has been very interesting reading what others have seen in this image. I liked reading what this picture represented for Jason who had just been talking to his son about the immensity of life. And going back to what I said right at the start – I really like the idea behind this, holding onto the light in the midst of one_s solitude, all underpinned by a simple composition some beautiful elements within… I will continue to think about this one – and just to ensure it doesn_t get lost in the flickr morass, I am faving it!

Sean

@sean: thanks. the original shot shows much details in the foreground and in the far right. i had a gnd filter on to make sure i exposed both foreground and the sky correctly.

my intention for this version was to force the user to look at nothing but the light sources. sometimes, less detail might provoke more thoughts and emotions than looking at the detailed pixels to see what_s there. that might work for some and not for others.

i appreciate the comment very much.