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Jeremy Martignago's picture

Life saving ring

Lifesaving ring.

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12 Comments

A simple image can say a lot, Jeremy! Good composition, with that ring "looking" out downwards.

Thanks.

I love this shot. I might prefer a little more data in the foreground, but it's excellent as it stands. It keep stirring up questions for me, too, like "How do you risk drowning up on that hillside?" and "Who's looking through the periscope?"

thanks evelyn

What I find interesting about this is the complete lack of water. The ring is so out of context and THAT makes it interesting.

Thanks ruth

Absolutely, Ruth Carll What I said above about wondering who might be at risk of drowning nearby is of course a compliment. It’s the artful and intriguing images that make me ask questions: “Why is that submarine built out out of rocks and soil?” “How did that Froot Loop get so terribly lost?” “What did I ever do to incur the wrath of all those jellyfish?” 😏

I like your image very much. The simplistic approach as well as - like others already mentioned - the lack of water giving the lifesaver a absurd meaning in this image.

I also like the composition a lot, having a lot of negative space by the sky, well balanced with the 'heavy weighting' dark foreground.

I personally like the silhouette character of the image as well. I wouldn't change that, there are still some rock elements left in the near bottom border, I would remove that. If you want to keep it, I would agree to others by bringing back some texture on the foreground.

The ring itself seems to be a bit blurry, is it out of focus? Additionally and because the image suggest strong simplicity I suggest straighten up the lifesaver stand a bit by rotating the whole image a little. Since there isn't a defined horizon line you shouldn't run into a conflict here.

Finally I would get rid of the clouds. In my opinion in minimalism every element should be evaluated carefully and I think the clouds don't add anything to the visual expression of your image. They interfere with the very well balanced sky/foreground and distract the eye too much.

So, that's it. Well done, Jeremy. I hope to see more images like that from you.

Peter

Thanks Peter

Hi, Peter - I agree with everything you said. :)

Except perhaps about the clouds. With the foreground in silhouette, the clouds are the only thing that tell us that we're looking at sky, and therefore a vertical post rising from the ground. Without the clouds, the image could be taken as a top-down view of a shoreline with the post a life ring lying horizontally on surface of some oddly calm and strangely-colored water. It's admittedly not an interpretation that makes much sense, but that ambiguity might drive the image from "absurdist" to "confusing."

I do agree in that the clouds' placement is slightly distracting. Some photoshop to move the clouds slightly higher and towards the left could maybe improve the image a bit, but the image also stands well as it is.

Good point. I also agree to place the cloud differently then.

that's a good idea Evilyn I will try to move the clouds.