Decline of Western Civilization

[Don Schaeffer]

[CLKunst]

Good morning Don,

I am always interested in the decline of western civilization, kind of a hobby for me I guess. I would have liked to see more of the silo(?) and it's surroundings personally. I assume you were going for a "the world has all grown over and the only thing left are the bits of buildings poking out through the trees" type of shot. I think that idea would have worked better if the silo had as much vegetation on it as your foreground. As it is right now when I look at this I see a picture caught somewhere between a nature landscape and a pastoral farm scene but I just can't see the farm. It's a very good idea that I think deserves to be explored from some different angles. As it stands this looks like it was taken by the side of a highway.

Regards,

[Don Schaeffer]

It was taken from a trail through the Transcona Nature Conservatory--untouched prairie and wetland. There is a poem that goes with it (I as reluctant to include but here it is)


The Fraternity of Ticks

Living in a country of my mind
built on the skeleton of real life,

I travel through the temples of grass,
visit civilizations of the creatures

and hear the music of the
ancient languages they speak.

The tiny spiders that flake onto me
from the leaves of the bush organelles

come crawling out of the creases in my clothes
looking for the tender places in my flesh,

carrying the prehistoric message,
"we take your blood when you come to watch."

[CLKunst]

I like your poem. Now I wish the imagery of your picture would uphold the imagery of your writing.

I don't know how much you have in the way of control over your exposure settings for your particular camera. I would do a smaller aperture/slower shutter speed take on this to preserve the blue sky and feeling of depth. I think this would help your image quite a bit as it is all coming off a bit flat and over sharpened. I hope this doesn't sound too negative. Just trying to suggest some alternative takes for your consideration.

[Don Schaeffer]

Thanks. I have full manual control, I had to lighten the sky to get any detail from the building which was in shadow. It was software post processing.

[CLKunst]

Ahh! In that case I think you need to only do selective shadow lightning on the building itself. Use a selection tool to mask it off from the rest of the picture take it to another layer /window/whaterever, adjust your shadows and compress the layers.

[CLKunst]

Please disregard, I double posted by mistake.

[GB1]

Great title. It looks like some 1950s or 60s movie showing the encroachment of the wilds into the city areas. It is a bit contrasty for me, as the sky is totally washed out, but it is still interesting. The stark looking building in the background is well placed and quite plain. This shot somehow reminds of me of Fahrenheit 451 (the movie).

GB

[Don Schaeffer]

Thanks GB,