Dock

I'd like your choices and opinions.

i like the second one its more detailed you can see the sparkle of the snow and it looks cleaner.
jay

Hey Chunk,

I voted for just the posts. I think they are both interesting shots, but I like the post alone better. To be honest, I would have never guessed that this was a dock, with or without the water, but the post by themselves makes me really wonder what they are and makes me want to keep looking to figure it out.

I also like how you were able to keep the detail in the snow in both pics.

Second shot. The inclusion of half the water area in the first looks wrong to me. the first with just the posts out of the snow is very interesting , simple and pleasing to look at. The inclusion of the little pole in the distance looks as if he has left or has come to march with the pack

Well... if i'm gonna say how i see it.... in my sometimes-freaky mind... this is what i saw:

In the first (which i prefer), it feels that the poles are an interesting "stick-figure" species, standing in line to drink from the only available source or water, as for the small guy... well he's been ditched to the side so that the big guys drink first....


Ok... back to reality for a second... I love the first because it makes sense....it tells a story... my story, your story, anybody's story... It leads the eye to the water or away from it, pending on the viewer.... Adding the poll, pretty much says you know they are technically great...and are looking for the emotional side of things....

So yeah...I'll go with the first!

Chunk,
This is hard choice because I like both for different reasons.

When I fisrt looked I saw the foriegn legion soldiers coming back from an arduous trek in the desert all dying of thirst and the lead group have started the run to the water, with the sargent major on the right trying to keep order in the ranks. (Am I sad or what?)

The second I like because of the detail in the snow and the random pattern of the poles in the snow with the shadows adding a complementary pattern to the poles and the simplicity of it.

So I think the voting needs to include both otherwise I will not vote so there.

I just read the other posts Mark - glad to see I'm not the only sad person.

Roger

hahaha.... why sad?? i think we could be diagnosed with accute multiple-personality disorder... very emotional people.... imagination through emotion...

Nicely seen shots... ;)

Marc

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to vote and especially to those who explained things.
This felt like a good shot when I spotted it while driving onto a narrow peninsula where the Rock River enters Lake Koshkonong. My uncle owned one of the shacks that lined the riverfront along a mile or so of road there and I like to drive down it once in a while as much for the memories as for the the photo ops that seem to occur where land meets water.
I'm glad I stopped on the way back out to take these shots. I hadn't noticed the open water until I stopped.
I like the horizontal element of the water in the first shot and like including natural forms like the grass as a counterpoint to the stark, angular man made subjects but have to agree with most of you that the simpler, minimalist second shot is probably the stronger of the two.

I love the second one.

I would, however, edit out the lonely pole in the upper right corner.