Statues ?

[SmartWombat]

Waddesdon Manor, in case you're wondering where

[Dzerzhinski46]

Dear Paul,

Don't tell me this is one of those Christo things ! I suppose one could get some enjoyment from the swaddling shapes, but I still cannot quite grasp the meaning, if there is any meaning to it.

Dzerzhinski

[CaraRose]

I really like the third one, I think its the perspective from statue to statue. I like the first one but there's something about the bush and the pyramid thing being chopped in half that bothers me. I really like the lines of the path cutting through the picture though.

[CaraRose]

Also wanted to add, on that second shot, there is something about it that made me think of the Virgin Mary. I don't know if its the shape or something else, make of that what you will

[SmartWombat]

First of all, thanks for the comments.

It's alledgedly winter So to protect the statues and other items in the grounds of the stately home, they've been wrapped. First to keep off the rain, secondly to give a little insulation against the temperature extremes that will freeze/thaw the water and crack them. Some plinths I noticed are already damaged.


I was attracted to them just because of the mystery of the wrapped statues.
That wrapping changes the art, and that appealed to me.
My thoughts were more on the anonymity this wrapping brings to the statues.
Meaning? I wasn't aiming for a meaning, though I know people will see something the images
It's not deliberately a Christmas/Christian theme, though it's getting to that time of year again.


I agree on the virgin mary thought, that occurred to me afterwards. IMO it's the way the covering drapes around the figure, and I suppose the pose is a classical pose that was used in art of the period and widely copied afterwards.


My wife was with me, and by this time was in pain from the walking and leainig heavily on her walking stick, so I took these in a hurry. Sad to say next time I'll probably have to go without her to spend a whole day there working on the photos.


Now I think it's my turn to critique my own work

#1 I very carefully cut the pyramid in half, rather than have the whole thing in. I deliberately placed the path, leading towards and around the statue. I chose that side of the statue to its face (if you could see it under the wrap) was looking into the space in the image, above the path.

I felt if I cropped the pyramid out, then the statue would be too close to the edge. I didn't want to compromise on the other elements, and thought it was the best compromise.


#2 I deliberately placed the staue in the gap between the trees on the skyline, but you can see despite trying to level it with the gridlines in the EVF it's still slightly tilted.
I'm not happy with the exposure on this one, I exposed not to burn out the sky, and the statue has come out rather greyish looking.

Perhaps I ought to have used fill flash. But the Minolta A2 is pretty poor at managing flash levels, even manual you only have 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1/1 so I'd only have to bracket 5 shots


#3 I wish I had been a little further left, to separate the figures. I feel they are a bit too close together.
Also that urn at the end is too central and too white for my taste, it distracts from the statues.

Maybe next time a little further left, and hide the urn by the topiary in the foreground.


#4 You can see I've shot it high, leaving out the plinth. I also moved around to minimise the skylight coming through the trees in the background - the other version of this has too much white sky.

In front of this there is a no entry sign on a barrier, and to the left there was a guy in a wheelchair so my options were a little limited. But I'd like to take it from a slightly different angle next time.


I didn't take enough photos!
When I go back I'm taking a tripod. These are all hand held.
I'm going back with a graphic artist friend of mine, he was very taken with the photos and thinks I ought to work on the idea more for some stock photos. He said his are going in to Getty images, so I might piggy-back on his contacts!