* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #873 / Revived #093 on 2025 01 08*

Really a beautiful and impressive photo, especially in B&W.
But I'm being cautious with my praise and didn't want to go too far.

Very interesting photo.
Japan or Korea, where did you take this photo?

To me, the shot is all about the relationship of the place and temperature to the figure. The figure may be a small, indistinct shape with barely enough detail to ensure we know we are looking at a human but the composition and lines in the image establish Els as the subject. There's just enough shape there to assume that Els has her hands in her pockets. Yes, it's cold. The small, vertical line of the figure is repeated over and over in the icicles that diminish in size while creating one of the lines takes the viewer to the figure. This suggests the crisp, coldness of the morning Els is experiencing on the walk. Each of the vertical icicle lines is actually at least two lines- the bright sun refracted line and a dark line so the repeating line pattern is even stronger.
The sun highlight is almost certainly accurate but it might have been damped down a little. "Might." It's a small matter within the overall success of the photo in getting the feel of the walk on that morning.

Beautiful colour indeed. There's no one subject here. Just a wonderful sense of place at a particular time where the components come together. The balance feels right. The mass of mountain to the right is countered by the warm highlights to the left. The curving track and the posts, bottom right, give necessary detail to the slope. I like the V of the railings that takes the eyes out over the valley. I further like the feeling of depth as the colours of the ranges dim with distance.
OK, we want to see what nature serves up for you to the same spot this week.

Best chance missed, fast food again!

It was taken in Tokyo. It was a very expensive part of a very expensive art installation where the main purpose was to sell expensive sunglasses. The shop was packed with young people trying on sunglasses. This is curious because the Japanese don't get into wearing sunglasses. I needed to buy some and they weren't easy to find, even in big stores. I was told that Japanese don't regard wearing sunglasses as polite. No idea how accurate that is but I started to take note and rarely saw them being worn on the street.

Also see my answer to Kumsal. The faces are large, which is why I included the figure to the right to give some scale. Whatever the materials are, the skin is very convincing and can stretch. Expressions change but in subtle ways rather than big grins. I didn't hear any of them speak.

I'll get out of the way what I don't think works here so I can concentrate on what I think does.
2 looks like it doesn't come from the same walk. As a group, 1,3 and 4 might be linked but I don't get a feeling from the selection that we are on some sort of journey recorded in photos.
Looking at them as individual photos is another matter.
1 has the trodden path luring us into the woods. I like the relatively clear forground and then the plunge into the twisted trees where who knows what might be waiting.The large branches partially blocking the entrance to the woods add suspense.
3 is my favourite. The lonely park bench has all the possibilities that has made lonely benches a genre in their own right. The group of trees and the water give a backdrop for the falling snow. The water does the same to highlight the one touch of life, the seagull. Gulls are usually associated with summer so having one here has much the same significance as the lonely bench. Time is suspended while we wait for the changing of the seasons. I've got no problems at all with the blurred details in the photo. It gives a dream like quality that feels completely appropriate. If shown in series with 1 and 4 the white tones might be adjusted so they are the same for all three.
4 gets us back to the woods. That's a beautiful curve in the fence picking up the curve of the hill on the right. Seen large, there are enough details in the snow, bottom right to prevent this area being a featureless blob. Thet are small verticals that sit happily with the fence posts so they don't distract or feel out of place.

It certainly works for me. You have turned an image cliche I am guilty of far too often, on its head.
When traveling and in cities, I can't resist a piece of building from a previous era standing bravely against towering modern structures.
Pete reverses this. The older structures and cliffs on the right are sharper and have more dynamic range than river and buildings behind. The older structures aren't overwhelmed. It feels more as though it is the older structures that are real and they are anticipating a future yet to come.
The cliffs and stairways and trees of that shape, are straight out of Asian scroll painting composition. Even without Pete's text, the image has to be Asia.
I look at this and see a statement about old Asia and the emerging Asia. It's a lot to pack into a photo.

It looks like Chris and Alan went on the same walk.
1 and 3 are essentially monochromes and probably have fine tonal distinctions, especially in the darker shadow areas, that need to be seen on large prints rather than a screen.
In 1, snow and tracks give a sort of eggcup shape that is unusual and eyecatching. It frames the tussocky reeds and gives contrasting texture to the reeds and trees.
In 3 I enjoyed the depth given by the tapering tones of the layers of trees - starting with the almost pure black of the tree on the right. The subject seems to need more of a portrait format but that might not have been possible with whatever we cant see below the lower edge.

Hi Mike, a great 2025 to you.
Thanks for picking up on the diagonal leading line created by the roofline with icicles.
The intention was to have Els at the crossroads of two such leading lines created by light, the other coming from the bottom right.
And of course she is walking through a dark patch, but towards a brighter place.
Roel

A beautiful image with glorious colors. It manages to convey the impression of cold and warmth at the same time, as well as a sense of peace. It makes us want to BE there. The composition's success relies on a collection of large and small V shapes that move our eyes around the frame like arrows and help us find all the beautiful elements within the scene.

Nice set of pleasing winter scenery. The third would fit well in the Lonely Benches thread. The final image is my favorite, with its lines of fence and bare forest leading uphill from lower left to middle right. Great composition and detail in this one - more than documentary, it is fine art.

Compelling composition with all those verticals and diagonals pushing the viewer eye down and to the right where we spot the tiny figure at the peak of that confluence of lines. A subject so small can still be powerful if placed in a perfect position like this. You've lost some detail in the sky, but it doesn't diminish the success of the composition.

Though your image is quite different than Fireplace's, its success rests on a similar compositional premise of recurring triangles - the sandbar, the waterfront, the rocky foreground, the stairway. Though the distant colors are murky, the foreground colors are rich, and the dull greens and rich oranges combine to form a workable color palette. Yes, it works well for me.

The bleak midwinter can produce beautiful moody images. That first one is especially compelling. A bowl of snow (or stack of snow pancakes) holding the thicket of brush and bare trees like a crunchy feast for the eyes. Intriguing image.

What a strange and fascinating image! It gets even stranger as I read your explanation and realize their size is disproportionate. Without explanation, one would imagine a robot factory or perhaps plastic surgery center where new faces might be installed. Allowing viewer interpretation is a plus here. Whatever your interpretation, the image is superbly taken with all the angles and cues a viewer needs to imagine their own explanation. It would be equally interesting converted to monochrome with some extra grain and shadow.

Quite a nice image. The smooth surfaces of the rock vs the sharp edge of the leaf, the contrast of warm and cool colors, the and the mix of light and shadow elevate this into the realm of art.

I love this image. Of course I am an admirer of cats as art objects, so that makes it easy for me to be impressed. But the scene itself is wonderful, with the cat in front of the sandwich advertisement, and the single feather just beside her. We aren't sure whether she's already had her (feathered) lunch, or whether her lunch escaped leaving his calling card behind, forcing her to shop for saandwiches. Well spotted and taken. Needs wider distribution on social media, it needs no caption but speaks for itself. Put it on Tik Tok or FB and watch it go viral.