* Wednesday C&C "No Theme" Thread #881 / Revived #101 on 2025 03 05*

Welcome to the Wednesday Comments and Critique (No Theme & No Brand) thread!

We are dedicated to continuing the great tradition of this C&C thread because we are convinced that looking at, and talking about images is vital for better photography.

Our tried and tested concept (15 years and running!) is a weekly "peer-to-peer" photo comments & critique encounter, in which you GIVE and RECEIVE.

The idea is simple: you post a photo or photo-based image that you have made and get critique on it. And in return you give other people your honest but constructive opinion of their images.

Any Theme, Any Camera, Any Style, Any Subject.

We are still figuring out how to create the convenience of threaded view on this new forum.
For now, let us agree that you post an image or essay with a title and short explanation, and that all comments include the image as a quote.
Replies to comments may or may not include quotes.

THREAD GUIDELINES – THE SHORT & SWEET VERSION
• This thread does not care about brands. It’s not about the tool, but the image.
• Post one image or essay that you have made and would like to get comments on.
An entry can either be a single image or a short essay. With an essay we mean not a collection of random images without any connection, seeking C&C on more than one of them. We mean instead a limited number (3 to 10) of connected images that together try to tell a story, create a fuller picture of a situation, event or location, etc.
• Add a clear title to your post to distinguish your entry.
• Look at the other images/essays and give your comments on at least one of those.
• For comments, try to go beyond a simple pat on the back or a short dismissal.
• Do you like an image (or essay) ? Try to explain WHY it appeals to you.
• Negative feedback is OK (we all want to learn), but be polite and constructive. Try to explain why the image (or essay) does not appeal to you and how it might be improved.
• Please stay on topic, i.e. concentrate on the image and the photographic comments, without getting into politics or other distractions. No non-photographic arguments.

The critique you give is vital.
What was your first impression? What catches your eye about an image? Why?
What do you like, and what distracts you? What would you change?

Fiddle with the image in your head - composition, perspective, color balance, exposure.

PLEASE NOTE CLEARLY:
Unless the original poster specifically states (for every individual posting offered for C&C) that they do not want their image(s) to be downloaded, altered or reposted, it is understood that within the context of this thread, other participants are free to download and alter the posted image and repost it in a reply for C&C purposes. That reposted image may remain permanently within the week's thread, or you may remove it after a short period of time if you prefer. The downloaded and altered images are not to be used for any other purposes nor uploaded anywhere else than within the context of the C&C in this thread. No copyright disputes here!

Encourage - it is a scary business putting your work up for other people to judge!

More general feedback is also welcome.
Do you know something about taking the same sort of image that would make matters easier - share your own as an example in your reply.

Have fun, be respectful and let’s stick together!

Barcelona.

WESTERPUNT

We are enjoying a few days on the Belgian coast, staying in Koksijde, a seaside town on the western side of our (short) coast, near the French border.

Yesterday we biked to De Panne (really the most western town, with a territory that stretches to the French border where our Westhoek nature reserve meets the French nature reserve of the "Dune du Perroquet".

We parked our bikes near the big monument that commemorates our first king Leopold I setting his first foot on Belgian soil.
(Leopold was an English import product, member of the Europe-spanning Saxe-Coburg Gotha family and thus approved by all the bigger European powers after the Belgians had kicked out the Dutch king, who had become our sovereign after Waterloo and the departure of the French (who had taken over from the Austrians and the Spanish before them - and an almost endless succession of other rulers going back to the Romans...)
Anyway, his monument is a good place to park a bicycle.

But it is no longer the Western-most monument on our coast. A few years ago, an architectural installation resembling the love child of a viewingpoint and a Moebius band, was created roughly 2 kilometers more to the west, near the actual french border.

We walked past that monument "Westerpunt", on our walk along the beach towards Bray-Dunes (the first French town, where we like to go for lunch).
The tide was about an hour past ebb then, and the beach was at its longest. The sun hit the monument from the south-east.

And a couple hours later, we returned, just around the flood tide, with the beach at its minimal size and the sun nearing the west.

These are Iphone images.

Going west:

Returning east:

Closer:

Spiralling

This is a follow-up to last weeks post about the large spiral tower on Grünberg near Gmunden in Austria. One foto from up top, and one from standing in the centre underneath. Somebody mentioned, that it must be huge, considering the diameter and yeah, it's very impressive. It's also a joy to walk up. The slope is pleasently gradual. So you barely notice that you're walking up the 39m high structure.
The line going down in the centre is a very exciting looking slide, but sadly it was closed that day because the weather was too wet, making it dangerous.

Frozen art

Recent -20C(-4F) temperatures left some mark...

Very colorful. The blue is mirrord from flag and railing to house balcony drapes.

I like that clean capture againt blue sky. Very eye catching architectural design.

In a way, it almost resembles a lens. Excellent take.

It is a confusing and scary time to be a citizen in my country. My refuge is in my family and in art of various types. Our state art museum recently opened a wonderful show that's a mix of African American quilts and photography that documented their makers during the mid 20th century, another time of trouble and uncertainty here. Amid the displays is an interactive piece: a tree covered in bells and pieces of cloth and tin pieces. Visitors are encouraged to inscribe their own word of hope onto one of the tin plates and add it to the tree. (There is a southern folk tradition of hanging shiny and noisy things on trees to keep bad spirits at bay).

This tag caught my eye. I hope so, and that it passes safely.

How appropriate. That's all I will say.

Some excellent shots. Your cam serves you well.

My fave. Great open view.

Ocean Front Vacation Rentals

Sunday afternoon on The Strand, Oceanside, CA.

Rich

Fishing on the pier in Muggia

This is an old favourite shot from a trip to Triest back in 2019. We drove around the coastline to Muggia and had a great day site seeing, and as the sun was setting, a great meal at a fish restaurant.
These guys were however still busy catching their dinner :-)

Great use of that long thin panorama format and repeating patterns.

Love the colours, they work really well, nicely balanced and serene. But there's something about the crop that works against it, there's too much sea at the bottom that makes the fishermen seem too far away from the observer and the half cropped pile at the start of the pier disrupts a beautifully simple line. You don't have your "no edit" so excuse the quick and simple amendment...

I'm guessing, but there's no real significance in the horizon and Golden Mean. I'd try to balance the centre of the image as somewhere between the pier and the horizon, but closer to the pier. The panoramic crop echoes more the walk the fishermen took than the distance between you, the viewer, and them, if you see what I mean...

Good photo!