Agree.
I am not much of a flower image lover, but this one works for me, because it surpasses the documentary view on the flower.
Agree.
I am not much of a flower image lover, but this one works for me, because it surpasses the documentary view on the flower.
A Photo Essay of Sorts: My Search For Forgotten People
My land is a share of a small family farm in Mississippi that was sold to my great great grandfather in 1830, soon after the government stole it from the Choctaws and set them on the trail of tears. It has been in my family ever since. It was occupied by my ancestors, possibly by some slaves, then by various farm workers and sharecroppers and foremen who had their own homes and croplands on the acreage. Since I got the land myself a few years ago, I've been trying to reconstruct what was here before my time. The cropland is reforested now (much was always forested), so it's rough going in the hills, but fascinating. Around Christmas I stumbled into an area I'm sure was inhabited, and I'm trying to understand it. I'll share my journey. Go along if you'd like, offer any insights you discover; don't feel you have to comment on particular pictures but moreso on the overall effort to uncover the stories of the forgotten people who lived here.
I started into the woods at this point, late one afternoon and you can see my house in the background. The enameled pot pointed me south so I picked up there.
The next clue was this barrel. There's actually two, one more dessicated, and 3 clear gallon jugs that I took to the house. (Moonshine?)
Next came a clorox bottle. This one was easy to date since Clorox has a website for that. 1930s.
Then I came upon an area that gave me a start. On the tallest ridge, a flat area with what looked like an old roadbed laid in a circle. There were various artifacts there, an old stovepipe, old bricks, a pipe sticking up from the ground (similar to what is used for artesian spring wells in this area), the back of an old metal chair of some kind, various worked stones (foundations? doorsteps?), rusted tin roofing material.
Behind the brick piles were rows of blooming daffodils, a surefire way to identify an old house site.
The piles of bricks are covered in many decades of botanical debris. Very hard to see unless you dig around.
The rusted metal seat of something? A farm implement? Plow?
[]
(/a/N5Vk43n65LDANboDWG705hMrnhdApnoe0QH35fq6PkthG4sK1RUbczjxAMMk7NZ5/31543/?shva=1)The last item I found Sunday evening was inside a tree. What looks like a bedspring and rail were embedded in the roots of this oak tree that looks to be 70 years old. So now I have to peep into the roots of the trees to find more clues.
The last image is the lidar for this section. I don't know much about lidar (except that it's very subtle) but I do know it shows an old roadbed, and an oddly regular shape like an inverted "9", which doesn't look like a natural feature.
This whole exercize is riveting and fascinating.
It almost feels like archeology, but of recent periods, trying to figure out the lives and habits of not so distant forefathers (and other people occupying the land with them). Imagine what you could find if you started digging (carefully) around some of those places.
You are also documenting this effort quite well.
Eerie and funny and it could almost make it into a No people-series... but that is not for today and the people and the cyclist in the background have to go.
I like the image a lot and I also like the way PeteS looks at it and describes it. Spot on.
Further I like the star and the other figures made up by the paving stones. Everything seems to be cosy, but is it? I like that there are (almost) no other people in the image and the image make me think Dettie is wondering where the hell she has landed.
Technically I don't mind the leaning buildings but the common cell phone smear, the halos and the CA is disturbing. I know, most people don't care, it's not the kind of image where all that is important and as long as the image isn't too big it's OK.
All in all a cool and fun image I enjoyed looking at.
Ah, Barcelona again. And gaudi... and, wait, three (probably old) women in hats making the image! The left most woman is taking an image, perhaps a good memory of the facade of Casa Batlló. So my eye go from the facade to the women, to the cell phone and back to the faced. Then back to the women again as they are depicted in the right moment and its wonderful they are three and I hope they get along and have a lot of good times together! (You have to love them!)
The image is from 2016 (EXIF) and the facade was renovated in 2019. As a fan of Gaudi i have sen some interesting videos about the work. I haven't been to Barcelona since 2012 and now your images make me think i have to go back!
I like that the you tooke the image and showed it here, I like that it is square and as everybody else (I guess) I have been wondering what the group of people are doing and talking about and why is there a person missing? After that the Afghan girl is a mystery. What is she doing on the wall in the context of Leica? Why, o why, is the print that size? Too big portraits are, my opinion here, grotesque. In reality the image is everything but grotesque and it was great as a cover of National geographic. Here you have to stand at the other side of the room to get a decent distance/size.
In Wetzlar and at the Leica museum and none in the group has a camera? Lots of question marks! ...and a good catch!
Roel:
If you don't like it try to remove it: Sometimes it works. Below a total of two minutes of work.
A really good sunset. The right minute,the right crop, great reflections at the bottom of the three buildings to the left. Wrong ISO but perhaps can modern noise treatment fix that if you print it big some day! very cool!
A question: What happened to the left of the left most building, about 2/3 up from the ground?
I like it. I really like the sky, the waves, the beach,the ship and the rope. The composition is fine and when scrolling this far I reacted with a wow! I don't like that there is a person leaning against the frame (or the wind?) to the left. I understand we don't get the whole rope, things would have been differently arranged for that. This far it works fine as long as one look at a large version of the image.
But (there is often a "but") then again, you can't view it that big as then the processing kills it. What have you done? Is it heavy sharpening, a lot of added structure and then global local contrast enhancement before the final sharpening? Or is it artificial grain together with something?
OK, it's about taste of course but to me it is very disturbing with this kind of blotchy noise and oversharpening halos. I wonder if it could have been one in some other way - or if it is me being old-fashioned. In any case I like the image (as you understand). There are plenty details adding to the emotion. Black jack - really? But then I guess the ship is totally OK and will float just fine with the tide.
A Photo Essay of Sorts: My Search For Forgotten People
My land is a share of a small family farm in Mississippi that was sold to my great great grandfather in 1830, soon after the government stole it from the Choctaws and set them on the trail of tears. It has been in my family ever since. It was occupied by my ancestors, possibly by some slaves, then by various farm workers and sharecroppers and foremen who had their own homes and croplands on the acreage. Since I got the land myself a few years ago, I've been trying to reconstruct what was here before my time. The cropland is reforested now (much was always forested), so it's rough going in the hills, but fascinating. Around Christmas I stumbled into an area I'm sure was inhabited, and I'm trying to understand it. I'll share my journey. Go along if you'd like, offer any insights you discover; don't feel you have to comment on particular pictures but moreso on the overall effort to uncover the stories of the forgotten people who lived here.
I started into the woods at this point, late one afternoon and you can see my house in the background. The enameled pot pointed me south so I picked up there.
The next clue was this barrel. There's actually two, one more dessicated, and 3 clear gallon jugs that I took to the house. (Moonshine?)
Next came a clorox bottle. This one was easy to date since Clorox has a website for that. 1930s.
Then I came upon an area that gave me a start. On the tallest ridge, a flat area with what looked like an old roadbed laid in a circle. There were various artifacts there, an old stovepipe, old bricks, a pipe sticking up from the ground (similar to what is used for artesian spring wells in this area), the back of an old metal chair of some kind, various worked stones (foundations? doorsteps?), rusted tin roofing material.
Behind the brick piles were rows of blooming daffodils, a surefire way to identify an old house site.
The piles of bricks are covered in many decades of botanical debris. Very hard to see unless you dig around.
The rusted metal seat of something? A farm implement? Plow?
[]
(/a/N5Vk43n65LDANboDWG705hMrnhdApnoe0QH35fq6PkthG4sK1RUbczjxAMMk7NZ5/31543/?shva=1)The last item I found Sunday evening was inside a tree. What looks like a bedspring and rail were embedded in the roots of this oak tree that looks to be 70 years old. So now I have to peep into the roots of the trees to find more clues.
The last image is the lidar for this section. I don't know much about lidar (except that it's very subtle) but I do know it shows an old roadbed, and an oddly regular shape like an inverted "9", which doesn't look like a natural feature.
I admire your archeological and detective work and stamina. Great to follow and document the past. It's actually pretty incredible that you managed to find and record the items from not so distant past.
Waiting for more. Great discovery.
@AlanSh for sending me in the right direction again, @ArvoJ for another approach giving me some food for thoughts and also a straightened building and @RoelHendrickx for a final comment "confirming" I wasn't way off.
It's great having the ability to get comments (and with pictures to boot!) like this.
Now, unless anyone pops up presenting something genius, here is the final version. At least I hope it is the final version...:
...and now I see I forgot the black border...
Thanks again,
Jonas
DETTIE IN THORN
Last weekend we spent a gorgeous and sunny short break with four couples in a vacation house near Thorn, a beautiful and picturesque, cosy and nostalgic little city near the banks of the Maas (River Meuse) that is part of the border between Belgium and the Netherlands.
We enjoyed good food and drink and even better company, and for some activity : nice nature walks and bikerides along the banks of the Maas and various ponds and old river meanders, where Konik horses and Galloway cattle roam freely. A great time.
But before we got that kickstarted, some of us rode our trekking bikes from Antwerp to Geel (roughly 45 km) and then further on from Geel to Thorn (roughly 80 km, at least 75% offroad and on heavy terrain through forest and fields.
Dettie and Jan were the ones making the whole trek, in order to prepare for an upcoming bike vacation in Morocco. I joined them in Geel for the final stretch.
Jan was packed heavily to make sure that his bike could still handle well while taking all the weight they need to carry with them in Morocco (tent, sleeping bags, clothes, food and plenty of water + bike repair kit and tools). Dettie had two smaller bags on her new offroad bike.
I was a wimp in comparison, packing only water, some protein snacks and an extra sweater and jacket for just in case.
And obviously no real camera, so the following photo of Dettie upon our arrival on the market square of Thorn is shot with my iphone.
Well,
Not a masterpiece (🙄) but the strong perspective lines give a hint of adventure and desire to get going! Yea for the camera we can carry around in a pocket.
Rich
I like the strong perspective lines, the distinctive colors of the hats, the repetition of their shapes and the clue they give of the ladies' rapt attention toward the architectural oddity.
Rich