Hi everyone. My name is Jana and I’m really looking forward to be part of this community. I’m quite new to the whole world of photography, so I hope I can learn from and grow with you. As I haven’t yet found any fellow German photographers yet, I decided to introduce myself with a photo from the region where I live.
While you might think that it hasn’t anything to do with nature at all, in fact it has. I took this picture for a photo series I did called “Industry Nature”. It is a panorama view of the Ruhr area in the Western part of Germany, a region that was long known for its heavy industries such as coal and steel. When grabbing for coal deep down below the surface, you naturally come up with a lot of rock waste. This rock waste was piled up to huge mining waste tips.
Nowadays they are our green hills, serving as recreation areas for the people from the Ruhr metropolises as well as home to a lot of plants and species. Who would have thought that a former coal mine could become a hotspot of biodiversity?
Specific Feedback Requested
Please let me know your thoughts about this image. Do you like the composition? I have never really learned photography as a profession, so I’m curious to know what I could have done better.
Hi Jana, welcome to NPN. I know you’ll get a lot out of our community.
I like your first photo. It would fit very well in the Non-Nature category we have. I normally don’t care too much for centered, symmetrical subjects, but this one works because of the graphical nature, and the lead through the structure to the one beyond. I also like the colors and tonality. Nicely done. I’m looking forward to seeing more of your work, Jana.
Hi Jana! Welcome to NPN! This is a great community to learn and improve your photography through honest critiques, Also by critiquing others’ photos. There are several other resources as well.
This first post is very nice. I agree with David’s comments. It will be great to see more of your photography.
I really do enjoy the photograph you included. The coalition of architecture and nature has always intrigued me - even more so the last few weeks. Perhaps the only aspect that is bothering me a bit with the composition, is that the distant structure is not centered within the foremost middle beams. It skews slightly to the left of frame, which is ever so slightly unpleasant to the eye.
Nonetheless, I quite enjoy it and look forward to seeing what else you have photographed, both nature-related and non.
P.S. Though I may be partial, have you tried converting this to monochrome?
Hi Cody. I completely agree with what you said. It already bothered me during the composition of this photo that it is not 100% centered. But when I took a step to the left, the distant structure wouldn’t be framed anymore. You would only see half of it. Thank you for your open words. And yes, I think I’ll try it in monochrome, thanks for the input.
