This winter has been rather boring here in the southern part of Sweden. No real winter and almost no snow, just a brown and grey landscape (like the most boring parts of the autumn). However, a few nights we have had below freezing points temperatures giving ice on a city park pond close to my home. So this winter I have started a project photographing ice details in this specific pond situated at the Bulltofta Park in Malmö, Sweden.
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the project. Are there certain images that do not fit with the others? Is it cohesive?
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the project.
Emotional: Feedback on the emotional impact and artistic value of the project.
Technical: Overall feedback on the technical aspects of the project. Are the images processed similarly enough? Are the images print-ready?
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
My idea has been to find interesting, beautiful or unusual details of the pond ice to amaze the viewer that such things could be found in just one place during one season at a mundane city park pond.
Does the images fit together? They do not have similar color, some are dark and some are bright etc. Another question, shall I try to rework them to get the same aspect ratio?
Are the images to similar in the sense that they only show small details? Should I expand the theme in some way to also include images showing larger parts of the ice and the pond to be mixed in with the detailed images for the viewer not to loose their interest to quickly?
Any ideas on in which order they shall be shown?
Any images that does not fit in? Any images to be deleted since they are less good than the others?
Intent of the project
Gallery on your website
Additional Details: 10 images are presented and I plan to maybe reduce the set of images to 8 when to be shown on my (not yet issued) website.
I am also thinking of to send in 4 images to On Landscape for their 4x4 portfolio section. Does the images have enough quality and interest? If so, which images should that be?
Hi Ola! I love your project! The only image that I think doesn’t fit in is number 9. And that’s only because I don’t think it’s very clear that the leaf is in ice. It looks just like a leaf with a black background.
And as for the 4 images to submit, my vote would be for image 5: Nebula, because it’s so unique and does look like a space image. Image 2: Dream Bubble, the colors and patterns are gorgeous. Image 6 : Trapped leaves, because of the shape of the ice and color of the leaves and I think it’s a good solid ice photo. 10 : Chain, which looks like a pastel painting, and has a beautiful rhythm to it.
All beautifully seen and captured!
Hi Ola! those are extraordinary! I really enjoyed them. If i were to cull them for a project i might think about just including the ones with the dark background because they seem to go together better thematically. But that being said i love the first one with the leaf at the base of opening in the ice. I still really like all of them, its just difficult to choose.
Hi Ola. What a wonderful collection. I remember commenting when you posted a couple of these as singles, that they could make a fine series. The reason for a series is simple - a collection of images have the potential to offer a deeper exploration of a subject or theme and afford greater access into the artist’s vision. I think these images have that potential. The challenge is always to put images together that support and deepen the reader’s understanding without being repetitious. In my experience, it’s the repetitious part that can be tricky. That being said, I don’t think that’s an issue with this group. There are two or three that don’t quite fit as well as others but that can resolved in two ways. Either, enlarge the collection such that it allows for more diversity. For example, if all the images had a black back ground except one white one, that probably wouldn’t work too well. But if you added three other white ones, then there would be enough balance so that the white ones don’t stand out like a sore thumb. (Of course, it might be your intention to have one stand out from the rest). The other way to deal with it would be to do what you plan to do - reduce the group, in this case, to only four images. But even there, you have two choices. You could choose, say, images 2, 4, 6, and 9 and have all black backgrounds and they would certainly hang well together. Personally, with only four images, I’d go the other way - more diverse - and choose, say, images 1, 4, 7 and either 6 or 8. Then you have a strong theme but more visual interest. Finally, I would definitely make all the images you decide to use in the same aspect ratio (and, personally, I think 4:5 would be ideal for these) . It just looks and feels so much more coherent. In all of these images, it would be very easy to do whether by including more from the top and bottom if its there in the original raw image or, since these backgrounds are pretty simple, just add a tad to top and bottom using Content Aware Fill or the clone tool in Ps. Good luck with your 4x4 submission. I have no doubt that they will be accepted.
P.S. I also like image 10 the best. Perhaps next winter you might decide to add to this collection and look for a few more that have a grouping of frozen flora so that that one won’t have to stand alone.
What a wonderful series - all of the images are outstanding in their own right.
My very first impression was thinking the first image was quite bright, followed by darker images, so initially I thought it didn’t look right. Eventually I thought that one solution if you were to retain just these images, would be to change the order. I think you could progress from light to dark - then as one scrolls down, the transition between images is not an issue, and in fact each image can be linked to the next. So for example, you could order them, 1, 8, 10, 7, 5, 2, 6, 9, (3 OR 4). 3 & 4 have the same leaf, so I would pick one, but not use both. Hard to pick…
As far as the format/ratio, ideally sure, the same format. But at a minimum, at least for a vertical scrolling presentation - ie. showing them serially, that they should all have the same width, and let the height vary image to image.
Most images contain a leaf - but not all. So it’s good your Project title is more generic, “Pond Ice Details” to allow for all subjects. IF you have more, perhaps include a couple extra that don’t have leaves to balance out the theme.
I would say no. All of the images presented are intimate portraits - that they all do have in common. Going for a broader context image wouldn’t fit the series. At least that’s my thinking.
Outstanding processing on all of the images BTW. A fantastic Project!
@Kerry_Gordon thanks a lot that you took your time to review my project and giving advice , it is very much appreciated.
Yes, that was helping me to actually take the final step.
Great to hear, I was in some doubt that only showing details could be to repetitive and that for the full series the viewer would have problem to keep up their interest until the end.
Regarding your discussion on having a homogeneuos BG or not: I have not yet taken the final decision but my present thinking is to include images with a diverse set of BGs for the full series as well as the 4 image series, I have white, black, blue and green to chose from. For the full series I then have to delete or replace some of the black BG images and/or add images with other type of BGs as you propose. Probably a diverse set of BGs may help to keep up the interest when looking at the full series.
@Lon_Overacker thanks a lot for that you have taken your time to review my project, very much appreciated!
Great idea, and it fits my present thinking to include images with diverse backgrounds.
I will try to achieve the same aspect ration for all of the images.
I get your point. I may have a few additional images that have enough quality to be added, but most of them also include a leaf somewhere in the image.
Great looking project Ola! I enjoyed going through the images. They are diverse enough to keep me interested but still have a main theme. Having the same subject in the middle and maintaining a minimalist style keeps things on point. I would also suggest using a standard AR, but the overall effect would also be influenced by your final presentation. Love the processing. It gives the image collection an otherworldy feel. Something that you don’t see everyday. I liked the order you chose, with the outliers at the start and end.
I have never seen such interesting and diverse ice images. I love, love, love them! 1, 2, 6, and 10 would be the ones I find most appealing. Although, it’s hard to choose. Number 9 doesn’t seem to fit with the others so much, in my opinion.
