Glenshee

[Donald]

We've all got to do one of these 'Road disappearing into the distance' shots before we die. Well ...........!

As most people will probably know, a 'glen' is the Scottish equivalent of a valley (although glens are much nicer, of course!).

The Glenshee centre is one of Scotland's winter sports areas... except we didn't really have any snow this year.

This was was taken and hour or so after this one.

Any thoughts or comments always welcome


40D, Tokina 11-16 f2.8 @ 11mm. ISO100. 1/8@f11. 2-stop GND

[dje]

Excellent composition IMO Donald, and the textures are very good too. The lines in the image seem to all flow into the centre and you have achieved the "dis-appearing road" aim very well..

Dave

[JPS]

I agree Donald a very fine picture indeed.
Your usual B&W style adds a eerie feel to the scene. Very nice.

[Dizzy]

Donald, I love seeing the emptiness of the highway as it rolls off into the
horizon, plus, the terrain looks like a natural for B&W, with all the various shades
included.

[Kaclarity]

Donald
I wish my B&W had your feel. I love the picture. Had a question though would , in PP, taking an inch or more of the top give it a more long and winding road effect or would that rune the feel or the intent of your capture. Thanks JimC

[FrankMi]

Great sense of depth and superb use of the haze. Excellent leading lines that enhance the sense of wanderlust. Another winner, Donald!

[Donald]

Thank you all for your comments. I was a bit concerned about the sort of 'It's been done before' view that there might be. It's not exactly an original idea, but it's my interpretation of it.

And, indeed, it's not the sort of shot that would work on a glorious sunny day. It needs low cloud/mist to add to the atmosphere. There is another image to be made alongside this same road. It's about 10 miles further on (behind me as we look at this image) and over the top of the mountain at the top of which is the Glenshee ski centre. But yesterday was not right for that shot. It needs a clearer day, but with quite low cloud sitting on top of the hills. Next time!

Had a question though would , in PP, taking an inch or more of the top give it a more long and winding road effect or would that rune the feel or the intent of your capture. Thanks JimC

That is a really interesting comment Jim (and very perceptive, if I may say so). As folks know, I am into this 'square' phase at the moment. But I did look at this very closely in other formats. I have a little set of cardboard cards in my bag with cutouts to the various formats I've used (4:5, 7:5 and 16:9, as well as 1:1). I put these up to my eye to help 'see' the image before I set up the camera. I did look at this with the 5:4 and 7:5 and, yes, a strong image could have been made with either. But I was in that 'the-rule-is-you-have-to-make-it-square' mode.

[escaladieu]

really like it - there's strong feeling of motion ...

[stardelta]

fantastic shot donald as always ,you seem to get it just right.
these kinds of shots really do encourage me to learn the craft.
promise you will keep posting your amazing photos.
regards glenn

[Daisy Mae]

Just superb!

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Donald,

I do like this, as with all of your work, but I don't normally comment on your shots because I'm at a loss to say anything constructive.

In this case I feel if I were composing/cropping, I would have put the out edge of the bend in the road just a few percent further to the right, possibly on the golden mean line (i.e. not as far across as the third line).

This might be achieved by cropping some off the top and right sides - but I'm not sure that's wise, I don't think it is possible to lose enough off the right without compromising the composition in other ways.

I dunno, just a feeling ....

[Donald]

Thank you, again, those who have commented.

Dave - Interesting point to ponder. What you say makes absolute sense and, yes, I do have room right and left to crop it in a different way. Very unusually, I shot this in landscape, so I have that room on the left and right. Normally, I shoot in portrait and compose for my square image by using the bottom, right and left sides of the viewfinder or, more commonly, back screen (and that in itself is interesting - see the latter part of Post #7 above).

I have to confess that the position of that bend in the road was not the primary driver in the final composition - maybe it should have been. The primary drivers were (a) the position of the lowest point in the gap between the hills and, (b) the position of that snow pole near the left-hand edge (roads around here have these snow poles alongside them so that the snow-clearing crews know where the road is when we get it bad - this road is sometimes blocked in the winter).

That pole was an integral part of the image, but it's position was annoying me. I didn't want to take it out, but I spent a bit of time settling on its final position in the frame. So, between trying to position these two elements relative to each other and the image, I didn't give attention to the position of that bend in the road. A move a few inches to the right (okay it would have altered the line of the road in the frame) would have held the other bits as they were, but taken that bend across to the right just a bit.

I think this serves as a good example for us all of the sort of thinking we need to do when we are composing an image through the viewfinder. And the act of doing so is part of the challenge, but also the enormous pleasure, of photography.

[Steve S]

Has a lonely feeling to it, i like it donald.