Old Stone Wall

[flashback]

I'm kinda liking this one, maybe it's just something about old stone walls. Foundations eventually collapse, bridges fall, but stone walls seem to just shrug it all off, settle more firmly into the ground and defy the ravages of time.

[Shadowman]

I like it as well but it is competing with the tree with the angle you used.

[flashback]

Thanks John. Interestingly there are trees in all corners and near the entrance, clearly planted (or at least preserved). I have a couple of other angles, I'll see if there's something less treey.

[kdoc856]

Hi, Jack

I join you in your infatuation with stone walls- just about stone anything for me. I agree with John that the parallel lines of the wall and the tree do compete a bit. Wondering if there would be less of that impact if you switch to a landscape perspective- would still get you the entire wall length, but would de-emphasize the trees.

[Mike Buckley]

I'm having a rare experience in that I can't come up with an explanation of what might be tried to make the photo stronger. I don't even know why the composition doesn't work for me; I only know that it doesn't. Ironically, I don't see any competition with the trees.

[FootLoose]

Good subject, Jack. I find shots like this work better if the face of the wall is shown rather than the top.

[IzzieK]

If you are stuck with this image Jack, perhaps you can crop from that bumpy creepy face at 3 o'clock inward a little bit so the tree is not that dominant...? Just thinking out aloud...(sometimes brain works when my soul talks to it gently instead of angry.)

[flashback]

Thanks Kevin, Mike, Greg and Izzie.
I try to understand other views and how they relate to a particular image. For me the wall receding into the distance and the trees in fore- and background are what caught my eye. And again, without knowing the history it may fail but this is the south end of an 18th century cemetery and the burls on the tree likewise caught my attention. There is sort of a gargoyle look to the larger one and, maybe if headstones were in the image would more strongly convey an impression of faces (or souls) in the tree.

[flashback]

Greg, here is another shot from a different angle showing more of the face of the wall.
And for Kevin, a landscape perspective.

[Mike Buckley]

I realize that the second one is a completely different subject and compositional style, but that doesn't take anything away from the pleasure of viewing it. The only thing that is missing is an old horse-drawn carriage being driven from left to right on the road. Lacking that, the shadows and dark tones in the dirt nicely add interest to that part of the image. Very well done, Jack!

[flashback]

Thanks Mike. Same scene but different view. Perspective is everything

[PhotoRob]

#2 works, conversion to B&W is nice. If you're groping for more to do with it consider lightning up those jet-black branches on the tree in the right of the frame - something tells me that a few of those branches are not supposed to be in full-on shadow...