I started working on this series back in February…
sharing a sliver…
and contemplating a name…
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It’s nice to be back home in the desert…to continue my love affair on the rooftop with these amazing Arizona sunsets.
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Black and white are the colors of photography.
To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.
Robert Frank
(love his work)
Such a moving and moody image … I love that it’s b&w and love that it has me going back to look again & again. Enjoy that beautiful land.
Thanks so much Susan. I started out thinking this series had to be in the color that I captured it in…which is really really pretty…but just recently I converted a couple in b&w and just fell in love with them. So thanks for appreciating the b&w! I’m looking forward to spending as many evenings on the rooftop as possible during this short stay to continue with the series. THANK YOU!!
I agree with Susan, this image keeps drawing you back into it. One minute for me it’s uplifting, the next foreboding. Enjoy your time in Arizona Robin.
Thanks so much Jane! So appreciate your visit and I’m like you and Susan…the images make me feel many emotions…uplifting and foreboding are two of them!!
It’s easy to get lost in the ethos of such an image, Robin. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why you needed to go back?
It is Ginnie…so agree. Thank you always for your visits and comments!
I always want to be honest about what I say about your work and you know I absolutely LOVE most all of the photos you share with us. I especially love photos you take that show lots of vibrant colors. I love lots of color in my life because I find it uplifting and joyful. I’m just being honest about this photo too when I say I don’t like this one at all. I find it depressing and it makes me sad to look at it because if your work is an expression of you, I don’t want you to be this sad. I know we can’t be joyful all the time as life is full of all kinds of emotions… but I would name this photo S. A. D. (sad and depressing) . I love you and wish I were there to give you a BIG hug,share some wine, talk… XoXo
Oh…VK…this is a VERY good thing! A few years back a photographer instructor at a class I took at the International Center of Photography in New York told the class…when someone hates a photograph…embrace it…because that’s a very good thing. Of course I really didn’t understand it at the moment…but later it started making sense to me. Because what she was saying was several things…and you’ve just given me a wonderful blog topic to share and get feedback! So stay tuned for more! Love you and I do get what you’re saying…you see S.A.D. and I see beauty which is why art is so very interesting! xoxoxo MORE! Counting the months until we hug, wine and share!
Robin, I had to look up the work of Robert Frank – fascinating gentlemen and extraordinary photos. It was interesting to me that so many of his pictures really were once in a lifetime images. Love the black and white version of this sunset. The soft blur – deep and yet shallow, the focus – moving and yet still, the lack of color – not missing but somehow more – all reasons to get lost in the image. Can’t wait to see more in the series of silver sunsets.
Thanks Donna! You always have a way to sum it up in a couple of short sentences! Moving, yet still…exactly what I feel…and absolutely love getting lost in this image. Not sure if you’ve read some of the comments…but this is the start of a blog posting that I can’t wait to write! So stay tuned as I’d love your opinion along with all the others!
You know what, Robin? It’s very ironic because I happen to see your posting before anyone had commented (It must have been shirtly after you posted it). I was intrigued by your project and I do love B&W and feel there is definitely a time and place for it.
I couldn’t comment on it because I wasn’t sure how to express my honest feelings because I definitely love you and your view of the world through your eyes. But I am also very honest and don’t BS but it took me years to get a “filter” and I am very aware that sometimes it’s a fine line and I don’t want to lose it, so I held off on commenting until I had more time to ensure I use my filter and express myself with my filter.
Then I read Virginia’s comment and said to myself, “Yes, that’s exactly how I feel”, but didn’t want to say it wrong!
I love you, too and it makes me sad to think that a sunset intrigues you to make it b&w and that your beautiful photographs are an expression of you, which makes me think you are sad, too.
i have to agree with Virginia but am still intrugued to see the series. Because I’m sure my mind will be changed.
I’m sorry but I see and feel SADNESS in my heart, too.
XOXO
Hey! It’s all OK! I plan to write more about all of this…and what’s so interesting is that you and Virginia feel sadness…sadness that I don’t feel at all. So it’s a wonderful opportunity to hear more from everyone which is why I want to do a posting more specific to this conversation. So thanks ALWAYS…because this is exactly what ART is all about! xoxoxo
I love this image ! For me it is a fleeing dream, a second of beauty passing.
I love all the comments and how differently we perceive this image. I like b/w and its basic simplicity.
Looking so much forward to seeing more of the ” unnamed series”.
Thanks Karen for your perspective! I too love all the comments and just can’t wait to write the next posting! It’s all so GOOD!
I often forget about black and white, feeding to the point of gluttony
my hunger for color. It’s wonderful to be reminded again:)
I love the stories skies tell. Thanks for sharing this one.
-Jennifer
Don’t you just LOVE this picture. The dark mood, the blurs, the everything about it. I would look great on the wall…
Back in desert. Have a good time there. And let your camera speak.
Love and hugs.
I love this it’s a change for you but one you’ve nailed, well done.
So I just came here before reading the entire next post (but seeing the photo!!!), because I read enough to know that you had a mixed response to this photo.
First, the photo is gorgeous, and I love it. I don’t want to analyze it, but it makes me feel on the side of hope more than despair.
Second, I am stoked by your ability to embrace the S.A.D. responses to this photo the way you have. You are so right, art is this, that each person brings their own self to each work.
To envision you there on the roof examining the night sky just fills me up. Wish I could be there too. (There are too many mosquitoes for us to go out at night this summer!)
A journeyman photographer, learning as I go. I just happened across your site for the first time today and saw the post and comments about this photo. For me, this photo is all about mystery. It evokes feelings of trepidation, hesitancy to go forward to see what might be beyond that dark fog. The lightened gray area in the middle is almost like a beacon of hope, if I can get that far, all will be well and I will be able to see what is beyond. No sadness at all. I can see this photo on a mystery thriller book cover. That is the mood is gives to me.
I can’t wait to see this other photos in this project!
I would most definitely hang this one on my wall. Love the rich textures and varying shades of black and grey and the fact that every time I look at it I see and feel something different. Beautiful!
I can only speak for myself here, and I love the photo. As with any piece of art or writing or music, I gravitate toward things that move me in some way, and that can depend on where I am emotionally at the time. I have a tendency to project my feelings and what’s going on in my life onto whatever I’m seeing, listening to or reading. And if people see seven different things in something you’ve (the global you) created, then that’s a good thing, right? Forgive me if this sounds simplistic; as I said at the start, I can only speak for myself.
Now I’m going to read your next two posts and see just how wrong I am 😉