Boy and a cemetery

External wall of the cemetery of Auvers-sur-Oise, where Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo are burried...

Cedric,

This is a most remarkable picture. It's about emptiness and solitude and unknown future. It's about boundaries. The tree and the sky are walled off. Is he locked out or locked in? Is he free? It seems so, but we still ask can ask that again and again.

The bench is empty. So who is with him. Well who is with us.

This is a very existentially challenging image which allows us to explore our own psyche. This should be seen together with your picture, here, of the empty arm chair and the open door with no one coming or going.

Asher

BTW,

How do we know this might be "art"? I just realized that the making of the picture, the camera, choice of lens and presence of grain or dynamic range and so forth were of no interest to me. When that happens, the picture itself has risen above it's manufacture. When it has life like that, to me, it is art and the exact methods are of much less interest to us. I do not know whether this test is a good one for many circumstances, but it is nevertheless an interesting observation for how my ideas on pictures develop.

Asher

Thank you Asher.

I am not really satisfied yet about this pic, technically speaking : it's an original jpeg file that i have retouched (white balance wasn't very good, sharpness is quite weird because of a too strong automatic sharpening process in the D700...), i think there are still some defaults that bother me. But i am glad to see idea has been well understood

Cedric.

So Cedric,

Sharpness not really right? You want to think about things? Look, this image cannot be perfected or you kill it! Art must be uncompleted and yet have sufficient life to live without you.

You want to explore more? Let's do just that. Don't change the sharpness, that helps the reality edge this picture balances on. Instead, try cropping away the lower part of the image just below the piles of leaves on the right edge. It becomes even wider and extends the ideas in the image. But then that's only since you question its perfection. When you try it, it will seem like a good idea since it pushes your boy close the right position for the "rule of thirds" or the Golden Mean". When you do this, however, the boy is no longer central in the height of the picture and he is no longer so ambiguous! I think you could go on like this, doing artistic corrections, but you risk the picture itself!

Frankly, it's a very special image as is!

Asher

I hope you did this on a full size file so it can be printed!

Hi Cedric,

This is a very good picture with a latent potential. I came back to look at it many times. Personally, I would perhaps present it as follows, but as the creator your personal choices are the only valid ones of course . I am just sharing my initial perspective (at this moment in time), I hope you don't mind? PS: my post processing is a bit shabby based on the small jpg file, but using the originals you can take your time to make it much better if you wish to.

Cem you think Cédric should buy a M5 and use Tri-X?
Personally, I find your version °overdone° losing its original °surrealist/pittura metafisica° attitude.

I like the subtility it says cemetery and the way space is organised. Isn't there a entrance at the right?

Asher,

Don't worry, original file is a full 12 Mp Jpeg one and i saved my modifications under 16 bits TIFF file so it can be still modified or printed large with very good quality

Cem,

Your B&W vision is very interesting. I felt i had to do this pic but i don't have today celar ideas about what it should or could be. I like this first version. Maybe there are other ways to work it.

Regards,

Cedric.

Hi Michael,

I remember there are tow entries, first one on the right and second one on the left - we can't see them on the picture.

Don't touch it. It is a fine photo just the way it is. In the mold of Meyerowitz, Winogrand and Eggleston.

--Rich

Rich Beaubien said:

Don't touch it. It is a fine photo just the way it is. In the mold of Meyerowitz, Winogrand and Eggleston.

--Rich

Click to expand...

...and Jean Paul Sartre!

Asher

Cedric, I too have revisited this picture - a fine work. The only real signpost this is a cemetaray to me is the stand of Cypress trees showing above the wall. They used to say that the finest spanish guitars were made from the cypress that had stood in graveyards - the sadness carried through into the musics lament - even the dances have a touch of sorrow, a bit like photographs.

I didn't see Cem's black and white version, but (to Michael) an M5 and TriX is not a bad thing

Mike