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Snake & Ladder

Umesh Bhatt

New member
This was shot in Taos, NM.

I thought of describing this image myself - but instead am quoting my mentor's reaction to the image. I thought her words were much better than my own (Used with permission).

In the American Indian culture of the south west, the ladder extending up into the sky is a symbol of significant religious impact. The ladder invites the gods and spirits to join the earthly (generally male) beings in prayer and connects the earthbound folks to the heavenly folks. Usually this prayer and manly discussion group took place in a circular underground space called a kiva. Only the male members of the tribe would go there to talk about guy stuff and issues of power. They usually smoked potions created from local plants that had hallucinogenic effects. The fact that the ladder in this image points to a lone cloud speaks to this connection between earth and heaven.

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Snake & Ladder
 
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Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Umesh,

Maybe swap this for one 75% of size so most folk can see it at a glance without scrolling or else add a 600 pixels wide version below.

Just an idea! This picture seems to have ot be seen in one glance with space around it.

Asher
 
Evocative and beautiful image, Umesh. Your mentor's words work in harmony with the photo to set a stage for the imagination.
 
This was shot in Taos, NM.

I thought of describing this image myself - but instead am quoting my mentor's reaction to the image. I thought her words were much better than my own (Used with permission).



4170132867_da19bd9f45.jpg


Snake & Ladder

Hi Umesh,

Great symbolism in your image. Unfortunately I get a bit distracted by the (non-)White Balance of the clouds though.

Cheers,
Bart
 

John Angulat

pro member
Hi Umesh,
I'd have to agree with Bart, the clouds have a blue cast to them.
It appears on both my home monitor and at work (both calibrated).
 
On my computer - the clouds looks bright white. It doesn't on yours?

No, it looks a bit purple/magenta on my calibrated monitor. When looking at a Color Picker sample of a cloud in Photoshop (assuming sRGB colorspace), I get R/G/B: 150/133/159, or Lab: 58/10/-11 (an a/b close to zero is neutral).

Maybe your monitor needs calibration?

Cheers,
Bart
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Hi Umesh,

Great symbolism in your image. Unfortunately I get a bit distracted by the (non-)White Balance of the clouds though.

Bart is totally correct on the clouds. they are not needed. Remember you are selecting from what is around you to bring a vision, not documenting the world. So the clouds here serve what purpose? If they are important, wait for a day for a more fascinating cloud! If you want, make the picture twice and high and add different clouds until we're overwhelmed with the new pathways for expansion of our vision. However, with this flimsy excuse for a cloud? No way. You picture works so clearly without it.

As to the color of the sky, the over rich saturation of the earthen brown does make one think that the blue should be as strong. However, this is something to experiment with as you print it, (and use up expensive epson or Canon ink cartridges in the process).

4170132867_da19bd9f45.jpg


Umesh Bhatt: Snake & Ladder

Two cultural ideas seem to strengthen this image. First, Jacob's ladder with no wrestling angels and next a Crucifix against the deep blue sky of European Christian art! Whether or not one is a believer, the stories provide a mythological architecture underlying the picture.

Thanks so much for sharing is arguably simplistic picture. It's really a very clean, lean and clearly satisfying set of writing that allows us to exercise our imagination in private. We ask about our future as to where we are going; we ourselves and we, our civilization.

Asher
 

Umesh Bhatt

New member
This is the most I have gotten from ever showing my images....

Thanks for your feedback on the WB for clouds. My iMac 27" is in fact calibrated with ColorMunki. The luminance was set high (120), but since then - I have reset it to 80 - but that does not influence the colors....
In any case - I will have to go back and check the RGB/LAB values on the cloud. Thanks for the numbers....bart. I will check this tonite.

Thanks for the feedback on the image. I do have several images of the same subject...and a few without any clouds as well :)

I will have to go back and check them all....thanks for helping me see better!
 
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