Abandoned Boats!

[Asher Kelman]

Boats that have been let down by their owners or simply gave up their ghosts, can be found in many coastal areas and even in lakes when the water level drops. The revealed skeletons and hulks develop patina and character before they succumb to constant appetite of nature to reclaim everything.

I owe this find to Antonio Correia who took me to his secluded spot where there are some boat skeletons that appear when the tide is out!

Asher Kelman: Abandoned Boats #1

Setubal, Portugal 2015
Sony A7R with 28mm Contax Distagon 2.0
5 adjacent jpgs stitched in Autopano Giga 3.5​

Please dig through your hard drives and share some of your favorites bright, grand or humble! Let's enjoy them all!

Asher

 

[Robert Watcher]

Boats that have been let down by their owners or simply gave up their ghosts, can be found in many coastal areas and even in lakes when the water level drops. The revealed skeletons and hulks develop patina and character before they succumb to constant appetite of nature to reclaim everything.

I owe this find to Antonio Correia who took me to his secluded spot where there are some boat skeletons that appear when the tide is out!

Asher Kelman: Abandoned Boats #1

Setubal, Portugal 2015
Sony A7R with 28mm Contax Distagon 2.0
5 adjacent jpgs stitched in Autopano Giga 3.5​

Please dig through your hard drives and share some of your favorites bright, grand or humble! Let's enjoy them all!

Asher

I really like the toning and darkness with this subject matter.

 

[Asher Kelman]

I really like the toning and darkness with this subject matter.

Thanks for visiting, Robert! I didn't know what the reaction would be, but I was trying to haver the tones match the tragedy end of all the work, friendships and near escapes on these vintage boats.

Asher

 

[Nicolas Genette]

Oh yes, nice framing and treatment, feels like a tragic painting !

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Boats that have been let down by their owners or simply gave up their ghosts, can be found in many coastal areas and even in lakes when the water level drops. The revealed skeletons and hulks develop patina and character before they succumb to constant appetite of nature to reclaim everything.

I owe this find to Antonio Correia who took me to his secluded spot where there are some boat skeletons that appear when the tide is out!

Asher Kelman: Abandoned Boats #1

Setubal, Portugal 2015
Sony A7R with 28mm Contax Distagon 2.0
5 adjacent jpgs stitched in Autopano Giga 3.5​

An extraordinary work!

But I was startled to learn that you did it with multiple-shot panoramic technique. Is that because the Distagon did not yield, from the chosen (or perhaps, "workable") point of perspective, the needed field of view?

The distant buildings in the upper right are very "painterly" (not so much in execution as in "vision").

Thanks for sharing this lovely work with us.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Antonio Correia]

Same spot, another boat, another tide.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, Asher,



An extraordinary work!

But I was startled to learn that you did it with multiple-shot panoramic technique. Is that because the Distagon did not yield, from the chosen (or perhaps, "workable") point of perspective, the needed field of view?

Doug,

Your comments are much appreciated!

I used a vertical ND gradient filter in a large canvas hood to tame the overbright sky, using the camera in portrait mode. That's because I had my own plans for the light distribution.

We were so close, just about 2-3 meters and the scene was very wide. The use of the extreme wide angle allows one to include the milieux of the sandy river bed merging with wet mud and also the coastal horizon and adjacent grasses. The pattern of my,"created", lighting barely includes the buildings on the upper right was done in post processing to show the path of the boat and waterway.

That visit was so awesome for me, like visiting the thunderous and mist-shrouded Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe or watching the birth of my first son. The sight of these boats and my imagined recollections of their voyages, was such a gripping and emotional experience for me.

I saw a picture of Einstein's brain and had the same feeling of loss and tragedy!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Same spot, another boat, another tide.

Yes, Antonio,

I remember that well. I haven't reached that part of my HD, LOL. Your "staccato" presentation, (as the separate parts in sequence), gets each a pause and their own look from us! Then we can look at the whole section of the boat in combination and wonder about the unshorn part.

This is an interesting way of showing the massive dead vessels. It's as if you have made a number of portraits. This is a personalization of the sections of the boat and memorializes the history of the boat in a unique way. This approach you've taken is not surprising as much of your most successful oeuvre is in the well-crafted portraits of folk in settable, Portugal. In fact, you're the August Sander of Setubal!

Asher

 

[Antonio Correia]

Asher, this is one image behind the two white stripes.
I have a file as template for this kind of work. Each window has its own mask.

 

[Asher Kelman]

Asher, this is one image behind the two white stripes.
I have a file as template for this kind of work. Each window has its own mask.

That's even better, Antonio, as the lines fit so well, but the esthetic is of separate focus, each portion getting fair treatment.

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

Thank you for that nice description. Excellent and thorough planning, which helped lead to a fine result.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Jerome Marot]

I like Asher's boat very much, it is really impressive.

I also like Antonio's boat, but I think that the 3 pictures should be moved independently a bit. As it is, it looks like a single picture cut by 3 bars (which is what it is, of course). If you made the underlying large picture act like 3 independent layers and move the left and right parts a bit, I think it would look less artificial.

 

[Wolfgang Plattner]

Hi,

in the seventies the workers on river Sile near Treviso, a neighbour-city to Venice sank their transportships during a massive riot.
The boats were left were they sank and nowadays this area is a very well organized nature reserve ..

​

 

[Asher Kelman]

So, Wolfgang, it's along the River Sile in Italy. I had never heard of this park system! Amazingly it flows into the Venice Lagoon and hence to the Adriatic. I am so sorry that I didn't know about this before being in Venice 2 weeks ago! Although with the Biennale, there was hardly enough time anyway! I imagine one would need a lot of bug spray!

I would love to do with plant species.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi,

in the seventies the workers on river Sile near Treviso, a neighbour-city to Venice sank their transportships during a massive riot.
The boats were left were they sank and nowadays this area is a very well organized nature reserve ..

​

These pictures are so rich in shapes. It's going to take a while to digest the experience. First I need to isolate them! Are you fixed with these borders? I hate to nit pick on a finished image ready for exhibition. If that is so, ignore my quibbles.

However, it could just be that a straight border would allow contemplation of the images without the decoration, which for some folk, (may be its just age creeping up on me), could be distracting.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

from the Sile shoot:

​

This first one, isolated, thus, is a great way to start to appreciate this fascinating work. The water seems smooth, broken by the last partial outline of a long boat with remnants of the eroded wooden skeleton remains partly visible above the water line. Across the river, there's a building, perhaps a farm house as there's round structures, possibly the round hay bundles that harvesters now drop off instead of the rectangular ones of older times. So likely there's a lot of small mammals and birds...and if it were in Florida or South America, it would support a good number of crocs. But doubtless these would have been hunted out long ago.

Across the water, there are rich hideouts for wildlife in bushes and overgrown trees. On the near bank, there's a naked trees, perhaps a birch or some other species that can withstand the flooding. Again, a paradise for different bird species.

I can imagine a tour in a flat-bottomed boat and just enjoying the flooded fields, buildings and quarries along the way.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

I like Asher's boat very much, it is really impressive.

I also like Antonio's boat, but I think that the 3 pictures should be moved independently a bit. As it is, it looks like a single picture cut by 3 bars (which is what it is, of course). If you made the underlying large picture act like 3 independent layers and move the left and right parts a bit, I think it would look less artificial.

Glad you visited, Jerome, and thanks for the kind words! I credit Antonio with being so generous as to share his secret smuggling places, LOL!

Asher

 

[Maggie Terlecki]

Boats that have been let down by their owners or simply gave up their ghosts, can be found in many coastal areas and even in lakes when the water level drops. The revealed skeletons and hulks develop patina and character before they succumb to constant appetite of nature to reclaim everything.

I owe this find to Antonio Correia who took me to his secluded spot where there are some boat skeletons that appear when the tide is out!

Asher Kelman: Abandoned Boats #1

Setubal, Portugal 2015
Sony A7R with 28mm Contax Distagon 2.0
5 adjacent jpgs stitched in Autopano Giga 3.5​

Please dig through your hard drives and share some of your favorites bright, grand or humble! Let's enjoy them all!

Asher

Wow, Asher, dark, moody and very beautiful!
Maggie

 

[Asher Kelman]

Wow, Asher, dark, moody and very beautiful!
Maggie

Thanks for visiting, Maggie! This is much easier than flowers in a vase - nothing to arrange or spoil - and less effort than photographing models - no make up, lighting, food breaks and consent form to get signed and the landscape is always there and never late!

Asher

 

[Wolfgang Plattner]

Hi Asher,

your valuable comments are always welcome ... thank you for that.
The small city of Treviso and its surroundings are not as well known as its "bigger sister" Venice, about 20km away. But that's not really bad, for the big "stream" of tourists is constantly passing by without touching ... so it is an insider-gem in some way )
I used this kind of borders to set a connection to the older times that have passed away, but I do agree with you, a reduced version in the way you mentioned is a benefit for the phots themselves.
So I take your annotations as a trigger for me to go over them again, thank you!

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Asher,

your valuable comments are always welcome ... thank you for that.
The small city of Treviso and its surroundings are not as well known as its "bigger sister" Venice, about 20km away. But that's not really bad, for the big "stream" of tourists is constantly passing by without touching ... so it is an insider-gem in some way )
I used this kind of borders to set a connection to the older times that have passed away, but I do agree with you, a reduced version in the way you mentioned is a benefit for the phots themselves.
So I take your annotations as a trigger for me to go over them again, thank you!

Wolfgang,

I'd have loved to have escaped the crowds and visited this special nature reserve.......next time!

Borders are a complex challenge, but for sure, your work and subject matter is already affluent and needs no such decoration! Trust the Jedi!

Asher

 

[Wolfgang Plattner]

... Trust the Jedi!

... and feel the force ... )

 

[Robert Watcher]

Hi,

in the seventies the workers on river Sile near Treviso, a neighbour-city to Venice sank their transportships during a massive riot.
The boats were left were they sank and nowadays this area is a very well organized nature reserve ..

​

Interesting that the first thing that came to my mind when viewing your photos, was a boneyard with the ribs of animal carcasses. I Googled such a phrase and was able to recognize the similarity - such as this shot : http://stockfresh.com/files/p/pancaketom/m/69/1057079_stock-photo-dead-sheep-rib-cage.jpg

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Asher,

I have been meaning to react to this picture of yours for a while but I couldn't because I didn't see it on my large/calibrated monitor till now.

Oh yes, nice framing and treatment, feels like a tragic painting !

Wow, Asher, dark, moody and very beautiful!
Maggie

I fully agree with Nicolas and Maggie. Well done.