Wheel 31

craig · Jul 3, 2005

A not so early start and bald sky led me to my favorite machines. I am fairly sure I have posted this subject before. This shot takes the cake for me because of it's details and light. I need another set of eyes on this one. I am not sure if it is boring. Also, god's gift to photography once said to me "If you have to ask what is it? then you just killed the shot" so there's that as well.

Nikon D1
9 @ 1/125th
ocal length = 20mm
Cloudy +2 white balance

PlasticSpanner · Jul 3, 2005

What is it? :lol:

(Sorry!)

I like the shapes here & not sure if it matters that I don't know what it is.

The only things I'm not sure of are,

I think it could do with a little more sky? It seems cery close to the apex of the roof and more would bring the hub bolt down a little. The large wheel seems to be very high in the photo.

I don't like the shadows. To me they distract from the rusty, mechanical shapes? Maybe if the shadows were in a different position i.e longer, more midday sun or if they wern't there at all?

craig · Jul 6, 2005

Thanks for the comment! To me the light is giving the wheel a nice shape. I also like the shadows. I think I would have liked to have been closer to the center of the wheel.

LaFoto · Jul 6, 2005

As a notorious fan of "bald skies" (clear blue, I'd call them), with things of any colour placed against that background, I must like this photo.
The shape of the wheel makes it unnecessary to really know what we see. We see a rusty wheel. That's ok by me.
The colour of the rust is nicely highlighted by the blueness of the sky (you call it baldness, but that does not sound so nice,

), and I find that the shadows add some depth to the photo, give it more of a three-dimensional effect than it would have without the shadows. So I think they add more than they take away.

nannabug · Jul 6, 2005

Hay pulley? I'd like to see if widened up a bit. Perhaps taken vertically instead of horizontally.

craig · Jul 7, 2005

Thanks again gang! Your critiques have inspired me to revisit this frame. I am also thinking that the crop is a little tight. After years of shooting this contraption I never took the time to find out what it is. May be something along the lines of a hay bailer?

Sometimes I wish I could enjoy bald skies. It is my own fault. When I include them they always seem like negative space, where some type should go. The work of 19th century photographer Timothy O'Sullivan throws that idea in the toilet. His bald sky's provide beautiful symmetry.

I think it was the incomparable Paul Strand that first coined the term "bald sky".

nannabug · Jul 7, 2005

Where is this wheel mounted, craig? Is it on a barn? Near a hay loft? If so then chances are it is a hay pulley. A rope would be slung over the groove in the pulley to hoist the hay bales into the loft. Its position at the apex of the roof makes me think it was used as a pulley to lift something.
As for the 'bald sky' rule... well, sometimes 'rules' are meant to be broken.

terri · Jul 7, 2005

I like it, and love the shadows. I think it would be a killer contrasty B&W image - with a square crop, maybe not quite so close on top and bottom. That's definitely what I'm missing here.

I like the "thing". I agree, I don't need to know what it is.

craig · Jul 7, 2005

Super duty thanks!!! After some garden time I will be revisit this frame. Again, I am inspired by the crit's so far!!! Extra credit to Terri for the BW suggestion. It never even crossed my mind.

Nanabug: The deal is located in a farm machine grave yard. I will try and find a wide shot of this deal in the archives. I have dozens of shots, but mostly details. The machine is about 20' long, 10' high, 6' wide. Hay may have gone in on one end and come out bailed on the other. This particular wheel may have opened a door or strung the bails or anything. I will give it some research. That way one some one asks what is it I can say "Dah... it's the rear fibulator flywheel". I am laughing out loud!