City - Tucson State - ARIZONA Country - United States
About
It was very hard for me to pick my ?Best Picture of 2004?. The final group contained four, but I obviously had to pick one. Eventually, I settled on ?South of Tucson #3?.
We spent a couple of hours at the Saint Xavier del Bac mission south of Tucson/Arizona in August 2004. It was a typical desert monsoon day: blue skies one moment ? dark rain clouds a few minutes later. Unfortunately, most of the mission?s white towers were covered by scaffolding for restorations. I took several pictures of the surroundings, though. This picture shows the little cemetery hill next to the mission with the monsoon clouds at their peak. A few moments after I took this picture, the heavy monsoon rain started. The desert happily soaked up every drop of rain. Like most monsoon storms, the rain stopped after 30 minutes, or so. Take a look at the entire ?South of Tucson? portfolio at http://www.usefilm.com/browse.php?mode=portfolio&portfolio_id=10441.
Picture details: Exposure 1/320s, aperture 10.0, focal length 29mm, ISO 200, no flash, no tripod.
The other three pictures of my ?final four?: * http://www.usefilm.com/image/541140.html * http://www.usefilm.com/image/541212.html * http://www.usefilm.com/image/576053.html
Great photo indeed. I do like the B & W version also with the cropping, but I prefer the color version. I do like the cropping with the rocks out of the picture and the sign post. It makes you feel more of the mood of the photo with the dark clouds. I also like the hope in the blue sky in the background to the right. Gives you hope that there are better days ahead. The lighting of the cross is superb.
jurgen, you gotta love the desert. when you least expect it, it presents you with breathtaking sights, big contrasts and beautiful colors. i dig this a lot. although i partially agree with john. the stones are ok but the sign needs to go. then again, there is the quandary: nature gives us what it gives us and we have to make do. should you clone it out? probably not, imo. i like it much better as-is.
Great shot..the path of rocks along the bottom adds a nice horiozontal line. The sightly off-center cross is the real standout though, espically w/ the moody black clouds behind it.
I looked at this image for some time yesterday but could not decided if I liked it or not. Today when it popped up as images needing comments I thought I would at least try and make some remark.
I think you have succeeded in conveying the drama of the moment but the row of stones across the bottom of the frame and the green sign/post do not add anything, in my opinion.
Maybe a different crop or even a conversion to B&W, I'm not sure. That's the joy/frustration of photography. Regards & Happy New Year Jurgen. John
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{K:35129} 1/1/2005