No rules here! Still, does it work?

[S_Sanyal]

Gear: Pentax K1000 with Sunagor 24mm f = 1:2.8 and Ilford Pan400 film
Shutterspeed-1/4s; aperture f/11; ISO 400

Here's a Half Horizon frame in vertical format and rough grain finish landscape..(hence the title, no rules) Also there is a blur at the top of the tree which is movement in breeze over within exposure duration.The muddiness in the picture is partly from suspended matter (this is a brick kiln) and partly 400 speed film grain, shot in near darkness at dusk...

I created this picture because it was a very interesting juxtaposition of chimney, rubble and dead tree...also somehow loved the "reflection" aspect of it. As always, I was on the move, so the picture was made within those time constraints ( i had the time in 40 min to walk around all sides of the chimney thingy and settle here, next morning there was no chance to return, maybe next time when I visit this place, but who knows...).Now questions:

1. How does this picture work in terms of composition, i cut the frame in half with the horizon but kept the subject elements out of the centre and included the corner in foreground for some depth and visual balance.

2. Does the rough finish go with this subject and theme or otherwise? (I sometimes "feel" this picture more as I unfocus my eyes, almost to make it abstract)

3. Any other observations please...

Thanks in advance.

[gturner]

I like the composition and immediately "got" the story before reading it.

It looks a little dark on my screen and maybe a little too "rough"

I would like to see a bright, clean version to compare it too.

[S_Sanyal]

Thankyou Gturner. As this is a scanned negative I have very small boundaries of what PP I can do before the image begins to look unreal. But tried removing some of the grain on Lightroom3, and also brightened the image a bit, both treatments very subtly, here's the edit, would really appreciate your views on it.

[carlyfan]

I really like it. I like the first one better than the second. If I'm getting this right, the main time horizons in the middle work is to emphasis symmetry, which you have here. Not sure what serious photographers would think, but I think it works. But then what do I know?

Lisa

[S_Sanyal]

Thanks Lisa, I posted the first as with deep grey tinge that came naturally with the lighting conditions, for the gloom it conveys, which was the idea behind making the picture. I value honesty towards the conditions I shoot in, more than anything else. Yeah, and you're observation about symmetry is very accurate and thoughtful; in hindsight, i think its something that just had to be there in this shot!

I tend to think that viewers' / normal-photographers' (if i may call them that) critiques are often, equally if not more, insightful, as some "serious" photographers can get a bit too dogmatic (all diplomacy out of the window here ) to my liking .

In any case, thanks for looking and your feedback / appreciation is well received.
Cheers