Wire Fence Intersection

Call me obsessive, but for the last year or so I've working over a bit of old wire fencing whenever I've been in the neighborhood. The subject has several of things going for it: it's stable and doesn't move on windy days, the background can be easily changed from forest dark to sky blue (or cloudy gray) by moving the tripod up or down, and it doesn't need much dof.



Flash was hand-held off to the left. A gold reflector (to soften shadows) and remote shutter release were manipulated off to the right.

I'm beginning to think the intersection might be better placed toward the upper right-hand corner to give the longer wires freedom to leave the frame. Any thoughts regarding the image are appreciated, as always.

Smooth bokeh... monotone... restful and appealing.

I'm not sure, but because the weathered wire seems like a moody subject to me, I almost think a little less exposure on the flash and less fill from the right would make it more dramatic...

Also, if I were more comfortable/experienced in photoshop, this seems like it might be an image I would use to composite somewhere, somehow... ???

Hi Tom,

The sort of image that can drive you made in trying to decide how to treat it. At the end of the day, it is still a bit of rusty fence ;-) Next time, take your wire cutters...

This is one of a possible 5000 or so - you could go through a whole raft of colour treatments. I think I'd make it wider than this.





Best wishes,

Ray

Hi Tom,

Great job. This in iteself needs no work. I like it as is but could like it many other ways.

One way of finding more feedback is to show more of the ame series!

Asher

Hi Ed,

I understand your point; it's good one. The problem is one of balance, isn't it? Light is needed to bring out the texture of the old rusty wire. But too much light, on the other hand, contradicts the mood of the subject.

Hi Ray,

Cool interpretation and suggestion, thanks! At the end of the day, wire cutters are probably the most sensible solution.

Hi Asher,

Thanks for the comments. For context, here's an earlier view taken almost a year ago with available light:






The old fence runs through the middle of a large tree at Matthiessen Park, south of the Illinois River. It can be festooned with cobwebs in the summer, and snow and ice in the winter.

Regards,

Tom

Tom,

This new picture of yours flummoxed me! I'm totally gob-stopped!

Of course I knew that the wire wasn't from a BMW showroom or a shrine of meditation, but really, a whole tree! This was a surprise! To me, the wire was something in itself and to me it was not itself but symbolic of so much more. The past history of being wire with a purpose in subdividing property use had been, in my mind at least, subsumed by some set of metaphorical extension in themselves assuming importance and attention.

Interestingly Charles Webster's reflections did the same! Maybe I used some of the same words!

Asher

Asher,



The original purpose of the fence was just as your described it: it divided someone's mine from yours many years ago. The trick is to define "many years ago". Most early wire fences in the area were supported by posts made from Osage Orange, but they are mostly long gone. A lot of the stands of old wire fences in the area still remaining in situ are supported by trees that have long ago grown around them. This is the situation with this bit of old wire.

Judging from the odd tombstone that I've stumbled upon in the area, someone probably first claimed ownership around 1840. I suspect wire fencing followed in the next 20 or so years.

Tom

Hooked on the wire!

I love this image so much Tom, that I've started a new thread in Photography as Art dealing with the consequences of excluding visual clues in photography.

Your sets of pictures were great learning tools and I have taken the opportunity to use them as the basis to an exploration of the phenomina associated with cropping or not cropping.

You have got me hooked on the wire!

Asher

I am absolutely fascinated by this piece of wire and I think I can understand your possible "obsession" with it. I've been staring at it for quite a few minutes now. The imagery of this has a kind of symbolism depending on one's personal perspective.... the tensile strength of age or religious wood and metal or the appearance of a 'knot' which binds. The lighting on the rust and the potential variations of this....as well as the idea of frost and cobwebs truly makes this noteworthy. It's a wonderful subject AND photograph.

Holly

Holly Cawfield said:

I am absolutely fascinated by this piece of wire and I think I can understand your possible "obsession" with it. I've been staring at it for quite a few minutes now. The imagery of this has a kind of symbolism depending on one's personal perspective.... the tensile strength of age or religious wood and metal or the appearance of a 'knot' which binds. The lighting on the rust and the potential variations of this....as well as the idea of frost and cobwebs truly makes this noteworthy. It's a wonderful subject AND photograph.

Holly

Click to expand...

Hi Holly,

The symbolism is fascinating. I thought that this is a great example to examine what makes the subject transcend its objective status as just a pierce ordinary rusty wire and become extraordinary.

This, and another example by Charles Webster, are used in my new article I have written here and discussed here .

This sense of unique presence and symbolic overtones gets swamped by reality in subsequent pictures. The isolation that Tom has achieved here is, to me at least, exemplary.

Asher

This thread and the subsequent articles have proven to be one of the most enlightening things I've encountered in quite some time...truly eye-opening. Over the last few days I've actually been looking at things around me and visualizing them out of context. It's amazing how the posting of this photo of a knot of wire has had such an impact. Just wanted to let you know how powerful it is.

Holly, I believe that symbolism is the fundamental unit of our art and we play to it or against it. I don't think that much that is "Abstract" really is. At least I find that tenuous claim to be a useful tool for now to help me undo the construction of art and attempt to see what is there and what gives it strength and meaning and holds it together.

Asher