Kathy,
The sky too much? Here I have a different take on it. The huge sky here is one of the most important, essential and richest features of the photograph. It's like God talking to Cem telling him,
"Be nice to yourself, to your family and to Asher and, BTW, don't cut your ear off! That really pisses me off when you artists do that! Look Cem, I know you have your new 5DII, here's a giant sky, I'm setting up an amazing streaking pattern for you, no need to use a scraping stick like Van Gogh, I'm going to do it for you! No, don't check yourself into a sanitarium, if only you knew almost everyone else with insight has your feelings!"
Cem looked around and sees no end to this sky and is puzzled how to get this into a composition.
At this time, God said to Cem,
"Look up, yes you lost your job, but so did Thierry and James and a hell of a lot of other good folk. Here, look at this vast sky. O.K., it's not perfect, but nothing is! Look at the many varied ways just this one sky can be viewed!"
Cem
This is a parable for perspective in life, and opportunities we must create for ourselves. The sky will
not reveal all its magic in one blink. The sky is just the raw material nature gives us in a moment. Cem, it has to have
your mark on it, according to your own will. Everyone who doesn't like your picture can then go find their own sky. It really doesn't matter if other folk don't get everything we do or like. At the very least, we have to work hard so that it is agreeable to our eyes and we can experience the majesty of that sky again and again and again and each time feel energized. The important thing for our art is that we must take risks and then push our technic to match our ambition.
This picture is
very challenging. The fact that it's going to be a lot of work, takes nothing away its value. I'm not a jealous guy, but I'd have been happy to have just stood where you did even if I had no camera at all.
Thanks for bringing this complex picture to us and underlining the fact that creativity is not merely being there, it's also hard work. It takes brains and a great deal of sensitivity to know what to throw away! No not the picture, LOL, but some
subtle removal of certain hues or perhaps, even more boldly, all the color that takes away from the full power latent in this photograph.
Asher