Muelle Fiscal

[Ruben Alfu]

Muelle Fiscal pier has dominated Panama City´s waterfront for more than a century.
Now the pier, with it´s small fleet of local fishermen, will be relocated due to the
development of a new waterway that underlines the growing skyline of the city.

Ruben Alfu : Muelle Fiscal

[John Angulat]

Hi Ruben,

I'm saddened this image has slipped by without comment.
I for one find it most appealing.
Also, that's a brooding looking sky. You might want to consider darkening the clouds a bit to bring more attention to it.
Well done!

[Asher Kelman]

Originally Posted by Ruben Alfu

Muelle Fiscal pier has dominated Panama City´s waterfront for more than a century.
Now the pier, with it´s small fleet of local fishermen, will be relocated due to the
development of a new waterway that underlines the growing skyline of the city.

Ruben Alfu : Muelle Fiscal

This picture, Ruben, is wonderful with the fine lace net and the worn wooden boat against the sky and thin line of coastline in the b.g. and "exploding city" and sky giving this picture electricity.

Asher

Asher

[Ruben Alfu]

Thanks John and Asher for rescuing my camera from ebay hehe, I really like this picture and not because is that great but beacuse I think is more meaningful than most of my regular snaps. Anyway, thanks so much for taking the time to look and comment, I'm flattered by your positive feedback.

[Mike Shimwell]

Originally Posted by Ruben Alfu

Thanks John and Asher for rescuing my camera from ebay hehe, I really like this picture and not because is that great but beacuse I think is more meaningful than most of my regular snaps. Anyway, thanks so much for taking the time to look and comment, I'm flattered by your positive feedback.

Ruben

I have been intrigued by this picture, because I liked it but felt the inital presentation was a bit flat in terms of contrast. I hope you don't mind - please let me know if you want me to take this down - but I had a quick play with the image in photoshop, increasing contrast and toning the grey slightly and came up with this version. I would be interested to hear your thoughts as it may be far from your intent?

I do agree that the picture illustrates your story well as the city encroaches on the old fishing boat.

Regards

Mike

Muelle Fiscal by Ruben Alfu

[Asher Kelman]

I must say I didn't think of any needed improvements and it's good to see someone more alert than I have been. I just got lost in the woman's lace petticoat! It's already so 3 dimensional.

Still, Mike, if I get up from my knees and stand back to look at the picture again, I can imagine taking this with bracketing and finding out what HDR in B&W might add to this.

Asher

[Ruben Alfu]

Originally Posted by Mike Shimwell

Ruben
I hope you don't mind - please let me know if you want me to take this down - but I had a quick play with the image in photoshop

Be my guess Mike, I'm a lazy reader, seeing what you mean is much better. Thanks for helping me to see new possibilities in my work.

Originally Posted by Mike Shimwell

I would be interested to hear your thoughts as it may be far from your intent?

I see my version and yours like the same story being told one by Sean Penn and the other by James Earl Jones, the difference being the intensity of the drama (not sure if this analogy works but you get the idea).

In terms of visual impact, your rendering is clearly an absolute improvement. While I don't think taht it fights with my original intent, it does gives the image a character much stronger than the way I felt about this scene. I felt compelled to make that net look as a very fragile and delicate object and make sure that was the focus of attention. Why? Not gonna lie, don't know why... perhaps I just had the same fixation with that net as Asher and never got up from my knees to "see the whole picture".

Thanks again Mike.