Reeds

I've been regularly photographing reeds by the river here in Périgueux, getting interesting results at times, but, in general, not with a satisfying sense of purpose. I went down the other day and decided I had to come up with a decent, coherent vision. I'm hoping I may have latched onto something with these - a sense of softness being the general direction I have chosen to follow...

1



2



3



4



5



6

Great little series.

Always nice when something just clicks in your head isn't it...

It's an interesting approach and very different from the images we normally see. I particularly like number 5 for its minimalism, to me that one is the most successful result. I think it's very hard to make eye-catching images out of subjects like this, as the background can be get very cluttered / distracting, this is why I like the fifth one as it is clean and simple. I do think your 'softness' approach is the right way to go as it gives you the best chance to keep the backgrounds clean.

Regards
David

These are different and very attractive.

(Perhaps clone out that thin bright curve in the top left corner of the first.)

Philip

Thank you for your thoughts and kind words. Dan, it is indeed! David, yes, I do like the minimalism of that last image. Yet I think there is a middle ground of sorts to be found (as in 2 and 3) within the general idea of softness - with different things happening in different planes. I'll keep working on that. Philip, I thought of cloning it out, but decided not to (my immediate appreciation of that curve was as a crack in an imaginary window). I'll give it a go and see which I prefer.

What a lovely set... subtle and understated... there’s a delicate quality to these, and a fragility too... partly to do with the selective d.o.f., partly to do with the gently curving shapes, partly to do with the high (ish) key feel... you’ve been very clear in each frame as to what your (and therefore our) attention is focussed on... particularly like the spirals, but that’s just me...intriguing... look forward to seeing some more...

Best

Really like 3 and 5, well seen

Thank you Bill and Gareth. I will definitely be exploring these some more. Plus, there's a bamboo patch nearby that is also interesting...

No 3 for me I think - I agree about the minimalism tho' and a version of no 3 with a slightly more blurred/ softer background would be good IMO.

Thanks for chiming in Andy, I'll be working on both the minimalist and the 'mixed' approach as I can.