Natalie Knott Loc: Fort Bragg, CA

I was walking around Pt Reyes Station, CA at the end of the day and caught this at the edge of town. I was on the street and the street is in view, but maybe it is more of a landscape, nuh?

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Standing on a street or in view of a street has nothing to do with Street Photography.

Your picture is very nice though! I'd agree that it is a landscape.

A Street Photography image is a picture of the intangible relationships between people and their surroundings, its subject is life (not the people, not the surroundings, and most definitely not the street corner). "Street Photography" is a misnomer that has annoyed a lot of people since it first came into use. Garry Winogrand was one of the first to be so labeled, and he had fits denying it! He once said, "There's no such thing as street photography and even if there were, it isn't what I do... I photograph animals. That's it! If you want to do a history of zoo photography, I'll participate." An interesting way to view 5th Avenue in NYC...

You can say you photographed a farm so it's Landscape, not a zoo so it can't be Street. :-)

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Natalie,

Point Reyes Station has a lot of very nice landscape opportunities, and a grand seascape at the end of the point, but the climb up from the station to the top landing is a challenge.

I think you have captured a unique view of the old barn near days end, and this would be classed as landscape.

I also think you have more than one nice photograph in this one image.
Consider an experiment, crop the picture down from the top to remove the bald white sky, but leave enough of the tree tops to show the angle sloping off to the right. Crop both sides in to divide both trees in half forming a natural frame around the barn, but leave plenty of street to illustrate the shadows of early evening.

Finally, convert the image to B&W film and add some colored filtration to the processing to alter the depth of grays to white.
This filtering is not adding color, it is subtracting color bands from the B&W image, like the old masters of years ago when they placed colored filters in front of the lens to filter out blue sky and cause it to become darker in relation to the natural environment.

Michael G

Voss

This photo may get a lot of opinions. I'd suggest cropping the sky at the level of the lowest treetop to completely eliminate it from over the trees. (It tends to pull your eyes upward to it.) And that's it. The three trees become the subject, and the barn is now a secondary feature to add ambience. All the shadows direct your eyes to it, even though it isn't primary. (That almost sounds like a contradiction, but that's what I see.) Whatever you decide, it's a great (landscape) photo.

Natalie Knott Loc: Fort Bragg, CA

Thank you, Apaflo, for your informative and interesting response.

Natalie Knott Loc: Fort Bragg, CA

Wow, Michael, you've given me a lot to think about and have challenged my processing skills!! Thank you And yes, I do have several other images : )
Pt Reyes and Inverness are favorites of mine. I lived in Inverness as a child.

Natalie Knott Loc: Fort Bragg, CA

Thank you for the suggestions! I appreciate your encouragement and ideas as well as greatly admiring your work. Have you thought of making a book of your images?

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Natalie,

Many times when we see a potential photograph our eyes/brain fool us into seeing what is not really there. Many times this is where B&W photos shine. If your image processing software has the ability to convert a photo file to "B&W Film" you could adjust the color filter sliders and see the effect you will get in tonal ratios from black to white, then you can set the brightness/contrast ratio after the conversion.

Always work on a copy of your original file.

Michael G

PS I was up at Point Reyes a few months ago with a student and the long walk down to the station and back up has not changed one step.

MG

Armadillo Loc: Ventura, CA

Natalie,

I have thought about, I once had a few published in a photo coffee table book, but that was all I saw of the photos in one book.

Michael

Natalie Knott Loc: Fort Bragg, CA

Great advice, I'll try it : )

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

Natalie, I like your photo a lot as a landscape. That said, I agree with Voss about taking the open space off the top, and I'd go a step further and remove some of the bottom, making your work into a very pleasing horizontal.

Natalie Knott Loc: Fort Bragg, CA

Thankyou, Jaymatt, good suggestions!