-- Frank Kolwicz (bb389@lafn.org), July 22, 1998

Answers

I liked your first one a little better. Perhaps there are too many distracting elements here, like the two bluish leaves on the very top and the washed out white (horizontal) branch on the very bottom. The center swirl is very neat. It might very well be that with these "extra-elements" this print could hold the viewers interest longer. (Your print#1 looks more decorative, this one has more to say). I like the look of both very much (very low color saturation). It doesn't generate instant "aaaahs" and "oooohs" like the Disneychrome (a.k.a. as Velvia) would - am I the only one tired of Velvia-look? What camera did you use? Are you doing your own dark room work? It's certainly very nice!

-- (andreas@physio.unr.edu), July 23, 1998.

Andreas,

I agree that a little cropping top and bottom wouldn't hurt. I normally have prints made full frame like this and then crop the image area when matting the print. When I submitted these images to Community of Artists I didn't do that cropping because of laziness. The next time I submit images to them they will be cropped as for gallery display.

Regarding Velvia: I never liked it's look for all-around shooting, but I do use it for some limited conditions and actually this image was done in those conditions and I would have used Velvia here instead of Kodachrome 25, if it existed. The camera is one of my trusty old F1s with the 200mm Macro lens, a combination which was my standard for several years when I first got serious about photography.

Frank

-- Frank Kolwicz (bb389@lafn.org), July 23, 1998.

Andreas,

I forgot! About darkroom work: no I don't do any. All my color images are on transparencies originally and the prints are simply made to match by various pro color labs. This one is by the Image Source here in Thousand Oaks, CA.

The scan is from a color copy of the print made on a Minolta 900. I have no idea how the scan was made, that was by the Community of Artists who put up my web page.

Frank

-- Frank Kolwicz (bb389@lafn.org), July 23, 1998.

I think the Kodachrome works really well here. Gives it a unique look (as opposed to the ubiqutous Velvia). Regarding cropping, I would leave the top as is but just slightly crop the bottome to remove the horizontal branch. It's one of those images where the more I look at it, the more I like it (as opposed to images which make me say "ooh" and then get boring really fast).

-- (andreas@physio.unr.edu), July 23, 1998.