Thank you Marisa! As someone who admires your work so much, and your ability to generate buddhist and religeous meaining out of some of your images I consider it the highest compliment, if you can connect this image with the music of Ravi Shankar. That pool of white water in the middle of a dark pool is what makes this image for me. It is one of the very first I posted on pbase, and Phil's comment on it taught me some basic lessons. Blur is what this photograph is all about, and without it, this image is ordinary. Now I have you to confirm that lesson. Was it intentional at the time, well the blur of the water was, but not the camera shake, but then so much is about luck Marisa in photography..the right place, the right time, the right expression, even the right mistake in this case! Thanks again Marisa.
Guest
12-Aug-2005 18:23
Kal, this image has a great spiritual power. While I'm writing this I'm listening to some music of Ravi Shankar, and I must tell you that makes a perfect match with your image. I think that the blur is the key here.. if it would have been sharp it wouldn't have worked for me. But the blur, with its motion, and the light that seems to come with the fall.. making the cleansing over the man are what transfrom this picture into a great emotional level. Congrats!
This is the strongest image, in terms of expression, in this gallery, Kal. It is simple. It has scale incongruity -- the huge waterfall needed to bathe one small man. It is perfectly composed. There is not a single think in the image that does not belong there, which tells us that you used light and vantage point to abstract the image. It is rich in human values as well -- to cleanse is to purge the body of imperfection, and everything is being cleansed here. Not only the body but the rock as well. The image is cropped long and tall to compliment the subject.
Yes, the entire image is blurred due to camera movement, but in this case, the blurring is part of the cleansing and purging, so it does not bother me at all. We don't need to see any detail here at all. We need to feel the power of the cleanse. Detail is not at issue, movement is. So your failure to hold the camera still to achieve sharpness in the man and rock while blurring the water's movement has taught you an important lesson here. Form serves content. To blindly try for a sharp rock and man just because sharp is good or right, would have blunted the force of expression itself.
