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"The City in the Sea" Published 1831
"The City in the Sea" Published 1831
Dennisheckman


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Edgar Allan Poe (Expert Editing)
Camera: Leica M9
Lens: Leica 21mm f/1.4 Summilux-M
Location: Multiple locations around Denver CO
Date: Nov 2, 2011
Aperture: various
ISO: various
Shutter: various
Galleries: Cityscape, Digital Art
Date Uploaded: Nov 3, 2011

Wow! Did I have fun with this one! From researching which poem to shoot for, to the many trips taken to get all the photos for the entry. This is my very first expert rules entry and my 100th entry! I picked a good one for my 100th for sure.

This image is inspired by the poem "The City in the Sea" published in 1831. I tried to get as many elements as I could into the image without making it too cluttered. The poem is about a fictional city in the far West that is dying due to sin and corruption. Death is everywhere in the city and it is soon to sink into the sea. Death is looking down from his tower, the Grim Reaper on the front of the Courthouse, waiting to present his reverence. I used my Leica for most the shots, but I used my Canon 7D as well. I used my Leica 21mm wide angle for the sky and the street lights, and the Court House, my Canon 10-22 for the water shot, 70-200 for the buildings, and finally my 17-40 for the Grim Reaper shot, which is of me, wearing my bathrobe and a hooded work coat. It took working every night for about 6 nights to get the computer work done. Since this is my first entry like this, it took me longer to learn how to do a few things. But now I have more confidence to enter more expert challenges. I really enjoyed the project. Hope you all can appreciate this image as much as I do since I worked so hard on it and learned a bunch.

Here is the poem summary from the web:

"Death rules in a lonely city in the far West, where the buildings are unfamiliar and everything has come to rest beside melancholy waters. Here, nighttime prevails, but light from the sea shines onto the towers, and Death looks down from his tower. The graves lie open, but none of their riches tempts the still waters. Then, suddenly, a breeze causes some movement in the sea, which gains a red glow as if to advent the coming of Hell as the city begins to sink."

I couldn't figure out how to add any open grave sites, so had to do the image without that detail. Can't have everything!



Statistics
Place: 13 out of 88
Avg (all users): 6.5703
Avg (commenters): 8.2857
Avg (participants): 6.2826
Avg (non-participants): 6.7317
Views since voting: 1336
Views during voting: 313
Votes: 128
Comments: 12
Favorites: 0


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AuthorThread
11/11/2011 06:57:30 AM
13th on a Poe challenge?! That's a good omen in my book!! :-)
Congrats on a great score for a great image!!! Go Longshots!!!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/11/2011 12:41:08 AM
Nicely done, this was one of my top scores.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/11/2011 12:34:35 AM
Great work Dennis and glad you could perform on this. Congrats with your 100Th challenge entry. Benchmark celebrated in style
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
11/07/2011 11:40:23 AM
venice?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/07/2011 10:36:09 AM
love the final version Dennis!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/05/2011 03:37:01 PM
Very fun idea -- nice on to explore. You don't see death right away, which is great, because you feel like you've found a treasure when you see him. But if he's reflected so well in the water, wouldn't the railings be reflected as well? Still, very nice. -8-
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/05/2011 12:53:34 PM
Awesome dark image
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/05/2011 02:48:46 AM
very effective! well done
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/04/2011 08:53:36 PM
interesting composite -- relates well as I remember the piece.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/04/2011 03:14:12 PM
*waving* Hi Christophe!! See you on the front page~!

And if you're not Christophe, damn good work.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/04/2011 12:35:22 AM
One of the better ones.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
11/04/2011 12:35:16 AM
In my opinion there is too much photoshop and not enough photo! But that's just me!
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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