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Celestial Zone System
Celestial Zone System
charliebaker


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Ansel Adams (Advanced Editing IV)
Camera: Sony Mavica FD-95
Location: Night Sky Northern Hemisphere
Date: Mar 5, 2005
Galleries: Nature, Black and White
Date Uploaded: Mar 6, 2005

 CELESTIAL ZONE SYSTEM

What was I thinking when I entered “Celestial Zone System” in the “Ansel Adams” challenge?

1. Humor: Why enter a nearly all black “Zone I” photo of the night sky? It may just be my own quirky sense of humor, but I chuckle at the oddity of entering the “Ansel Adams” challenge the only a truly “black & white” photo-without-editing. The signature of Ansel Adams’ style: 1) Black & White; 2) Grand Landscapes . The night sky offers a photographer one of the purest realms for “no-editing” black & white photography, and offers one of the grandest “landscapes” available to the photographer, the vastness of the celestial skyscape.
2. Contrast: Beyond the playfulness, I consider a starscape an excellent study in the contrast of Zone I and Zone X. For the naked human eye, space does not offer much in the way of grey between the realms of Pure light (Zone X) and pure dark (Zone I). Certainly, starlight comes in the full range of light spectrum color, but across the vast distances of space starlight translates into the blend of all colors to pure white light (Zone X). These two contrasting forces are what lie at the edge of every photo we make.
3. Outside the Box: one of the qualities of Ansel Adams style I appreciate the most is his ability to see the extraordinary in the ordinary. He does this through his technical genius and his photographic eye. He allows us to step outside the box of our daily humdrum existence, into the realm of grandeur. We need only take one step out our backdoor and look up at the night sky to discover the wonder of our finitude amidst the grandeur and glory of space.

Thanks for your comments, your votes and for putting up with a DPC non-conformist. So many photos in this challenge expressed more eloquently than I could ever shoot the grandeur and genius of the Master. Meet you in the next challenge.



Statistics
Place: 287 out of 292
Avg (all users): 3.4825
Avg (commenters): 3.1667
Avg (participants): 3.1849
Avg (non-participants): 3.8739
Views since voting: 2230
Votes: 257
Comments: 28
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 04/02/2005 12:24:45 AM
This truly makes me chuckle. Charlie Baker: you've done it again!--bonny in cannon beach
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/14/2005 01:43:18 AM
Awsome reading! The question with DPC, though, is to fit outside the box, but inside the challenge, and that is the point reach. Keep it up =)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/14/2005 12:54:57 AM
Yeah thats the spirit!! Just read your comment about this and I must say...impressive! Highly respected too! That means more then just being one of a kind. Good luck with future challenges.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
03/13/2005 11:20:35 PM
Going for the Brown huh? Well, this should do it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/13/2005 01:24:34 AM
Hmmm. Not much tonal range here.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/12/2005 06:10:03 PM
I went through lots of A A photos ,but I cannot remember that he did something similar to this,maybe i should check again. Otherwise it's ok, you submitted something different...and i like it.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/11/2005 05:18:01 PM
Sorry to say that but it is very bad...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/11/2005 02:22:06 PM
interesting idea
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/10/2005 04:52:29 PM
Good depth of field
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/10/2005 01:11:45 PM
This just doesn't fit the challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/10/2005 12:31:14 PM
I didn't get it!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/10/2005 09:14:36 AM
I just see black and white, no tones.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/09/2005 10:10:09 PM
Hmm; going for the ONE?

Yes, the zone system seems to break down when shooting points of light on a black background. (Even knowing that's the point doesn't improve the photo.)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/09/2005 04:34:10 PM
haha I couldnt help myself ; )
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/09/2005 03:32:09 PM
Don't know how you managed to get such a clean capture, but this is a startling image!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/08/2005 08:53:30 PM
Needs a center of interest, or anything to hold my attention.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/08/2005 04:21:24 PM
Well as a start this is not what I think of as Adams style. As a photo of a star field it is ot all that interesting. At least the focus is good.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/08/2005 12:27:52 PM
Revisiting and explaining my lower scores - I hope to be helpful, not insulting.

I only rated this a 4 because I really can't decide what you are up to. If this is a remake of an obscure AA print, I apologize for not understanding. You are very correct that there are excellent examples of most of the zones in the different stars, and I see that, but the photo holds absolutely no interest for me. There are no compositional features, no leading lines, no shapes, and no textures, all of which I regard to be crucial to a good black and white photo. So, if you mean this humorously and I missed it, I am sorry.

Best of luck!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/08/2005 11:56:08 AM
Sorry, but I find this pretty boring.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 08:52:28 PM
not very 'AA' ish at all...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 08:19:25 PM
It's original!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 05:14:48 PM
Original
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 03:34:17 PM
LOL!
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 01:55:47 PM
Its nice that your camera picks up clean star images, but c'mon, you could have submitted anything else in black and white, and it would have been closer to something Ansel Adams would have done.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 12:04:03 PM
Did you find UFO ?
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 10:37:08 AM
I dont understand how this fits the challenge...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 08:30:43 AM
not a very interesting picture
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 03/07/2005 01:35:52 AM
It must have been a clear night out, but this doesn't really tell me 'Ansel Adams' otherwise it would have been good for another kind of challenge :-)
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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