DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register
 
Challenge Entries
Portfolio Images
This image is not part of a public portfolio.
Shattered Dream
Shattered Dream
EddyG


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Desolation (Classic Editing)
Camera: Canon EOS-10D
Location: Azalia, MI
Date: Aug 10, 2003
Aperture: 5.6
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/1600 sec
Galleries: Rural, Persuasive
Date Uploaded: Aug 12, 2003

Possible alternate title: Dot Bomb?

I don't know the story behind this house, but I see it all the time from the road when I travel to see some friends in Ohio. I immediately thought of it when I saw the 'Desolation' theme. I often wonder why this beautiful home on all this property was started, and then left to decay for years. Everyone has a theory, but when I look at it, I see a husband and wife who set out to build their dream home, and then something happened in their life which prevented them from finishing it... perhaps the death of a spouse? Or a child? Or maybe they just lost all their money in the stock market crash. In any case, it seems to meet the definitions of 'desolation' that I read, including 'sadness resulting from being forsaken or abandoned' and 'the state of being decayed or destroyed'. I wonder if voters will see it the same way?

The lighting and coloring that I tried to achieve seems very dependent on monitor calibration -- I looked at this at a couple different monitor settings and it is all over the place. I really like the dark, muted colors the way I'm seeing them, but not everybody else is likely to see what I'm seeing unfortunately.

I purposefully desaturated the greens and yellows (present in the weeds) to give more of a 'mood' to the image. I drove to take the picture on a day when storms were expected to get an interesting sky behind the house. I really like the way the sky turned out...

Statistics
Place: 108 out of 232
Avg (all users): 5.3084
Avg (commenters): 6.5000
Avg (participants): 5.3482
Avg (non-participants): 5.2696
Views since voting: 1331
Votes: 227
Comments: 12
Favorites: 0


Please log in or register to add your comments!

AuthorThread
 Comments Made During the Challenge
08/18/2003 09:27:31 PM
Nice shot. Meets the challenge. The sky really brings this shot to life. Good luck.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/17/2003 07:57:53 AM
Now this speeks volumes about sadness. the pic almost tells it's own story.

excelent
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/17/2003 05:19:07 AM
I feel that it is underexposed and the subject is not interesting enough. It may have been a great building if it was not for the nasty tacky looking white coverings...

Also, it would have improved the image is there was less of the greenery and more of the house to fill the frame. It would have been nice if you waited for another time with less cloud cover and a sunset to shine vibrant colours on the wite coverings and create dramatic shadows.

However, well done. Good try. =)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/16/2003 08:39:40 PM
Oh, how sad.....was this YOUR shattered dream? :(
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/15/2003 10:54:40 PM
Successful at conveying desolation...nice idea. In my opinion, if you had shown more of the driveway and less of the left side, it would have improved the photo.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/15/2003 02:05:22 PM
how sad... it really is! the sky also works very well here... 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/15/2003 06:15:53 AM
hey great image capture and subject. I love the sky...I know you can not edit the colours for the competition, but for yourself i think if you add a bit more green into the grass it would look excellent (7)
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/13/2003 11:52:43 PM
Abandoned buildings do not desolation make
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/13/2003 04:43:52 PM
the match of the flowers and peeling insulation is nice...
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/13/2003 12:18:36 PM
good take on the challenge, as in not finished instead of old, great sky, too! 8.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/13/2003 12:10:23 PM
Brightened then slightly desaturated would be an improvement.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
08/13/2003 07:01:06 AM
What a sad state of disrepair, in sharp contrast to the flowers.
  Photographer found comment helpful.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/12/2025 02:22:27 PM EDT.