by Evgeni Donev

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I am so glad that this your photo is POW,no other words that this deserve to be here,compliments Evgeni.

I think this is beautiful work. I really like the way the foreground branches and tree trunks form an arch that the dog will walk through, and the gradual change in contrast from foreground to the center is beautiful. The change in the light draws the viewer into the photograph. I like winter time photographs that can make me almost feel the cold and smell the crispness and freshness of the air. The black and white only adds to that overall atmosphere.

It's hard to critique this shot because it has everything in it that I like...winter, snow, dog, ice, bare trees...what's not to like? I wish I were there.

A very good composition and placement of the dog. Good exposure. I love the tree canopy. It pulls the viewer right into the photo. One can almost feel the cold

I commented on this before it was selected as the POW, and I'll reiterate my regard for the composition of Evgeni's photograph; as others have said, the light and elements within the frame really emphasize the dog and lead a viewer's eye to that spot. I wondered about the light, whether the dog was walking through a natural opening in the canopy that allowed extra light to that spot, or if instead the area had been dodged just a bit (and/or surrounding areas burned just a bit) to yield the effect. I think it works either way, but to some who believe process is a component of the photograph, they may be interested in the answer. Evgeni has several photographs like this, and a more recent one is especially good, IMO, with the dog looking back at the people who are lagging behind -- I really like the story told by that composition, much more than a photo of a dog walking through the woods. Even though it's a very subjective choice, to me it would be an example of the elves selecting less than the best work in a portfolio, which I also think is a very good strategy on the part of the elves. The POW, IMO, should be about back and forth discussion among those who have different points of view on a photo with strengths and weaknesses, not near-universal praise for a photograph that most people like without question. My congratulations to Evgeni, professor of physics doing ecological research, a combination that I find just as intriguing as your photographs.

I find the post-processed spotlighting incompatible with the natural subject matter. The drop off of light away from the center of the photo causes a grayish quality to the snow which just doesn't look all that good to me. As there is a nice, natural framing suggested by the branches encircling the path, the lighting filter could have been applied more subtly and would have worked better, IMO. The composition itself is very static, aided in that by the centering of the dog and the symmetry of the surroundings as well as the very straightforward perspective adopted. I can imagine what would attract many photographers to such a scene, but I don't find the photograph making anything of it or even conveying it in an effective way. Looking through Evgeni's portfolio there is some nice work, particularly some of the snow scenes which are more atmospheric and have quite a bit more visual interest, energy, texture, and depth.

I don't understand the reason for the present POW. If it is an example of the power of the center in a photographic image or art composition, it appears to me to be lacking in that sense. Centered subjects can be very effective, but only if there is a tension or dynamic that is created between it and the outer centers or poles of interest (or strong points of composition). Such eccentricity that is present within centricity is necessary to give an image a dynamic or emotional effect. I don't see this present here, only very little compositional and emotional interaction between the centered subject and its surroundings. This is despite the picturesque nature of the surrounding snow laden trees and some energy provided by a few oblique tree branches, the effect of which are subdued by the homogeneously textured snow coverings. For me the image is a bit too static.

Ways in which such images can be made more compelling in a compositional sense would to introduce tension by oblique lines, contrasting forms or a disequilibrium created by such secondary outside poles. Even an optical space created by a regular triangular linkage between main subject and secondary elements, even with one side in a peaceful horizontal rather than being obliquely inclined, with one of the apexes touching the principal subject, would help to add more life to the image. This is but one of many possibilities available when shooting centered subjects. Perhaps Evgeni should try the same centered composition in a slightly different secondary subject environment, by seeking an eccentricity to complement the centricity, which elsewhere works well in some of his portfolio images. If the subject is a dog and not a wolf, that might be easier to achieve, of course.

Evgeni's other landscapes are less static than this one, and his romantic predilection for lone trees in the landscape is better handled in my opinion. Some fine images in his portfolio. Snow is difficult to handle in photography, as it is often rendered too grey, albeit with detail, or a washed out white with little detail, as apparently is the case in the present central part of the POW image, although its limited image size here makes that difficult to detect with confidence. Having said that, I think the snow is quite well handled, and its tonality apparently relates to the varied lighting often present in a small woods.

I've been considering the thoughts of Fred and Arthur, and I'm no longer certain that I agree with my own previous thoughts regarding this photograph. We're often drawn to snow-covered scenes, especially with snow piled high on branches and boughs, and this photo has that. We're often drawn to contrasts, and this photo has that with the white (or gray) snow and dark limbs. As a culture we have a soft spot for pet animals (just look at the MSNBC Photos of the Week every Friday for evidence), and this photo has that. Arching branches that make a portal are kind of cool, and this photo has that. We like photos in which the light just happens to distinguish the main subject, and this photo has that, although I personally don't know if it's natural or a result of digital processing (I've seen the former in my experiences, but I suspect the latter in this case). So it's a scene with a number of elements that many people like, and it's centered and lit such that we're sure not to miss the point of the photograph, and what do we have? -- a dog on the trail walking straight at us in the snow.

I once thought a viewer can't miss it, but now I'm wondering what there is to miss. My dissatisfaction with the photo only increases when I see other possibilities, other photographs made by the same photographer. It has elements that I really enjoy and appreciate. Solitary walks through the woods far from any other person are some of the most memorable experiences I've ever had, and the memories remain very strong decades later. It has the elements, but I'm agreeing with the single description used by both Fred and Arthur: it's static. A lone dog walking along a path of snow under snow-covered branches straight toward the camera -- that's pretty static. It has some good elements as Arthur said, but it's static. It's picturesque, but it's static. The elements of snow, dark limbs, snowy path, canopy of branches, and pet dog pass pretty quickly.

I'd love to have a photograph like this in my family album of my dog walking through the woods in NW Montana. I would really cherish something like that. It would be for me to enjoy and remember, but it is not a photograph for broader artistic appeal, IMO. It has some great elements and some considered techniques, but its soul is quite flat. For that, one needs to look at some of Evgeni's other work.

While i am a fan of Evgeni's work, to me this is not one of his strongest (but as Stephen points out that should not matter for this forum) My reasons for that statement are more about the presentation of the image. The snow tonality in a lot of places is "muddy" (to grey) especially where the branches matt together above the dog. I can understand that this may be a result of processing to place the focus on the dog. It has achieved that but i think the overall lustre of the image suffers as a result. I think if you look at other images of Evgeni's that has a similar composition with snow and tree lines, you will find that the tonal ranges become more believable (some of these images are wonderfullly presented.) and the emphasis is left with the scene and not a single element in the scene. I think had the dog been in an open space of snow rather than a path in the wood it may have been easier to achive that balance and dominance of the dog in the same image. I think that is the dificulty this image may have presented to Evgeni, because of the many elements in the image, How to present this image and not loose the key focus of the dog.
Conclusion is that i think it a good image, but for me the greyness of the snow in areas lets it down. I like the composition and have no issue with the centredness of it.