The struggle.

[Don Railton]

Hi guys

This is an image I took ~40 years ago when I spent a lot of spare time climbing Mt Taranaki (Egmont) in New Zealand. It was taken with a Nikon 'nikormat' SLR (which I still have somewhere) and a 50mm F 1.8 (I think) lens that came with the camera, using probably Kodacrome 64 which was my standard film to use at that time. It was definately hand held but don't know any other settings. If I was honest I would also admit that the image was not planned to look like the rim lit silhouette it is, so I'll keep that to myself... A few years ago at the reguest of my sister I digitised a lot of images until tedium set in, so this is from my archives... Its pretty much as digitised except for a lot of dust/spot removal, cropping and leveling to the appropiate slope if that makes sense (Mt Egmont slope is ~ 35 degs close to the top where this is taken), and a bit of cloud enhancement using levels. I would be interested to know what you think...I am worried about excessive 'negative space' but maybe it works with this?

DON

[Jay Gould]

Hey Mate, nice memory. The star burst is the cherry!

Negative space doesn't bother me.

[Don Railton]

I know its a looong way from stunning, but thank you for Commenting Jay...! I only wish others would play the game. I hope to see more of your work someday...

regards

DON

[David Stephens]

The sunburst and cloud behind the climber make it a wall hanger. The negative space and strong diagonal pull you to the subject. I think the composition is very strong.

[gail bisson]

Hi Don,
I don't know much about landscape photography but I do know what I like and don't like.
And I like this a lot.
Has a very gritty feel to it. I love, love the rainbow between the mountain and sun ray.
If you hadn't told me this was mountain climbing I could imagine this as a cityscape or a mining shot with smoke in the BG.
I love the strong diagonal line. The amount of negative space is perfect.
Gai

[Don Railton]

Thank you Gail and David.. I was a little worried that this might be too far removed from landscape to be included here, but I assumed it might fall under the 'travel' part so posted it... I am now glad I did, and more importantly I am glad you both liked it.. As a 'by the way', the white spots below/behind the feet are pieces of ice/snow that have been chipped off the mountain by the crampons (= spikes on the boots) the climber is wearing..

thank you both for commenting...

regards

DON

[dankearl]

This is really nice….
A lot of drama, the only thing I don't like is the noise in the sunburst.
Old tech and an old photo.
I would have saved this one also.

[Don Railton]

Thanks Dan, and to be honest I expected the noise on the sunburst to attract more comment. I too would like a cleaner burst and I was considering removing that and the rainbow to boot but decided against doing too much fiddling and to leave it true, warts and all.

DON

[Cheryl Slechta]

Don, I wouldn't change a thing! I like everything about it - the drama, the silhouette, the diagonal and especially the negative space. I'm glad you retrieved it

[Sandy Witvoet]

Stunning and definitely worth studying, especially if posted on a wall. Love how the strong diagonal "drags" you through the entire image. Neg space is good here. Pretty amazing image!

[Don Railton]

Thank you for you comments Cheryl and Sandy.. Most appreciated..!

DON

[Morkel Erasmus]

I like this loads - very evocative! No issues with negative space and the image quality (given the age/scanned format).

[Don Railton]

I like this loads - very evocative! No issues with negative space and the image quality (given the age/scanned format).

Thanks Morkel.. and IQ ok? well it was a Nikon...

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Don...this is awesome...one of your best

The scan looks good to me and the sun looks perfectly fine to me.

[Don Railton]

Thanks Andrew..!

[Grant Yang]

This image is great. I'd like just a little bit more contrast between the smoke and the person to make the image pop more.