Hi Chris - I'll have a go. I enjoyed your site - particularly the Environmental Portraits and especially What They Left Behind. The former is very evocative of the Scottish west coast that I am familiar with (from birth) and was insightful in a way that much work I see of this type is not. The latter is excellent, and my only criticism would be that the slightly 'bright' repro was a bit much for my taste with that subject matter, but thats a minor crit.
The Tone Poet left me slightly dissatisfied. I like the idea, but I think the medium you are using is conspiring against you (and against my enjoyment). When viewing evocative/artistic image such as this, with the subtle shapes and movement, the interruption of a black screen with a flash-build as the next image spools up to display is a bummer. Far better imho would be for one image to dissolve into the next, to underline the continual motion and movement of the ocean and the fact that all oceans are one ocean. It was like reading a poem one line at a time, with each line delivered so far apart I'd forgotten what had been said before. I'd love to see the set with the 'afterglow' of each previous image burned into my retina as each successive one spills in.
Re storytelling - I'm interested in the ways that digital (online) media can be used tell stories, and if you've not seen The Whale Hunt by Johnathan Harris you might enjoy it:
http://thewhalehunt.org/I can see where your Tone Poem is heading, and I like it, but I feel you need to find a more 'liberating' way of presenting the work, so we can anjoy it more fully, and perhaps in the way you originally intended (?).
Good stuff! And great to see someone pushing themselves and their audience!
Regards
John
www.john-macpherson-photography.com
