* Wed C&C (No Theme) Thread, Ed. 253 February/27/2013 *

Zindanfel wrote:

Re: "I was never sure about this one."

Sometimes ambiguity is the photographer's friend, opening doors on multiple visions -- others may find levels of significance originally unintended and/or unplanned.

Seeing your picture of course brings to mind Bootstrap's iconic beach fence images, which to my recollection he didn't explain -- each viewer simply harvested what was individually meaningful to him/herself. Thumbs up on that.

I assume this is a type of snow-fence barrier, intended to forestall deep drifts over a downslope road, for example. If it were a stock (animal) fence I'd think the posts would be strung with wire rather than close-spaced slats. That much wood is spendy.

So, fence and snow are the two main characters here, and a viewer might consider a Man-vs-Nature metaphor, and the relative likelihood of various outcomes, etc. The extent of fence suggests that Man contests Nature with extraordinary efforts, yet in the fence's very length vanishing in the distance, one may sense the ultimate impossibilty of certainty over Nature, i.e., build a fence as tall and far as you will and can afford, still Nature will snow through, over, and beyond your and the fence's reach and capacity to withstand.

By the image's strong contrast, snow is forcefully pinned to the mat, but certainly won't remain there, or cry "Uncle."

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-s