The Svir River links the two largest lakes in Russia -- Onega and Ladoga. We moved onto the Svir at dusk, its rippling water still reflecting the lingering sunset. I exposed for the sky, allowing the Svir's mysterious waters to grow even darker. Light sculpts its ripples into rhythmic echoes of the clouds overhead. Of the thousands of images I made in Russia, this is one of my favorites -- I can look at it again and again and never tire of it. I think it holds such fascination for me because of its dimensional and abstract qualities, created largely by the interplay of light and shadow in the sky and on the water.
(In November, 2004, after a number of people expressed dissatisfaction with the point of this image, and after Zebra was kind enough to suggest the "revision" below, comparing it to my original image, it occurred to me that I could make an additional point with this image by revising it myself, using Photoshop as my tool. The version above is my new version of the same image that Zebra has labeled as "original." What I have done, essentially, is to use the new Photoshop CS "Shadow/Highlight" tool, which revealed much more detail and color in the clouds that I had realized were there. I did not have the Shadow/Highlight tool available to me when I originally edited this image back in 2003. I essentially have changed the message of this image in Photoshop by creating more emphasis on the Sunset (highlights) and less emphasis on the shadows. We now not only have the tranquility I wanted so much to express, but it is also an evening of great beauty. The added color brings warmth into the image that was not there before, extending an idea that Zebra suggested in his first re-do of it. I think this image is much stronger in its new version, and wonder what its critics will have to say about this. It shows us that with Photoshop we have infinite opportunities to affect the meaning of our images. It is if I went into the darkroom (in the good old days of film) and created a print that expressed entirely new ideas. It is perfectly legitimate in my view to do so. I added nothing to this image that was not actually there that night. It was just not properly presented in my first version. It is now. Let me know what you think.)