Interesting. I posted a throw-away photo on dPS and asked how it made people feel. There was quite the reaction of like and dislike – some stupid answers from people sansbrain and a couple of decent replies with an explanation or two… The shot is below… Is it a photo worth looking at or is it rubbish? Does it show enough that you want to see more or does it not grab your interest at all??
Grunge borders are awesome, but I think this photo didn’t really need one. Also, Instamatic is making them far too easy to slap all over every photo and it’s definitely making them less fashionable.
I think this photo would look a lot better with a plain white border, which would make it seem a bit more Polaroid-y.
I love the way Instamatic treats the colours on a hot sunny day. I’m yet to find a Lightroom plugin which does it in just the same way, and I’ve spent many an evening tweaking sliders trying to get the same feel without any satisfaction.
In terms of composition, I like how the horizon is slightly tilted as it leans towards the car’s lines and creates a false sense of sideways perspective, making the car a feature in the photo rather than an intrusion. The car and the wall are both useful references for scale and that really makes the scene stretch out into the distance: huge road, huge sea, huge sky, and a good feel for where the person is standing to witness all of them.
So all in all I like this picture a lot as a whimsical throwaway – but the grunge border is a bit hackneyed now.