Nearly Nailed It

It's interesting to limit yourself. There was a very good stream I always remember from Flickr that was something like "100 steps from my door". It worked very well.
A very effective - dramatic - photograph!

Thanks, Steve. Looking at your immediate environment more closely is a great practice. So much in front of our very noses that we barely see.

strange, without the HFF tags i wouldn't have realised the fencyness

Great !
That reminds me of a photo of some years back
HFF to you !

Thank you! Love your shot, very dramatic.

Somebody could put their eye out, Sarah. And that's why I love the air of danger. Seriously, the nice POV and composition contrast with the thought that you could have blinded yourself!.

As I learned from a half-course from (ahem) D. E. Berlyne, this is an example of a combined arousal boost-jag. The unpleasant arousal (boost) is mitigated by the pleasant aspects of the view (jag).

At least I think that's what a boost-jag is. I didn't pay a lot of attention. The course started in January of a very cold winter and it was freezing in the seminar room, so my attention was pre-occupied with staying alive. And I never did the reading. Everybody else was keen so I let them take up the slack. I believe the distinguished aesthetics researcher Vladimir J. Konečni was part of the class, too. Vlado could tell you if I got it right.

After writing a couple more comments like that I realized I was a little light-headed (I've been overdoing spring, eh, and got a little winded today), so I had a hit of fast-acting bronchodilator and am now solemn again. So I have been hee-yulled by your photo! Oh, sorry. Maybe I didn't inhale deeply enough.

Still, it's all true.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that everything I know about photography I learned from you, John. Still, who else could teach me about D.E. Berlyne, Vladimir J. Konečni, and the arousal boost-jag? I don't care if it comes straight out of your bronchodilator, it's all poetry to me.

If that's the effect of one rusty nail, perhaps I should try a bed of nails next. Or would that catapult the arousal boost-jag into overdrive?

You could experiment, Sarah. Vary the number of nails and have a dependent variable like number of views. You'd have to do it on multiple sites, though, because you can't randomize the order of presentation on a single site. So you could run a second photo here and run them in reverse order on Flickr. You'd probably have to run them some time apart, so you'd have to post the other photos you post here on Flickr, too, between the two experimental photos. I've probably forgotten other things. Easy analysis, though. A quick chi-square test and you're done.

Three photos would require six sites and four twenty-four. You'd have to control for other characteristics of the photos, too -- degree of rustiness etc. I'd be glad to develop a design for you at my usual rates. Past performance is not indicative of the quality future research designs. This offer not valid where prohibited by law, or by big scary people. This information is not an inducement to wager or to break any laws.

If you rolled over on a bed of nails you could put both your eyes out. I'm having an unpleasant arousal boost right now.

Because I work in a research institution this almost sounds rational and even tempting. Yeah, why not ...?