Wikipedia:Picture peer review/Kinglsley Plantation Slave Houses

 
Slave house ruins at Kingsley Plantation

Although the article associated with the image and even the park itself is small and relatively obscure, it shows examples of slave houses from the antebellum United States. Existing slave houses are quite rare in the US - most were made of wood and have long since deteriorated (at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello, for example_, but the unique composition of these has ensured their longevity. The article the image appears in is Kingsley Plantation. I took the photo, and I hope it's ok that I nominate my own work. I'm suggesting it here because this is the first time I've suggested a review of a photo and I'm not sure how to do it right. If I need to submit the photo in a larger size (at least 1000 px) I can do that. I actually downsized the original to post it on wikipedia.

Comments:

  • Yes, the image must be at least 1000px on at least one dimension. However, even a higher resolution version of this image wouldn't become a featured picture. There isn't the "wow," the impact, and the composition. For one thing, the shells around the buildings are completely blown highlights. I assume you found Wikipedia:Featured picture criteria, but the gallery with problem images [1] is also really useful. I think you might be able to get a featured picture out of the complete quarter with a roof on top. Singling out any single building might help. How about the one with a tree growing in the middle? I've never tried to take pictures there, and it's been two years since I lived in Jacksonville, so I'm not sure what has the opportunity to be in a well composed image, but there is probably one there. Be warned, however, that for stationary objects in public parks, voters on featured picture candidates have really, really high standards, both for resolution and for artistic merit. As an aside, I'm a little worried about your image description. It sounds familiar, and rings of park protection of historic buildings (the bit about vandalism being permanent), so I wonder if you copied down the description on the sign by the road. Enuja 23:44, 13 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]
To answer the most important point, I didn't copy the description in the summary. That's my wording. I can't help if it's close to what the park says. I paid attention and that's what my memory served. The picture of the house of the tree growing in the middle is the owner's house. To have a featured picture of the owner's house at Kingsley Plantation would be too perfect a metaphor for why this photo or the other one of the refurbished slave house should be featured instead. I will try to upload a photo with higher resolution, but I think the "wow" factor is primarily in the eye of the beholder. Depictions of slavery from artifacts that still exist tend to wow less than slap some people.Moni3 23:57, 13 July 2007 (UTC)Moni3[reply]
I wasn't suggesting that you try to get a featured picture of the big plantation house. I just remember there being one of the slave houses with a tree growing in the middle, maybe from the fireplace, and I thought it might make a good featured picture. Yes, an image that could show the entire curve of all of the slave houses would have great composition and impact; but, since Kingsley is a park and not a working plantation, what used to be open fields is now full grown trees that make it impossible to see all of the slave houses at the same time. When I said this image didn't have a "wow" factor, that was an aesthetic judgement of the picture, not a judgement of the subject. It's important to nominate an image to be featured instead of nominating a subject to be featured. Enuja 00:43, 14 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Seconder: