The death of snail mail

[Theo]

[aprilS]

First thought: A chuckle, because our mail boxes have now been turned into doggy-poop drop-boxes around the lakefront -- adorned with brightly colored graffiti. (I've got to try to get a good photo of one. )

Second thought: I enjoy the suggestion of a landscape painting on the mail box, so reminiscent of what might have once been a walk through the woods to deliver mail or chat with a neighbor, in person.

It took me awhile to identify the open lid; it looked at first to me like a piece of wood or a banana. (Sorry, but it was hard for me to visually parse.)  I wonder if there's some way to make it tie more strongly to the body of the mailbox -- perhaps by bringing back some sharpness, or adding an etched texture similar to the front of the box?

[habakuk]

While I kind of like this subject matter, I have a pretty difficult time to enjoy the scene. That is based on the compositional aspects: the top line of the box almost aligning with the dark background, the posts that merge with the box and almost don't separate from the post that holds the box, the post that touches the front of the box etc.

All in all, it doesn't really work for my eyes. I spend most of the time trying to figure out what to remove mentally to find my way through to your central subject matter... I quickly cloned the posts out and lightened up the background - and suddenly the lonelyness started to emerge...

cheers
®

[eob]

I think that there is not enough separation between planes, objects and tones to really make an impact. Perhaps less contrasty rendition would reveal delicate transitions in the snow, making it more easy to logically separate parts of the scene and focusing on them than an "off/on" switch in tonality that you used.