Hello, Frank ... This one just doesn't come together for me. First, there's not enough shown of the bike shop, so the people are essentially sitting somewhere, but there's no context beyond which they ride bikes and that they're sitting in front of a bike shop. Showing more of the shop would provide more of a sense of place, give stronger context to the riders, and, if, as you say, it's a unique shop, might add another dimension to the photograph.
The people look lost in the clutter. Too many elements going in too many different directions. Further, the people show no relationship to one another, to you, or to the viewer. It's been said by photogs far better than me that the eyes can make or break a pic. While capturing the eyes in such types of scenes isn't always possible, the absence of any eye contact, coincidental with the rest of the problems in the photo, lessens the impact and negates any story possibilities. had they been looking at one another, or looking at something outside of the frame, or looking at you with, perhaps some expression in their eyes or on their face, the photo could be much stronger. The piece of the guy on the right edge of the frame adds little or nothing to the image. Why is he there? What does he add to the story? To me it's just another disparate element. More or less, all or none, of him might work better. While I didn't care too much for last week's photo, I think it was a far better photograph, for it showed some character, some personality, in the subjects, it had a strong spark of life, and was far more "alive" than this one. I got some sense of who those people were. In this photo nothing of the subjects' personalities comes through. This one is bland by comparison to last week's pic. Shel > [Original Message] > From: frank theriault > Thanks to those who looked at last week's and commented. > > It was a pretty lousy photo anyway. > > This week's is not much better, I fear: > > http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5806/2203/1600/trackstars.1.jpg > > Taken in front of the most interesting bike shop I've ever seen, > Trackstars in NYC. All they sell is trackbikes and track-specific > components. As so many messengers use track bikes on the streets, > it's a popular shop with both racers and messengers, and few others > (being as trackbikes aren't used for much other than on the velodrome > and by couriers. > > An interesting and eclectic crowd, to be sure... > > Comments welcome.
