Hi Shel Thanks for commenting. See my replies interspersed.
> The photo has the potential to be very strong, but the poor tonality and > lack of contrast on the sign, making it hard to read, undermines any > inherent strength it may have. I quite agree with you. However, don't forget that the picture was taken at night, and the sign was handwritten on brown cardboard, lit by warm and dim artificial light. This said, something can be done for sure. > Framing is also rather poor, I don't think so. This was not a casual snapshot. I thought about that and I purposedly put the subjects at the center, for giving them the maximum weight within the frame. > and photographing a scene like this from your position (standing, looking > down > upon the subject) conveys a lack of empathy to me. No, I wasn't standing. I was purposedly sitting about 1.5 meters far from the couple. It happens that I am still quite a lot taller than them, and she was also curved, like sleeping. She never raised her head to look at me. Apparently, both mother and son were sleeping. > I don't feel that > you've connected at all with the woman, her child, or her situation, nor > has she made any connection with you. I confirm you that. No contact at all. > It seems as though you just snapped > the scene and went on your merry way, regardless of whether you did that > or > not. No, I stood sitting there for say 5 minutes. OK, 5 minutes is not so long time, but it was not a casual snap. However, I soon felt a lot uncomfortable being there shooting a poor couple like them. Here I have to explain: when I see unfortunate people, 99% of the time I don't shoot them. I feel that shooting the poor or the ill is like spilling out their last blood, like saying: be unhappy, live badly and possibly die even worse, so that I can live even better, with just another nice image to show. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like that. At a certain point, some people passing by stopped there, curious and looking at me being sitting there shooting at those poor beings, and I felt guilty to be there... I was thinking of the poor woman waking up and seeing the situation. Did I have the right to do that? Im felt I hadn't that right, so I stood up and went away. > Did you make more than this one shot? A situation like this almost > requires a dozen or so shots and more involvement on your part. I took 3 frames, 2 in front of the couple and one from behind, at a distance. 10 minutes later I came back to see if the woman was awaken, but she was no longer there. I saw some cops standing there, who probably asked her to go away. > Connecting personally with the woman, getting her to expose herself so we > can see the story in her eyes and on her face, could make this a lot more > powerful. I agree with you, but you had to be there in place of me. I'm too shy to do that. Dario -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
