MC#3...should I keep thinking??

JAG

Ok I have thunk and thunk and thunk and thunk...and it came to me to do what I know...a photojournalistic type photo that tells a story...like I aways do. So I get my usual models out in the cold with my hubby standing on a retaining wall with a huge flashlight. I have an extremely high iso but the moment is captured at a very slow speed of 1/25. My hardest thing to over come is I have slight night blindness and cannot see things well at night. So I heavily rely on the camera to focus. I don't think my models will want to reshoot as the ground was frozen cold. But I find the quality with the graininess (a D300 at iso 2000 with high NR on) actually works with the photo. It was shot in b/w on the camera. I don't know...do you think I should keep on thinking???

The Economy Dinner....

dnie

I am just getting started on here and far be it from me to presume I know diddley squat.... but I really like it. The lighting looks as if they are under a streetlamp. I thought at first they may have been there and you just found them that way. The sign was what got me. Made me think twice about some of the people I see with them. It isn't perfectkly crisp but I wouldn't want this one to be.

Flyinggina

Hi Joyce!

This photo really makes me stop and think. I love the lighting, the way the three people fit into the frame (nice diagonal from lower right to upper left), the use of black space and the b&w conversion.

Another title you might consider is "Sign of the Times."

I thought, initially, that your photograph was a brilliant example of photojournalism, and it is unsettling to think that (correct me if I am wrong) it isn't. At the same time, the discomfort I'm feeling seems like the kind of response one should have to a world where families do have to huddle against walls in the cold and offer to work for food. Therefore the picture is doing its job. Which makes it art in my book.

Should you try to do something else? Totally up to you. FWIW, I think this is a worthy entry.

Virginia

divamum

Joyce -

I agree with the others that it's powerful. What bothers me is not the inherent graininess, but the fact that the sign and lighter areas are crisp, while the faces are not as clear. I think you could make a case for it either way, too - the message and "moment" are powerful enough that it doesn't really matter, but a hard-core technician might fault it for the softness.

Karrie McD

Wow
Love it, I think you should stay with this idea... very emotional

Candid Arts

First initial thing I thought when looking at the photo was that these people are wearing too nice of clothes and look to clean to be homeless. Then I saw the sign and their surroundings. All that tried to change my mind. But I couldn't get over how they looked and the clothes they wore. Then I went on to read the text and found that they weren't real homeless people, but you're family.

Now, having said that. I love the shot. Lighting is superb. The sign is perfect (but yes, the wrong part that should be in focus, or if you don't want anything in focus, then the sign shouldn't be in focus, that's kind of the focal point right now). Also I don't like the latern, just doesn't seem to fit with the photo. The idea is great though. If I'm the only one that saw what I stated in my first thing, then keep it, it's a great photo. But if not, I'd try and dress-them-down a bit more, change the latern to a candle, or build a small fire in an old tin coffee can or soda can (cut the top off), something like that for light and heat (homeless people are thrifty) and change the focal point.

That's just my .02. I'd like to see you further this shot as it'd be great to see a good 'ole Alaskan girl win one for the home team...

JAG

thanks for your replies. Can anyone tell me...does anyone else with a nikon d300 have problems with the camera focusing in low light?? If you look at this image...I had the focus on what I thought was their faces. I heard the beep. I cannot be positive as I could not see the circle in the veiw finder (the night blindness thing) but from where they were framed...it doesnt make sense to me why the camera didn't focus the faces better. For instance...the lil ones hat is in focus...yet her face is not. Even the sign has areas that look in focus and others that dont. Am I seeing things? I have wiped down my monitor to be sure there are no smudges...

I noticed this same problem when I shot the Anchorage bowl last Friday night. But I had contibuted that to the heat coming up from the surface of the city and warping the lights.

Ok...I still have several days to see if I can come up with something else. Although I really like this shot...I really do not think the models want to help me out again. I wonder ......think think think think think think.....

Candid Arts

JAG wrote:

Ok...I still have several days to see if I can come up with something else. Although I really like this shot...I really do not think the models want to help me out again. I wonder ......think think think think think think.....

Well then get them too. Haha. This is a wonderful shot. Just needs a little tweeking. Take them out to dinner or something...

JAG

Candid Arts wrote:

Well then get them too. Haha. This is a wonderful shot. Just needs a little tweeking. Take them out to dinner or something...

there was some reluctant participation going on for this one. My Son in law was great....he is a budding photographer himself and has no problem sitting for me...neither does my lil one. She was born with a camera stuck to her face...lol. But my eldest daughter and my hubby are less than enthusiastic about participating in my endevours...especially when I make them go out in the cold!

Thinking.....thinking.....thinking...thinking

Candid Arts

I think a good title for this photo would be something along the lines with Bush (George) and his mess ups with the economy... I had a good idea earlier, but have since forgot it. Maybe?