Generations pass by at the Western Wall
I'm living in Jerusalem for about another month, and I make it a point to venture down into the old city about once a week. There's always something interesting. I have yet to make it into the Muslim or Christian quarters, but will do so soon.
The Western Wall (or Wailing Wall, or as it's called in Hebrew, "HaKotel", meaning just "the wall") is the most exposed of the remaining pieces of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem. It's a holy place, a place of mourning, and a place of prayer for Jews, especially for the Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox. It's also segregated by gender; the men have a very large and spacious swathe of space to roam around in, whereas the women have a narrow and tight space, and are usually crammed in. But that's another photo.
Usually, the women bring the children over to their side, but a Haredi brought his little girl over to his side to pray on this day. She babbled and waddled about, tugging on people's legs and talking incoherently to whoever was around.
Critiques very welcome.
The Western Wall (or Wailing Wall, or as it's called in Hebrew, "HaKotel", meaning just "the wall") is the most exposed of the remaining pieces of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem. It's a holy place, a place of mourning, and a place of prayer for Jews, especially for the Haredim, the ultra-Orthodox. It's also segregated by gender; the men have a very large and spacious swathe of space to roam around in, whereas the women have a narrow and tight space, and are usually crammed in. But that's another photo.
Usually, the women bring the children over to their side, but a Haredi brought his little girl over to his side to pray on this day. She babbled and waddled about, tugging on people's legs and talking incoherently to whoever was around.
Critiques very welcome.
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Comments
This is a wonderful shot, contrasting the joy and freedom of the little girl with the severity and rigidity of the men. I love the contrast in expressions between the girl and the man in the background, and could read a million different things into his look - most of which would probably be wrong, but that doesn't matter.
Two things might improve this - one would have been to have quickly squatted down to shoot her at her level; that also would have increased the contrast between her height and the man's. The other is to turn this into a black and white, so we don't get distracted by her blue shirt. Oh, and I'd prefer a level horizon - but I'm being picky.
Again, it's a terrific image.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
in the most professional of meanings: NO No no..
look at the fella, his lips are all marilyn manson black, and where is the sunny glow? the men in the back look menacing but its not as strongly contrasted as in the original IMO.
To OP: as bdcolen said as well, i think you got a great shot here, the only adjustments i would make, if any, are to further enhance the contrast between the bearded men in black and the colourful child in the sun. When i look at the original photo the term 'tabula rasa' comes to mind, children are a blank slate and not jet spoiled by all the worlds woes and troubles (in this case personified by fundamentalist black clad men).
Keep the colour, keep the sun, enhance the seperation maybe.
for the next time; horizon and eye level as the poster above also mentioned. You would have an amazing photo then.
No, No, No! Black and white - but Rutt, you way over did it. Her light blue shirt is much too dark, and the men have turned too dark.
But "tabula rasa?" Wow! That is a reach.
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
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