One from today

thoth

C&C welcome and always appreciated.




Enjoy!

thoth

Battin' zero these days it seems...

chris84

thoth wrote:

Battin' zero these days it seems...

Without some context it's hard to know what we're looking at... a ceremony of some sort?

thoth

chris84 wrote:

Without some context it's hard to know what we're looking at... a ceremony of some sort?

Um, I really thought the bowed heads would give that away...

thoth

...

SKnight

It's a remembering 9/11 ceremony.

I like it. Solem remembrance.

adbsgicom

Sorry, catching up from not being at the computer much this weekend. Technically the shot is great and works for me technically. I'm having a bit of confusion/conflict on the subject. Everyone around him has their head down, but he's sort of the 'one of these guys is not like the others'. Only one in the image w/ sunglasses, only one in the frame not with bended neck. From that point I'm not sure if the capture is about his difference, or about the 9/11 ceremony, or something else.

I'm hoping I'm not sounding harsh about the picture; it isn't my intent.

thoth

adbsgicom wrote:

Sorry, catching up from not being at the computer much this weekend. Technically the shot is great and works for me technically. I'm having a bit of confusion/conflict on the subject. Everyone around him has their head down, but he's sort of the 'one of these guys is not like the others'. Only one in the image w/ sunglasses, only one in the frame not with bended neck. From that point I'm not sure if the capture is about his difference, or about the 9/11 ceremony, or something else.

I'm hoping I'm not sounding harsh about the picture; it isn't my intent.

Thanks for the reply, Andrew. You don't sound harsh at all and, as far as I'm concerned, those are all legitimate questions for this photo. Rather than be a negative, though, I think it's good that you are compelled to ask them.

Personally, I found a little humor in this shot from the older gent in the back peeping through one eye. Of course I know that the fellow in sunglasses is delivering the prayer, so perhaps that helps me wade through the shot a little better.

Thanks again!

adbsgicom

I noticed the one guy peeking when I was looking at it earlier... It's an interesting grouping of dealing with the moment.

bdcolen

thoth wrote:

C&C welcome and always appreciated.




Enjoy!

Sorry, but I have to say this one is a miss, at least it is if you want it to stand on its own. As part of a series, it might be fine. I thought it might be something for a dead someone - fireman? But there is nothing here that says 9/11 - no flag, no signs of mourning, nothing. And the guy with the mirror shades just appears to be standing there, looking straight ahead - there's nothing in the photo to suggest that he's giving a prayer. (That said, nice job dealing with a very tough exposure situation.)

This photo presents us with a great "teachable moment" because it serves to remind us that when looking at a static, two-dimensional image, we can only see what's on the page or the screen - we have no way to know "the rest of the story" if we weren't on the scene. That can be fine in street photography, where ambiguity is often the goal, or part of it any way. But in photography that is meant to document, or to tell us a specific story, the photographer always has to remember that we don't know where the photo was taken, who's in the photo, what the sounds, smells, and nearby sights were, what the date was, what the subjects are doing, unless it's obvious from what is smack in front of our noses. You internalized all sorts of things about this scene, but unfortunately, we don't have the details in the photo.

Make sense?

thoth

bdcolen wrote:

Sorry, but I have to say this one is a miss, at least it is if you want it to stand on its own. As part of a series, it might be fine. I thought it might be something for a dead someone - fireman? But there is nothing here that says 9/11 - no flag, no signs of mourning, nothing. And the guy with the mirror shades just appears to be standing there, looking straight ahead - there's nothing in the photo to suggest that he's giving a prayer. (That said, nice job dealing with a very tough exposure situation.)

This photo presents us with a great "teachable moment" because it serves to remind us that when looking at a static, two-dimensional image, we can only see what's on the page or the screen - we have no way to know "the rest of the story" if we weren't on the scene. That can be fine in street photography, where ambiguity is often the goal, or part of it any way. But in photography that is meant to document, or to tell us a specific story, the photographer always has to remember that we don't know where the photo was taken, who's in the photo, what the sounds, smells, and nearby sights were, what the date was, what the subjects are doing, unless it's obvious from what is smack in front of our noses. You internalized all sorts of things about this scene, but unfortunately, we don't have the details in the photo.

Make sense?

Thanks for the great reply, B.D. You've hit the nail on the head and that is exactly what I was expecting to hear. The ceremony was actually a ribbon cutting for a new firehouse, which happened to be on 9/12, so a silent moment and a prayer was given. My intent was to show a little humor in the solemn crowd with the Peeping Tom in the back row. Perhaps had I caught the speaker open-mouthed I could have expressed to the viewer that he was preaching to the other men? I'm not sure but I did highly suspect that the real intent was lost to all but myself.

Thanks again!