Smoking

PaulThomasMcKeePaulThomasMcKee Registered Users Posts: 429 Major grins
edited October 30, 2009 in Street and Documentary
689230159_pe5Ji-XL.jpg

Background Texture by NinianLif

Comments

  • FlyingginaFlyinggina Registered Users Posts: 2,639 Major grins
    edited October 29, 2009
    Hi Paul,

    I've been looking at this since you posted it.

    These are the aspects that I like a lot.

    The incongruity of the white gloves.

    The quality of the pictures.

    The use of the texture (I love textures).

    I suppose this is an technically excellent candid portrait - or rather series of portraits.

    Still, I am having some problems with the whole.

    In the end, I think the story can be told with the central picture alone. Everything is there.

    I confess, too, that, if it were mine, I would texturize the portrait. Assuming I had your skills, of course.

    Virginia
    _______________________________________________
    "A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." Diane Arbus

    Email
  • michswissmichswiss Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 2,235 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    I have a hard time with collages. I think the shots might be interesting, but I would like to see them as a series rather than the way they are presented.
  • sara505sara505 Registered Users Posts: 1,684 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    I like it. I think any one of the images could stand on its own, but I like the way the composition creates a silent dialogue. Nice images. The whole thing makes me want to cough a little, but I like it.
    Sara

    www.SaraPiazza.com - Edgartown News - Trad Diary - Facebook
  • PaulThomasMcKeePaulThomasMcKee Registered Users Posts: 429 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    Thanks for taking the time to offer your comments - very much appreciated.

    I have been lurking here for a week or so and got inspired to revisit some of my old photos. These shots were from a series that I shot of a homeless man named Nicholas (the "Solace in a Cup" guy from an old DSS entry). I have a hundred images or so of him and I particularly liked these of him smoking. I enjoyed putting together the collage and am pleased with the way it turned out.

    I realize that the presentation isn't what is usually done for this forum and I knew it wouldn't be everyone's (anyone's?) cup of tea. But, I feel that there something like a single strand of a silk thread connecting me with him from the act of taking his photograph and I can't help but wonder what has become of him in the ensueing 20 months...I wonder if he ever made it back to San Francisco...

    Godspeed to you Nicholas
    (& you too Preacher John)

    Here's a couple more:

    697273033_tTjg8-L.jpg

    696296173_VoHqR-L.jpg

    697273167_KRks7-XL.jpg
  • ruttrutt Registered Users Posts: 6,511 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    I like this second batch much better than the collage. Each one has an interesting hook. I don't love sepia.
    If not now, when?
  • PaulThomasMcKeePaulThomasMcKee Registered Users Posts: 429 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    rutt wrote:
    I like this second batch much better than the collage. Each one has an interesting hook. I don't love sepia.

    Thanks Rutt...I've been enjoying the banter between you and BD (and your photo's too!)
  • tortillatorturetortillatorture Registered Users Posts: 194 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    yeah the last set works better for me to, love the face in the last one.
  • bdcolenbdcolen Registered Users Posts: 3,804 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    rutt wrote:
    I like this second batch much better than the collage. Each one has an interesting hook. I don't love sepia.

    I agree - The last one is by far the best of the batch, and I'd definitely lose the sepia. The smoking series is just that - a guy smoking. He happens to be a street person, but he's still just a guy smoking. The center one is by far the best of the collage batch, but...

    Like a number of other people, I'm impressed by your photoshop skills and your production of the collage, but I strongly believe that a photo lives or dies on its own; if it requires this kind of post processing and presentation to make it interesting, then it's not interesting. The series in the collage, as a series, really doesn't do anything for me - it's different shots of a guy smoking. The center image is a strong street portrait, and I'd keep that and lose the rest. What the collage suggests to me is a hesitancy to do the editing necessary to pick the best image from a shoot. :D Just sayin'

    :D
    bd@bdcolenphoto.com
    "He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan

    "The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed
  • toragstorags Registered Users Posts: 4,615 Major grins
    edited October 30, 2009
    Well that last one is a face.....

    I think the sepia may diminish the contrast of a B&W on the facial furrows (did I just say that?)

    BTW, the smoker has some pretty good shoes for a homeless guy. If he comes to town (SF) they may steal them... eek7.gif

    The shots are excellent, very nice work
    Rags
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