In the last 24

bdcolen

Race

Wil Davis

#2: is nice…
…and a pedestrian on the crosswalk to the left of the bicycle crossing L to R would have made it practically perfect!

#1: Man, all that wasted space! …and she's smack in the middle of the frame! (also there's just a hint of the last scene in "Kill Bill 1" here… )
…OK, so there's a chalkboard in the bg, but I think you could have cropped ¾ of the bg and still made the point!


#2 would be good in B&W also!



- Wil

bdcolen

Wil Davis wrote: »

#2: is nice…
…and a pedestrian on the crosswalk to the left of the bicycle crossing L to R would have made it practically perfect!

#1: Man, all that wasted space! …and she's smack in the middle of the frame! (also there's just a hint of the last scene in "Kill Bill 1" here… )
…OK, so there's a chalkboard in the bg, but I think you could have cropped ¾ of the bg and still made the point!


#2 would be good in B&W also!



- Wil

You definitely are not a 'space man,' are you Wil?

Wil Davis

Well, people have called me many things, including Space Cadet, but I get your point…

I'm of the "Fill The Frame" school…

…you could also say it's not what you put in the frame, but what you leave out!



- Wil

bfjr

#1 I like quite the stare in all that space

#2 would be much better if the Vespa was doing a wheelie

dlplumer

…OK, so there's a chalkboard in the bg, but I think you could have cropped ¾ of the bg and still made the point!

- Wil

and what would that "point" be?

Flyinggina

I'm quite taken with #1. Love the woman's expression - she seems to be looking through the viewer - and the fact that I can't quite figure out what is on the board. It is a quiet wtf picture with resonance.

#2 doesn't do it for me, but I confess that Vespa's have never been part of my life.

Virginia

Richard

Nice timing on #2. Cool sky, too.

bdcolen

bfjr wrote: »

#1 I like quite the stare in all that space

#2 would be much better if the Vespa was doing a wheelie

Funny you should say that, because one of the things that got me to post that image - an image I'm a bit unsure of - was that as I look at it the Vespa seems to be taking flight. I know it's an optical illusion of some sort, but...

And by the way...I took the photo over the handle bars of my Vespa 150, waiting for the light to change.

Wil Davis

dlplumer wrote: »

…OK, so there's a chalkboard in the bg, but I think you could have cropped ¾ of the bg and still made the point!

- Wil

and what would that "point" be?

In my view, the "point" is the intense expression on the woman's face and her piercing eyes. I'm missing the point of the vignetting & the barrel distortion which IMNSHO looks like an accident, and I think cropping might improve the picture:

Something like:



…or even:






- Wil

(BTW, B.D. if you don't like, I'll remove…)

michswiss

Wil Davis wrote: »

In my view, the "point" is the intense expression on the woman's face and her piercing eyes. I'm missing the point of the vignetting & the barrel distortion which IMNSHO looks like an accident, and I think cropping might improve the picture:




- Wil

(BTW, B.D. if you don't like, I'll remove…)

I'll step in. The whole point of this image is the dead space and the vignetting and the barrel distortion and the horizontal line bisecting the frame and only then her face and the stare emanating from that vacuum of space.

Gut reaction is that she's a lecturer and a passionate one at that. Gotta keep the chalkboard.

bfjr

And by the way...I took the photo over the handle bars of my Vespa 150, waiting for the light to change.

Whata ya braggin
I'll have you know I take plenty shots over the handle bars of my Harley Hertiage Softail and at speed too!!
:wow

So there

Hey Will
Sorry but for me the crop just turns it into a portrait of a woman I do not know. Left as posted it is
much more, JMNSHO

Wil Davis

michswiss wrote: »

I'll step in. The whole point of this image is the dead space and the vignetting and the barrel distortion and the horizontal line bisecting the frame and only then her face and the stare emanating from that vacuum of space.

Gut reaction is that she's a lecturer and a passionate one at that. Gotta keep the chalkboard.

Well, even cropped, the chalkboard still features…

OK, you make a valid point. I guess that I missed the "dead space" thing, to me it just looks like poor technique. The face and the stare caught my attention straight away, anything else being superfluous. I suppose I should focus more on content rather than technique, although then there's always the danger of making excuses for poor technique…

…and B.D. glad to see that you're only taking photos from your Vespa; now if you were texting! …you may well laugh, but I kid you not, recently I was waiting for a light and a kid on a bike weaved across 4 lines of stopped traffic, and the kid was texting on his phone!

- Wil

seastack

LOVE the portrait. It looks like film. Perfect.

bdcolen

seastack wrote: »

LOVE the portrait. It looks like film. Perfect.

Thanks everyone for all the remarks, cogent and not. rofl

Cropping's fine, Wil, but in this case it just turns the image into a head shot of a pissed off subject. I think the space is needed. (Not sure about the vignetting, but the distortion comes from having been shot at an angle from below.)

This is, of course, yet another example of bringing our own interpretation to a scene. The woman is not an academic, but is one of my fellow PR folks here. She and I are great friends - she calls me her closest 'girl friend' in the office - but she was really pissed at me at the time I made the image. But her appearance, her expression, and the black board - and we have an academic.

seastack

Was that a swipe? Ah well, no good compliment goes unpunished.
It really is a great photo because of the "rules" broken. I am always a fan of negative space and often dead center rule breaking if done well, as it is here.

tensai-riot

#2 looks great just the way it is. Cropping only makes it a "normal" portrait, while the way it is is much more interesting as a photo, in my humble opinion that is. Good work.