Notice of Application - C&C requested

billseye

I've embedded a couple of street shots from my community. The first one highlights the human subject. The second one is the same subject with more community/architectural context included. Does one work better than the other? Is the signage in the second one an essential element?

1.


2.

chuckinsocal

Hi Bill,

I'm far from an expert on composition but I get a sense that the guy on the bench is waiting for the ABC license to be approved so he get get himself a bottle of wine (I know it's a stretch) so the wine bar sign would have been appropriate in that shot.

In the second shot, I think the Children's sign is extraneous and has nothing to do with the story so it doesn't need to be there.

Just my highly uneducated opinion.

jiro

Mr. Bill, Is it OK if I ask you - "exactly what type of emotion or expression did you see in your image that made you take this shot? Was it weariness?.. lack of sleep?... tired?... depression?" The reason I asked is that your first image really has a lot of potential to be a strong image. However, there are too many things included in the frame that detracts me from fixing my attention to the man in the chair. Personally what I "felt" on your image when I first saw it was about depression and lack of rest. It's like he's saying... "I'm too tired... I don't know what to do with my life right now."

With that vision in my mind coming from your image I would probably recommend you fully concentrate on the guy, then take out all the clutter by heavily cropping it. I decided to play a little bit with your image and came up with this adjustments. Please feel free to ask to delete this if I have offended you in any way. Thanks.

billseye

jiro wrote: »

Mr. Bill, Is it OK if I ask you - "exactly what type of emotion or expression did you see in your image that made you take this shot? Was it weariness?.. lack of sleep?... tired?... depression?"

I decided to play a little bit with your image and came up with this adjustments. Please feel free to ask to delete this if I have offended you in any way. Thanks.

First of all... thanks for the comments - truly appreciated. I'm not one to be offended at others editing my stuff... in visual media, it seems a lot more effective to "show" than to "tell".

I'm a bit conflicted about what I saw and what I am trying to show. The emotions you list were all definately there. Earlier I watched the guy reading and slowly evolve to this posture. Definately felt alone... depressed... tired.

But... The placement in front of the wine bar was part of the interest, too. The "Notice of Application" sign seemed to imply waiting, although I don't believe the location was really anything more than the coincidence of the location of that particular bench.

Thanks for the thoughtful and encouraging comments.

Richard

Lots of possibilities for this shot. Let me suggest another: crop it just above the wine bar sign, then brighten it as you did in #1. I think the Notice of Application sign is too hard to read to work as a visual component, at least for my aging eyes.