Naomi & Thor (1 img)

Thiago Sigrist

Hi folks!

Just wanted to share with you one of my latest shots. On my recent shoots I've found myself basically looking for something... I'm in an inner pursuit, a pursuit for better understanding of both myself as a photographer and as a person. A pursuit for things unsaid, things that can only be felt...



In this shot, of my 12-year-old cousin Naomi patting the dog, Thor (it's another cousin's dog), I tried to convey as much of the feelings the little girl has made me feel as I watched her.

We were at a family meeting, and I had never seen her before (being a big family, that's not uncommon). However, just by watching her, in scenes like this, I realized how much she was such an affectionate child... and extremely shy.

This gave me such a unique feeling, I felt somewhat uneasy, but at the same time, quite warm as I realized I perhaps was more than just a bit like that.

So her personality pretty much was a great subject for a photograph, especially one by me, at that. I hope I could portray her well!

Thanks so much for your attention!
Cheers!

-- thiago

Ted Szukalski

Hi Thiago,

there is no question there is a lot of feelings in her eyes and expression towards the dog. Photographically however, there is more focus in the background than foreground which detaches her from the dog. I don't think that was your aim.

DJ-S1

I agree - crop it to a head/shoulders shot of her and I think it is stronger. I love her expression and the relaxed pose of her shoulders. Nice shot!

cocasana

I think the crop is a bit too tight! That sharp cut on her left shoulder bothers me a bit!

photogmomma

I agree with the others about the crop,but I will love this shot! Wonderful job!

DavidS

I love her expression.

Thiago Sigrist

First of all, thanks everyone, not only for your taking the time to comment, but also for the kindness and nice critiques.

And also sorry for my taking so long to 'process' all the comments and replying here, eeheheh

I think my post was a bit incomplete, because I forgot to mention lots of things, technical decisions and so forth, about the picture taking, focusing only on the feelings and expression. For that, I am a bit sorry as well, especially because I find myself less and less stimulated by technical discussion, probably because my photography is becoming a lot more personal than ever.

Basically, what I've found out so far, about this photograph, now that it's more or less 1 week old, is that it's a very difficult photo, for a lack of a better word. I've shown it to lots of people, and their opinions were very divided. People argued about the crop, the out-of-focus dog and all that, with very strong proponents for both sides, which is funny and quite unexpected!

Regarding my technical choices, before the capture, it was 100% my choice to render the dog out of focus, mainly because the dog's head appears larger than the girl's on the frame, which increases the visual weight of it. If the dog was in the DOF, it would compete too much with the girl, which is definitely not what I want, since for me, right from the start this picture was all about the girl (despite the title). Rendered out of focus and in lesser constrast, the dog's head loses visual weight, leading to the girl as the main subject of the picture.

Also, the intention in rendering the dog out of focus was making it a more 'generic' object for the girl's affection, making the expression of her affection grow, seem more inconditional (since it's directed to a random dog, a 'generic' one), which in my opinion is something really beautiful and poetic about children, this inconditional affection, which added to her shyness, is something particularly beautiful.

Something unplanned about the picture is the fact the dog's eyes and gaze were rendered not so blurred as to completely obliterate our perception of them, but out of focus enough to steal from them as much expression as possible, leading to a certain image of indifference, which plays very nicely in the picture, backing up and reinforcing my view on the affection from the child.

So all that, and the fact I find myself framing really tight lately, explains a bit more how I got here.
Hope you guys appreciate this little background.

Again, thanks for all the attention, critique, kindness and, especially, your friendship. That is a rare mix if there ever was one!

All the best!

-- thiago