The Road Ahead

[AndrewKulin]

This is a photo taken of my youngest son (aged 3) from a camping trip a few years back.  He was taking me for a walk through the campground when I took this snap shot.

This simple snap shot captures the "essence" of our youngest child: a headstrong child going his own way, with his full life ahead of him.  

I have (hopefully) uploaded a cropped B&W, and the original colour version of the scene.  On the B&W, I cropped out the white laundry on the right-hand side of the photo as I felt it was quite the distraction.  I feel the B&W provides a more powerful representation than the colour and going B&W also "hides" the camper in the distance which keeps the focus on my son.

I welcome comments and suggestions for improving the final composition.

Thanks,

Andrew

Photo details:  Digital Rebel 300D, 18-55mm kit lens (automatic mode - ISO 320, 55 mm, f5.6, 1/60sec, JPEG fine/small)
[attachment=11545:The_Road...caleCrop.jpg]
[attachment=11546:The_Road_Ahead.jpg]

[bill t.]

Nice allegorical shot.  The "road ahead" theme suggests itself outside of your mentioning it, so in that way it's successful.

I am rarely a fan of cropping but in this case the narrowing effect of b&w version does seem to serve the purpose better, the elimination of the laundry is a plus.  Would prefer it to be in color, perhaps that's just me.  The verdant green is allegorically appropriate in this case (but not in mine).

Since allegory is usually best served by monolithic images, the distant camper should be rubber stamped away.  Or maybe be represents the first little hitch in the road of life?  I'd just stamp him.  In Photoshop the feathered starburst stamp pattern labeled "66" does a fine job on foliage, adjust it larger if needed.

[new_haven]

The idea is very strong, but here's my interpretation. Rgds -R

[wolfnowl]

In my opinion the boy, who should be the main subject, is too dark and appears almost as an afterthought, with the main focus being on the road where it vanishes into the trees.  I'd do a little selective Curves work to balance that out.  B&W or colour is personal preference.  I'd prefer the B&W if it was done right as I think stripping away the colours brings focus more to the boy and the road ahead rather than the bright colours on his shirt or the road signs, for example.

Mike.