Policeman's wife and son....Philippolis 2011

[ivan muller]

Saw this woman in Philippolis and when I asked her permission for a  photograph, she said yes and then called her son to come and stand by her....

[feethea]

This reminds me of the portraits of Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange - the deadpan expression of the boy speaks volumes. The fact that the woman has been cropped does not detract from the intensity of the image - the link of mother and child is there to be seen via the most delicate of touch between them. It works well in monochrome. Well done.

Barry

[RSL]

+1. Good shooting, Ivan.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Yes, well done!

Eric

[Rob C]

That little boy will grow up to be a fine bull some day!

Rob C

[Riaan van Wyk]

That little boy will grow up to be a fine bull some day!

Rob C

And being a South African policeman's son he will most probably exhibit some bullish behaviour at school too..

Ivan, your photo "speaks" to me..you have captured more than just a boy holding his mom's hand.

[popnfresh]

I'm curious why you beheaded the wife.

[Jeremy Roussak]

I'm curious why you beheaded the wife.

Really? I suspect (one can't know, of course) that if he hadn't, it would be a moderately dull snap of two people. As it is, it's interesting.

Jeremy

[ivan muller]

Thanks all for the comments......

Regarding the framing.....well I liked the image with the boy but I wasn't happy with the expression on the mothers face.....initially I thought I would just write the image  off......but then I started playing around with it and .....well here it is .....for your approval.....

BTW regarding cropping I generally stick to a full frame and wouldn't just crop to make it better, I like imperfection, at the very least I would stick to my format, 24x36 or 36x48 plus the one major crop I like which is square...so three formats for me......wish I could still use my 6x6 film camera

[RSL]

Sometimes, and I think Ivan's picture is one of those situations, a picture is improved by chopping off heads and parts of bodies. Here's one that isn't cropped. It's full-frame just as I shot it. I think the dad's face and upper body would have detracted from two kids after a tiring day, and what's obviously the mom's shopping bag being guarded by dad until mom finishes shopping.

[michswiss]

I'm a big fan of chopping off body parts.  There can be so much communicated by position, contact, posture, gestures that can get lost or overwhelmed if the face is there.  By not including the Mom's face it allows us to explore other aspects of the relationship.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Ivan's and Russ's photos are both splendid demonstrations of the power of chopping heads. Nice work, folks.

Eric

[Jeremy Roussak]

Ivan's and Russ's photos are both splendid demonstrations of the power of chopping heads. Nice work, folks.

The tricoteuses would have approved, although they would perhaps have favoured a more direct approach.

Jeremy

[Rob C]

Ivan's and Russ's photos are both splendid demonstrations of the power of chopping heads. Nice work, folks.

Eric

There was  lot of it going down in France, at one time, often accompanied by the sound of clicking knitting needles. Rhythmic, don't you think?

Rob C