Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: Terry Breedlove on May 05, 2010, 12:09:54 pm
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I took this in 1996 with my 35 mm Pentax and Tmax 100 film. I was attending the Art Institute of Seattle at the time and I was shooting an assignment I gave myself for class. The theme was men at work and I had been shooting for several days around the ship yards and construction sites but I had nothing I truly felt good about. Well one morning in the parking garage under the school I came across this welder working on a foot bridge. I immediately knew this was the shot I was after so I quickly turned my camera to the ground and based my exposure from the grass below and took this shot. Just a few seconds later and he came down from the ladder packed his gear and moved out of sight. I lost those negative and this is a scan I made a couple days ago of the only print I made and luckily still have.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y16/Terry-Breedlove/welder.jpg)
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The completely blank background bothers me. If I didn't know this person was welding from the title I could have assumed he was doing something else. Of course, there is the fact that he's wearing a welder's mask, but the picture doesn't say "welding" to me. The most effective shots of welders, imo, are those where the welder is in a dark environment and is illuminated by the welding torch. In this shot the sparks look like they could be paint splatters. They don't look like light-emitting things.
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Terry, It's a fine shot. I think the blank background is essential. Anything visible back there would have trashed the very good black and white graphics. Bravo!
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The multiple diagonal lines against the stark background create motion, and I find myself looking at this over and again. Print and hang!
John