Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: seamus finn on March 11, 2013, 04:17:16 pm
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...in the street.
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For me, this is a competently composed and exposed image, typical of candid street shots. The man is obviously waiting in a transport hub and there is no mystery or deeper meaning for me.
I would tone down the highlight in the top right area and the bottom left corner.
The man is possibly asleep—I cannot see if his eyes are open—and I would have tried to get shots more front-on to his face. Those shots would show his eyes and be more interesting than the side, almost from the rear, angle of this shot.
Roger
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Very good, Seamus. One has to wonder: is he waiting for a bus for for Godot?
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This is an Aboriginal man sitting on the ground with his back to a shop wall in a packed Queen St. Mall, Brisbane, where he regularly entertains passers-by playing the didgeridoo and will gratefully accept any few dollars that happen to come his way. We got into conversation, and when he learned I was Irish, he invited me to sit, and we had a very interesting and lengthy conversation about British colonialism and its impact on both our cultures. He is a very impressive, proud and articulate man and it was a pleasure to have met him.
As for the picture, he didn't know I took it. I could have shot it the usual way, full frontal, so to speak, showing his naked torso, painted face, musical instruments and so on - the same one taken by thousands of tourists every week - but this posture said something to be about him, his story and his wait for justice as he explained it to me.
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I was pretty sure he was an australian aboriginal, but I wasn't completely sure. The contrast of the sunglasses with the face paint was interesting to me, as is his expression.
I'm not sure I like it, though, and try as I might I can't quite put my finger on why. It has a little to do with my general distaste for pictures of homeless dudes (although since this pretty obviously isn't one of those, it's NOT just that, I think. There's some similar visual vocabulary that's pushing my buttons here, I think).