Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/04/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Hi Lee, I like the knitting lady and I do not think you needed to back away. A portrait like this, nice and tight, is best, and one can still see what she is doing. The out-of-focus hands do not bother me, and I love the parallel betweeen her hat and the hat in the background. Rebecca is not as interesting, I think it would have been nicer if you had moved in closer (or perhaps the picture has more impact in a larger size). I am also a bit bothered by the crooked lamp. Of course, I do not know the location and hence do not appreciate its significance. Nathan Lee Bacchus wrote: > A pair of contrasting portraits from my almost completed project (to form > part of a small group gallery show) on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside > (http://www.photo.net/photodb/presentation.tcl?presentation_id=52810). The > first is of a woman in Chinatown (which is contained within this desperately > troubled and impoverished community) who makes her living on the street > knitting hats. The other is of Rebecca, who ‹ ahem ‹ makes her living on the > streets as well. > When I first encountered the knitting lady, I vainly and naively imagined > myself to be one of the few to shoot her. After I fired off a dozen or so > shots of this woman who spoke not a word of English, she reached back behind > her, pulled out a dog-eared and timeworn piece of cardboard on which was > scrawled, "May I please sometime have a copy of your picture, please." > If I was going to offer some pre-emptive self-criticism, it would mainly be > that the knitlady's hands should be more in focus. Alas, I was only carrying > Delta 100 and couldn't stretch the DOF amid her shadowy corner. I also > wonder whether the shot is too tight, and that it would work better with her > array of knitted hats as a background. Conversely, I wonder if Rebecca's > portrait might work better in tight. But then I wanted to display part of > Pigeon Square, a famous (and infamous) hangout in the neighborhood. > Other comments gratefully accepted, > Lee Bacchus > Vancouver. - -- Nathan Wajsman Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland e-mail: wajsman@webshuttle.ch General photo site: http://belgiangator.tripod.com/ Belgium photo site: http://members.xoom.com/wajsman/ Motorcycle site: http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Downs/1704/