Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2002/08/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> Steve LeHuray wrote: > ... > ... last week I went to the 'Reparations' rally in Wash, DC ... > ... > I think this was my best shot of the day: > > http://www.streetphoto.net/paw2002/paw2wk35.html > > All comments welcome. Steve, This is an absolutely great shot, fantastic. Things that work for me: the tight composition, story-telling details (bull-horn, raised fists, flag and flags, mouth shouting), the upward shooting angle, the diagonal line of the flag, the way the two most prominent characters overlap each other, with the lesser one echoing the main one. I wish 2 of the faces in the background were not so much blocked, and that I could see just a tad more of the bullhorn in both dimensions, and the hand holding the flag at the bottom, but otherwise this order in the chaos is great. Graphically, "order in chaos" in people documentary is the ultimate compositional challenge for me. Five, seven years back, a photo from a woman in Israel, depicting a domestic scene in a room with a baby in high chair, and young children roaming about, with toys and domestic stuff all over the floor and furniture won the Photo of Year contest in Popular Photography. At first look the photo would be on many people's editing floor. There was so much disorder. Indeed many readers wrote letters to the editor to object the choice, threatening to cancel subscriptions, etc. But for me the photo was just great. Other more common examples of "order in chaos" can be found with nature photography, say of trees in a forest, at mid-distance. The other compositional theme (2 figures, one prominent in background) is a long-time personal favorite, though only more recently made aware in my reading of Sam Abell's great book "Stay This Moment". As in that book, I usually prefer the less prominent figure to be "looming in the background". But I digress, and I am explaining all this very badly. Thanks for sharing a great photo, my favorite from you by far. - - Phong - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html