Mother & Baby

Critiques [Translate]

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• snunney (20069)
• [2008-03-18 4:19]

Hello Kath,
A very good capture of this proud mother with her child. Well composed with good use of differential depth of field. Tones and clarity are excellent. A thought provoking commentary.

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• MiguelP (12851)
• [2008-03-18 4:22]

Yes, AIDS in Africa is a great problem, but IMHO the problem is not such a behaviour inside the tribes, but the fact that is againts religions an social conventions to use condoms. I love the melancolic regard of this lady Kath. This photo brings me back great memories.

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• fabio_ts (12110)
• [2008-03-18 5:51]

Everywhere the mother's love is the same, and every mom is proud of her baby, ...you have captured a lovely daily life scene with this nice portrait, so well done Kath, all my compliments!!

have a nice day,
Fabio.

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• diegomach (215)
• [2008-03-18 6:16]

Kath, te felicito por la foto, me parece un retrato impresionante,hermosa luz, hermoso color, hermosa composicion. Linda epresion en los rostros.
Felicitaciones

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• Tue (23079)
• [2008-03-18 7:26]

Hi Kath,
An excellent portait of mother and child along with a very informative note. Good sharpness and pleasant colours and you placed them well on the left hand side of the photo. Thanks for sharing!
Regards,
Lars

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• ysabaner (591)
• [2008-03-18 8:39]

Hi Kath
Wonderful pic. Colors and cnotrast very well.
Well done.
Yahya

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• AnaFrantz (617)
• [2008-03-18 9:08]

Hi Kath,
Impressive portrait. A true jornalistic picture one could see in a paper page.
Good job.
Thanks for sharing
Carpe Diem!

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• dareco (8976)
• [2008-03-18 9:55]
• [+]

It's so interesting to learn about the lives of others isn't it. A very interesting note. A beautiful portrait of this mother and child, I must save this to my theme. :) I also enjoyed the WS, these little ones are very adorable. TFS

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• jurek1951 (13616)
• [2008-03-18 10:06]

Hi Kath,
great double portrait, lovely composition and splendid sharpness, very well done,
Georg

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• gilou530 (25284)
• [2008-03-18 10:06]

salut kath
un portrait plein de tendresse et de naturel, un superbe netteté met en valeur cette mère et son fils, beau travail
amitiés
gilbert

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• Waylim (2382)
• [2008-03-18 10:08]
• [2]

Kath,
This is very beautiful and traditional portriat of a Masai mother and child. Perfect sharpness and clarity, colors of the clothing are wonderful. Great composition. They do wear the most colorful costume. The woman are hard working people, building there own house and taking care of the children. They have a very hard life. Not very fair. The man are just out there with their cows all day.
Way
I do enjoyed very much your photo from Laos as well. TFS

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• Cricri (28066)
• [2008-03-18 10:21]

Hi Kath,
Quel grande différence avec mes petites boucles d'oreilles, on peut s'apercevoir que ça n'es pas tout léger !! en tout les cas trés coquette et trés colorés, ainsi que son petit enfant, belle image heureuse et pleine de tendresse, trés jolie et touchante scéne de ces petits bouts pour vous en WS, belle note aussi
Have a nice evening for you
cricri

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• markstaples (15502)
• [2008-03-18 10:37]

Hello Kath
The quality of your portraits is second to none. I can't believe how sharp and detailed they are. Beautiful.
Best wishes
Mark

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• Wandering_Dan (3005)
• [2008-03-18 10:39]
• [4] [+]

Hi, Kath -

First, about the "wife-sharing" practice: Wikipedia (as usual) did not get it right. The Maasai have a tradition about "age-mates" - a group of men and women who were all circumcised at the same time and who are expected to bond. If a man visits a married age-mate, the host is expected to leave the house and let his wife care for the visitor. Many girls in this situation believe they will be cursed if they refuse sex if the visitor asks. See thia article from WorldVision. This is not at all the same as offering one's wife to any guest who comes along, and it does keep sexual activity within the community. Regardless, HIV/AIDS is a growing problem among the Maasai.

Back to the picture: Although it is a little more off-center than usual for a portrait, it is a very good photo, showing the people and their colorful clothing with great clarity. I'm not sure I get a good sense of her character, but that could be a cross-cultural issue.

Great addition to your portfolio.

Dan

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• Stepan (24978)
• [2008-03-18 11:26]

A good sharpness and a good light to have impact and style. The dof and the off-centering are perfect. That's well done...
She seems to be really young !!
Stéphane

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• UlfE (5619)
• [2008-03-18 12:18]

Hi Kath,

Absolutely fantastic portrait. Excellent in all respects. I love the perfect sharpness on the mother and the child against the blurred background. Wonderful light and colours. A superb photojob!

Cheers,

Ulf

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• coco (23304)
• [2008-03-18 13:27]

HI Kath

This one is much better than the WS.
It is a good portrait and I like very much not only the technical part. I mean the subject of the photo is really good.

Well done and thanks for sharing.

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• pboehringer (18178)
• [2008-03-18 14:57]

Kath,
the post is flawless. Really! :-)
The info as always very interesting, but I have my reserves to believe that there isn't a problem with HIV. My profession just doens't allow that kind of naivity. Wikipedia certainly got it wrong and if people during your trip got you this sort of information I believe that this is wishful thinking from their part. I read Dan's remark and his link and that sounds more like it.
Peter

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• gneufeld (9473)
• [2008-03-18 18:00]

Hi Kath,
A wonderful portrait with the warmth of love being shared by mom and little one. Great colors and awesome details. Stunning sharpness - TFS. Gerald

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• Dyerco (5163)
• [2008-03-18 19:14]

Hi Kath
The use of natural light has really worked well here. The colours of her dress really enhance her skin colour. Nice shot indeed.
Phil

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• ChrisJ (55326)
• [2008-03-19 0:33]

Hi Kath

A good duak portrait with a nice assymmetrical relationship between mother & child. Good dof, colour & sharpness. Tfs!

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• saylan-cb (8862)
• [2008-03-19 2:01]

Hi Kath
Superb portrait!Great colours and image...
Excelent work.
TFS/Regards

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• Photo65Net (29667)
• [2008-03-19 3:31]

Kath,
Very beautiful dual portrait.
Their attitude are superb, and the way you framed them is very pleasant, as are wonderful colors and DOF.
Regards,
JB.

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• Philippe (8866)
• [2008-03-19 8:47]

Hi, Kath. The rich colours of the jewels and the mother's clothes brighten up the left part of the image and stand out very well against the duller background. I like the natural pose of the two Maasai. The sharpness and the composition are excellent.

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• chrisnet (18622)
• [2008-03-19 8:51]

Hello dear Kath,
Very good portrait of this mother with her child, the sharpness is excellent and I can see many beautiful details, nice work Kath.
With all my friendships

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• scobert (5321)
• [2008-03-19 10:23]
• [+]

Hello Kath,
I laugh when you say that portraits are not your forte. Your photograph looks like a National Geographic shot! Your composition is perfect and the sharpness of the mother and child stands out beautifully against the softly focused background. The Massai have beautiful clothing and jewelry. Their customs are unusual and I sincerely hope that the scourge of aids never affects them. Outstanding work!
Stan

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• stego (13740)
• [2008-03-19 12:40]
• [+]

Hi Kath,
Decidedly, you are a great portraitist! It looks perfect to me. The colourful clothes make a nice contrast with the BG, the DOF, clarity and sharpness are great and the light management is absolutely remarkable.
20 wives... Why so few? :D
Regards, José.

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• PixelTerror (70713)
• [2008-03-19 13:47]

Hi Kath,
Very nice double portrait with appropriate Dof, good expressions not looking at your lens and some nice warm clothing colors
Have a nice day JY

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• noborders (11116)
• [2008-03-19 23:55]

Plenty of great images in your gallery, Kath ! And happy to see some portrait too : fantastic costume, cute baby, technically perfect, she seems a bit shy...
Compliments,
Best regards,
Cath.

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• Graal (41127)
• [2008-03-20 0:39]

Hi Kath,
very nice double portrait, good details and composition. An interesting note and complementary photo in WS. Good work.
Gr., Aleksander

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• riclopes (25846)
• [2008-03-20 2:06]
• [+]

Olá Kath, nice to see more pictures of people from this trip. Although I still like more the warrier, this one is very good as well, in a good off centered composition. Interesting to see that she's not looking at you. In spite of the missing tooth she's very pretty. The details are enjoyable and the red Maasai color allways stand out. The nice thing about the use of zoom, it that the background allways gets blurred. The complementary is a funny image, specially because of the yawning kid. I wonder if any wife was offered to Rob... ;-)
ric

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• plimrn (15327)
• [2008-03-21 16:57]

Hi Kath,
Once again your perfect DOF gives sharp focus the pops out against the soft BG. I like the way you've left her some space in the frame. Light management is impeccable showing amazing detail in spite of dark skin tonbes and bright light.

Thanks for directing me to Wandering Dan's very interesting article.
HLJ, Pat

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• izmirli (602)
• [2008-03-22 5:15]

merhaba dear kath
excellent lovely picture.excellent lovely baby.well done.
best regards.
gürkan akçakır

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• ruisc_pt (4565)
• [2008-03-22 8:06]

Hi Kath
Your work is superb mainly with this "old" 70-300
The details are stunning fine... tht'a the word...
Happy Easter...Páscoa in Portuguese :)
Rui

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• LUISCOSTA (137)
• [2008-03-22 12:50]

Hi Kath!

Register of extreme quality, marking great details ... good framing, definition and shades.

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• Angshu (24295)
• [2008-03-23 21:14]

The portrait is flawless..great use of shallow DOF here. I thought I knew about the Masais quite a bit, but didn't know about the wife sharing practice. Dan's link is very interesting. But all the same the picture & the note is a thought provoking post, which I really appreciate.
Regards
Angshu

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• xuaxo (4017)
• [2008-03-31 13:52]

Hi Kath
This is maybe a rather usual kind of portrait. But I'm not bored to see them. Furthermore, this one has very great quality.
Regards,
F

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• Emile (15683)
• [2008-04-16 10:13]

Hola Kath.
Lovely portrait with the mother and her child, sharpness is very good and give us the opportunity to see small details like the rough skin on the mother's face and soft in the child, a colorful costume, good frame and DOF. Very interesting and instructive note.
Well done.
TFS.
Cheers.

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• ewiczek (349)
• [2008-05-22 4:20]

wonderfull photo

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• Glint (1910)
• [2008-07-17 5:41]
• [+]

hello Kath,
a charming portrait fo mother and child, cleverly composed to illustrate backgound.The sharpness, colour and deatil are all excellent. You have aaded a thoughtful note too. Last evening I watched a TV programe were an London woman spent time with the Maasai and she explored the thinking behing polygamy and relationships between men and women.The Maasai do not have notions of romantic love as we do. The sex act is simply that (apparently) which would explain why the wives do not become jealous of each other.Female circumcision is practised (disturbingly from our cultural POV)and the explanation given seemed very unsatisfactory....well it would, wouldn't it? The London woman was offered marriage several times whch suggests keeping to themselves is not neccesarily as strict as would be supposed and it is only lack of opportunity that prevents exposure to aids.
Bev