Amputee Musician, a photo from Siem Reab, West

Photographer's Note

He was a part of a group of traditional Khmer musicians who were also all amputees. You can notice his right leg has been amputated at the knee. Cambodia has the highest amputee rate of any country in the world, and there are something like 80 added to that number every month. Taken just outside Bantae Srae, in the Angkor Complex.

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Critiques | Translate

AdrianW (2274) 2003-09-15 10:58

Nice shot! I find the blown out patch top right slightly distracting - not much you could do about it though. Informative note too :-D

onyourbike (117) 2003-09-15 11:07

As usual an informative photo and note. The main subject is really sharp, the blured hand gives a feeling of motion.

martin (1242) 2003-09-15 12:02

The close crop and the subtle colours give this an appealing intimate feel. I agree with onyourbike about the blurred hand.

gringofil (0) 2003-09-15 12:30

This is very well done, Darren. I really like the motion blur of the hands. I agree with Adrian about the blown out patch, but, again, there is nothing you can do about it. I wonder if a different angle would have worked here as well...I'm thinking of a low angle shot looking up with the hands moving right in front of the camera. I really like his facial expression which would be highlited, I think, if you choose to use this angle.

Excellent work nonetheless.

ninadev (5373) 2003-09-15 13:11

Nice shot and your note let us appreciate better this photo of a musician. Maybe if you had cropped just above the head the blown out patch would not be so evident as it would not contrast as much with the green at it's left (screen scroll testing)

dsidwell (9771) 2003-09-16 9:04

Once again, you are so good at capturing the essences of places and people. What a wonderfully puzzling expression on this man's face.

rjamin (1169) 2003-11-07 4:00

Its a nice photo, I really like it.
But IMHO it doesnt successfully convey "amputee musician" as you probably wanted. If it is not for the title/description, I wouldn't know he's an amputee.
Maybe it would show better if its shot sideway?