strays... Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

This is Tejal...she was charmed by every stray dog we came across.

Tejal is an orphan...her father left a long time ago and her mother died of an illness when she was very young. She had one younger sister, who went missing one day...she never came back.

Tejal's masi (mother's sister) lives nearby, though she lives with her grandmother, whom is very old. She will accompany her grandmother ragpicking everyday, to earn the day's roti. They barely earn enough to feed themselves despite working 10hrs a day, 7days a week.

Project: Underexposed - Lights in Dark Spaces

hispic, s10001in, designsoul, PeterC, Brian has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Luko (13896) 2007-04-26 7:14

"Tejal and the one-eyed dog" would have been a cool jazzy title, like a Rickie Lee Jones song...

Beyond the semantics, I must say I'm not especially attracted to this one, correct me but you seem to have emulated somebody else's style (Nono Fixed's in color : knowing him personally, I can tell you have to be completely Nono to do what he does, and, God forbids, nobody wants to become completely Nono, it's a no-no :D ...)

Something like an experience, though it falls flat to me... problem of composition, mass distribution, probably the general mood that doesn't fit here.

Sorry.

s10001in (1485) 2007-04-26 8:05

Hi kaj,

I am not fully agree with LUKO here.
See, at first this photo is not as strong as your other photos, you uploaded in this series. It is not proper to say so since THE SUBJECT in this them for this photo is differnt.
But again impressive light & one eye interaction of dog & soft of affection between Tejal & dog..
everything ..holds some chemistry..
& I can see very strong relationship feeling between this two charcters.

To love straying dog is passion for Tejal..she is very happy having close relationship with this dog, I do not how dog smile when to be LOVED but he has some feelings in his eye..
..
Your stories are more like MAGNUM description.
Nice work. ..REALLY!!!
-Regards,

scalerman (25787) 2007-04-26 16:53

K: the wagging tail and obscurred eye do all the work in this innovatingly composed image. When in Varansi, for example, if you tire of watching human life, observe the animals... best, c

designsoul (21394) 2007-04-27 17:51

Interesting, I am not in agreement with Luko here. Vignetting is not only NONO's domain, and to me it works very nicely, without flattery, Kaj. The tenderness is all there, this lovely girl and the doggie, though it would be great to see both eyes of the pup, I think. A tender, beautiful shot that I feel stands firmly and powerfully nonetheless!
sasa

PeterC (2242) 2007-04-27 19:35

Kajal,
I agree somewhat with Luko here. The frame is a little overcrowded and its not as striking as your others in the series. nevertheless is still a strong shot. Interestingly i think the image looks better if its flipped (mirror image). Id do a workshop but my i have used my two for the day.

Cheers
Peter
Green later

markoci (3917) 2007-05-03 6:59

i really like the overall lighting here.. the vignetting works for me too, compo and colors are good but i also miss the "connection" between the two here.. she seems to be looking more at her own hand than the dog, though it would still work well if the dog was looking at her (even with just that one eye :-)...)...

keithl (4) 2007-08-21 20:21

I was just looking through your photos, Kaj. Taste is a strange thing. I don't know why this didn't take off like some of your others. I really like it, with its odd angles, the one-eyed dog and Tejal's obvious affection for the pooch.