Market Angel Photo

Photographer’s Note

While hurrying to look for Mark's forgotten camera bag, an evening rain started up. This was in the night market and it was amazing to see how quickly the vendors reacted. Within seconds, she had pulled out this plastic tarp to cover her goods (woven goods in her case. Working from under her cover, she was able to bundle up and get everything, which was a fair amount, ready to be taken home within a very few minutes. I was amazed by her efficiency. I was also pleased by the silhouette she presented as she packed up her goods.

Fortunately, we were also able to locate Mark's camera bag, which was accidentally left behind a few hours before.

ISO 1600, handheld, normal post processing, uncropped.

rhizomes, eleparc has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rhizomes (15325) 2005-09-06 7:18

Hi Darren,
Congratulation for this picture and the reflex to shoot !
I like the composition, the colors and the "moving" shaddow of the vendor !
Christophe

Furachan (0) 2005-09-06 7:19

Ah the night market...I certainly took lots of pics when I was there in the spring, but none that could match this for originality and flair.
Really well seen, Darren, great timing and sense.
You now have this fantastic shadow play going on. Your framing is spot on too.
Congrats.
Francis

SophieL (6030) 2005-09-06 7:24

Very mysterious and poetic mood in this picture, I really like the silhouette against the plastic cover and the traces of raindrops. It does look like an angel opening his wing. Good eye!

sohrab (7423) 2005-09-06 7:33

beautiful.....
what really makes it work for me is that the shadows of the folds of the plastic sheet seem to be converging at the hand..
on the other hand, i'd also have have liked the other hand doing something.. perhaps in an upward direction kind of completing the photograph..
a big plus here though is the lack of symmetry .. i'm so glad that not the whole frame is filled with the plastic sheet and gives me some space on the top left corner..
great one
take care :)

[2]

don_narayan (2014) 2005-09-06 7:44

very cool shot. the light is supurb and the shilloutte looks great behind the fabric. great timing, without the clear outline of the hand it would be too obscure. nice job.

barrufeto_77 (25957) 2005-09-06 8:31

An impresive photo Darren

Great shadows of the man and the shoot.

It's a non-usual shot.

Thanks for share

Luko (13902) 2005-09-06 8:46

That's the kind of photo ops I'm now more and more looking for, silhouettes and pure light effects, hence my love for flames and backlighting.

Unfortunately I don't think I even have ONE shot of the nightly Hmong market in LP...

I miss two things here : like Sohrab, I would prefer to see the shadow of her other arm somewhere, possibly over her head, like a kind of torero posture. Second is exposure problems with a too glaring light, my strategy with unforgiving digital sensors in tricky lighting is always underexpose then recover RAW details in Photoshop.

Mark should have a break on Beer Lao, one day his photobag will be gone for good ;) ... probably not in LP where you could leave your bag somewhere in the streets and get it back a week later..

[2] +

donluicu (24001) 2005-09-06 9:50

Darren
i'm glad to find your gallery.
this shot is very original, very close to the subject...good point. I think there is also a part of abstract.
well done.

loic

eleparc (24059) 2005-09-06 16:03

i lov the mystery behind ths photo and the originality of the shot! i posted something both different and quite similar in a way tonight...;-) how is life? not too bothered by the storms and tornadoes in taiwan?
eric

gringofil (0) 2005-09-07 6:21

Cool shot, Darren. This shot works because of two factors: one being the wonderful color and the other the water droplets that really tell me there was a rain shower happening. At first, from the thumbnail anyway, I though that this was a stage performance or something similar (and you caught the actors behind a curtain or something)...I would have never guessed this was taken at a market. Compo is great, but the only thing that bothers me is that something on the lower right hand side. Anyway, interesting and original...good work, Darren.

markoci (3917) 2005-09-11 10:12

as others i also love the mood of this shot. (especially since i was there and remember how swiftly everyone packed up once the rain started) the colors, the shadow, the raindrops.... just great. the composition is excellent. as sohrab wrote i like that we can see the edge of the tarp. i don't mind the "lack" of the other hand, the bottom right shadow is a bit distracting.

p.s. the "case of the lost camera bag" is definitely a "going shooting with TE members" curse as bani can confirm :-)

carobnica (1336) 2005-09-23 7:29

you have few very intriguing photographs in your gallery but this one is the one that I praticulary liked;
probably it is cause of a bit dreamy atmosphere here... to me it looks almost like a scene from some movie...it talks and that's most important.
ciao
ana

kajspice (4534) 2007-01-27 1:55

ooh..1600 - I see what you mean...

I thought of you the other day, whilst I was taking pictures in the dark. It was an opportunity I would have been very annoyed to fu*k up! Thank you for the advice...I didn't fu*k up :) I think I went upto 1600, but definately 800.

I like this one Darren... for most of the reasons mentioned above. Sorry I cant be more original. It reminds me of a picture by so,someone named Tim Smith...

I am just looking for the link...(can't find it...)