Keeping Watch, Silently Photo

Photographer’s Note

Orchard Road - The epicenter of the whole shopping scene in Singapore. It rivals all other areas in terms of sheer volume, quality, and choice. Many of its shopping centers are filled with a variety of products from around the world. Most malls carry the concept of "everything under one roof". Virtually everything that is desired can be found in these shopping centers.

Standing on the corner of the intersection of Orchard Road, Scott Road and Paterson Road and looking down the length of Orchard Road, I remembered reading somewhere about the resemblance with the Champs Elysees. The pavements are broad pedestrian ways, sheltered by great tropical trees, beneath which stroll the fashionably dressed, the elegantly sophisticated and the gawking curious (including yours truly). There is one major difference though: where the Champs-Elysee is lined by the elegant façade of 18th century buildings, discreetly housing the most prestigious boutiques and restaurants in the city, Orchard Road is flanked for as far as the eye can see by the hugely varied bulk of shopping malls, more shopping malls and still more shopping malls. There is a statistic floating around that Orchard Road has the highest concentration of shopping malls per square kilometre of any city on earth — and gazing down that impressive stretch, there was no reason to doubt it!

The malls of Orchard Road are regularly frequented by the local population as well as the tourist population. The clothing sections in the malls had many marvelous life-size mannequins with colorful trendy and fashion clothing....they also keep a watch on the shoppers :-)

Hope you would like this experimental shot. Your critiques, comments, brickbats, are as always, more than welcome.

siolaw, devimeuxbe, edytungkal, crckt, emjleclercq, kiwi_explorer, ChrisJ, riclopes, pierrefonds, John_F_Kennedy, jhm, syd1946, josepmarin, pboehringer, noborders, Merline, Partha_c has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

siolaw (25874) 2007-12-11 7:48

Hi Angshu,
A nice dummy portrait with shopper in BG giving context... Good tight framing and nice light control.
I recently took some pictures of new type of dummies in Bangkok, i may post a couple one of these days!
Cheers
Laurent

devimeuxbe (56524) 2007-12-11 8:10

Hi Angshuman
this is a beautifull picture composed around the diffents glances. The light is soft and beautifull. The sharpness is great.
Excellent work
Bertrand

feather (50460) 2007-12-11 9:00

This is something different from you Angshu. Good focus on the mannequin with the worker(?) included but out of focus. It reminds me of work by ALIRIZA some time ago.
Kath

wolf38 (13137) 2007-12-11 10:56

Hello Angshuman. Your photo is a eyecatcher, taken in passing. These dolls are very expression-strongly, - and more beautiful than the reality. The photo stands here in connection with the detailed text. Interesting. Best regards, Wolfgang.

jasmis (51257) 2007-12-11 13:23

Amazing and smart idea and quite astonishing result.
Superb colours.
Regards.

edytungkal (4521) 2007-12-11 18:42

Different style from you Angshu but i like your idea to blur the bg (worker) and excellent focus on the mannequin. Have you try to crop the bg out? i think it will be an interesting one.
Thanks alot and for the note too.

daniel

crckt (7102) 2007-12-11 20:15

Hi Angshumanda,
I like the POV in this shot, a mannequin's face in focus and the woman's out of focus. Excellent work.
Regards,
Shaeri

berek (29093) 2007-12-11 20:43

Hi Angshuman ,
very good catch of sign. nice composition and idea. greetings.
Burak Erek

emjleclercq (14606) 2007-12-11 23:02

The try is interesting, for two reasons.
The first one is the sucession of the two plans, fore and back, showing two different faces. This is for the technical side.
The second is a bit more exotic: the face of the dumny is European, standing in front of an Asiatic looking woman. Does it mean there is a relation between beauty and ethnical origin: I do not think so...
But I have a few citicisms, notably the fact that the lady in the back is too much blurred in my opinion (which positions her as part of the background, rather than a full topic) and that her face is partly hidden by the plastic sheet...

All the best,

Emmanuel

kiwi_explorer (12195) 2007-12-12 0:32

Hi Angshuman,
So you prefer taking photos than shopping :) I'm not a shopper myself, but somebody got to do the shopping ... my wife never complains in this department :) Interesting POV ... nice capture. Well done! tfs
Cheers,
Renier

sayat (2944) 2007-12-12 1:01

Hah! A very unique point of view, and a remainder of our childhood days! Great shot, with a perfect angle that makes us ask which of the faces are more real?

ChrisJ (70443) 2007-12-12 1:39

Hi Angshuman

Excellent use of selective focus & nice symmetry between the mannequin, & the bg shopper. Good shadow detail & sharpness. Tfs!

riclopes (33137) 2007-12-12 3:25

Olá Anghsu, this is another very interesting (diferent) experience from you. You were really close to this imposing mannequin and I like that. The plastic bag is a bit disturbing, though. Good shallow dof and impressive sharpness, especially considering the low shutter speed. I guess that you have really good steady hands ;-) Poor girl. She's pretty, but she's trapped in this personage for too long... ;-)
Friendly regards,
ricardo

pierrefonds (26779) 2007-12-12 3:52

Hi Angshuman,

A good POV of the floor model keeping watch on a customer, the photo has a good composition, sharpness and nice colors. Thanks for sharing.

Pierre

John_F_Kennedy (32238) 2007-12-12 4:30

Interesting pair and nice captured. Nice colours too.
Best wishes,
Achim

jhm (83684) 2007-12-12 4:44

Hello Angshu,

Technical a very good picture with the focus on the model, and the background blur.
Colours and composition are very well.
Thanks for sharing.

Have a nice day,
John.

batalay (21366) 2007-12-12 5:03

Hello Mr. B,

A different genre from you usual, but also good, also engaging. The great Spanish painter Francisco Goya painted a parody of the aristocracy and Royalty, when he presented the aristocratic children with mannequin faces, and the mannequins with human. This image reminded me strongly of Goya's painting, since the focal point is the mannequin. She is in focus, and the worker is blurred.

Warm regards Angshuman,

Bulent

sagar (2307) 2007-12-12 5:37

Hi Angshumanda,
Outstanding POV. Nice colors and very good clarity. A different kind of shot from you, but the experiment ha sworked out well.
Regards,
Sagarneel.

Graal (59046) 2007-12-12 5:44

Hi Angshuman,
interesting shopping reportage, good shot and idea. I like the composition and compare with face from mannequin. Interesting informations also. Good work.
Gr., Aleksander

syd1946 (17995) 2007-12-12 6:02

Hello Angshu,
You see the oppurtunity and take an enjoyable shot!To faces,a real one and fake one but together works so well..I like the vivid colors,the bright light...the frame itshelf...

many wishes,
Thomas

josepmarin (34223) 2007-12-12 9:06

Hi Angshuman,
Good idea in this setting. You have obtained an image with a strong contrast between the manikin in foreground, with a good detail and many brightness, and the girl looking at the clothes on the second plane and a bit got out of focus, which produces a great visual effect and a good graphism.
Good work in the exposure, with an artificial very well handled light.
Best regards, my friend,
Josep

clic (4065) 2007-12-12 13:33

Hello Angshuman
You're now turning into a fashion photographer !
I heard that in some elegant stores, eyes of mannequins are equipped of surveillance cameras !
Interesting idea of juxtaposition.
Cheers.
Robert

pboehringer (770) 2007-12-12 22:14

Angshuman,
a very interesting and provocative portrait with the manequin in the front and the real person slightly blurred in the background. It makes me wonder about the circumstances ...
A very good and perfect experimental shot!
Regards, Peter

noborders (14201) 2007-12-13 3:07

You have found a beautiful "model" and took the best angle, the contrast is stunning and the title very appropriate !
A very common scene in the west, but none of us thinks of taking such photos...
Well seen, congratulations !
Cath.

Merline (6578) 2007-12-13 6:23

Hello Angshuman,
different from your style, quite an interesting shot! I also like these mannequins, they have something fascinating to me, with their almost "perfect" faces...a reflect of our society, the way they look in the windows. Great framing with great sharpness and lovely skin tones and texture. I like the difference with the worker in the background...
Good work!
TFS, Cheers
Michèle

arjun_das (1850) 2007-12-14 0:04

wow! what a sharp focusing it is. very crystal clear pic indeed. nice overall warm tone prevailing in the pic. good pov too. tfs.

regards,
arjun

Partha_c (1985) 2007-12-14 0:18

Hi Angshu. As usual a great short. Perspective, colour, theme and sharpness - par excellence. Yes, I did keep watching silently and leisurely. Regards.
Partha

Stepan (27175) 2008-01-02 11:57

Not so usual from you and it's great. Sharpness, dof and textures are OK. Well done.
Stéphane