Before the Judges Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is an older picture, part of an unfinished series on taekwondo that I started a couple of months ago. It was shot on a sunday afternoon, at a special taekwondo testing center. Students from all over the region came to this center to be judged by offcial judgs from the TKD federation. If successful, they would move up in rank and receive their next belt. if not, I guess they'd have to try again. I was happy with the moment of the one boy with his arms rasid as other stodd at attention (more or less)

SamB, sothy81, bertolucci, marknunnerley, ChrisJ, Paolo, brevbrev14, luisafonso, jhm, Floydian, PixelTerror, jlynx, Vato_Law has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

SamB (1948) 2006-12-15 2:29

Hello, Rafal--

Nice work on this one, the ordered rows of boys against the disorganized crowd in the background is nice, and it is nice to have the one boy in the middle with arms raised against the other children "stood (more or less) at attention..." with the boy to his right being a nice example of less. Was this handheld? It's very sharp for 1/25.

And no subway... no motion blur... no receding roads... whatever will i do with myself?

Thanks!
sam

Booz (13892) 2006-12-15 2:46 [Comment]

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bertolucci (12022) 2006-12-15 2:54

Hi Rafal, the juxtaposition of these students and the differences in their bodylanguage makes this one. A very nice play with symmetry and rhythm. I like the set of greys used here a lot too.
Have a fine weekend,
Bert

marknunnerley (2768) 2006-12-15 3:26

Hi Rafal,
can't help it but my eye goes straight to the child looking down to his left. There is always one isn't there. Seen your earlier work of these and it adds to a great theme. Nice one.
br,
mark

mark88 (5866) 2006-12-15 3:34

Podoba mi się kadr, chociaż bez publicznośći też byłoby fajnie, ciekawy temat.
Pozdrawiam, Marek.

bantonbuju (48856) 2006-12-15 3:57

masz "graficzne oko" - wszystko ci się uklada w jakieś ksztalty, figury, elementy...
super mi sie to podoba
(wysylam ci 5 sztuk do korei, moge kolejne 5 do polski lub tez do korei, wybieraj, daj znać jeszcze dzisiaj bo jutro rano ide z paczkami na poczte)
pozdr. j.

ChrisJ (70521) 2006-12-15 4:07

Hi Rafal

Wonderful repetition of the taekwondo contestants, with a superb tonal range & excellent high pov. Good sharpness & definition. Tfs!

Ulishna (2246) 2006-12-15 4:26

Hello Rafal,
nice and strong symmetry and contrast. I hope, they will be a good sportsmen.
Julia

Paolo (40763) 2006-12-15 4:41

It's remember me when i was child and i did Judo for some years!
excellent image Rafal, i remember the examen in front of a Japanese Master!
excellent POV and perfect composition, really geometrical!
thanks, ciao

brevbrev14 (372) 2006-12-15 5:00

Hi Rafal, i like a lot the regural position of the boys !perfect compo and amazing moment!
i like a lot!
ciao!
Valeria

luisafonso (858) 2006-12-15 5:01

Perfect! That single kid on the center with his spreaded wings really holds the entire composition. The W that fills the frame around him is amazing. What a clever composition my friend! Sorry about this awe, but that is so good. You're really a clever man and you really have an incredible talent for framing reality. Thanks for this.

nwoehnl (120) 2006-12-15 5:11

Good documentary shot on this event, Rafal. The wide-angle view gives a nice impression of the young athletes in front of the judges, and their diagonal alignment and their grouping in the white suits makes for a good foreground pattern. What bothers me just a little is the slight tilt to the left because it looks like a sloppy oversight rather than a stylistic device. But that may just be me, it's otherwise a nice work.

Zepi (22848) 2006-12-15 6:07

Salut Rafal,
Belle prise de vue, j’aime assez le rendu presque graphique rendu par la position des gamins…
Ca nous offre presque comme un dessin sur le sol.
Par contre, au niveau du noir et blanc, je ne suis pas entièrement convaincu, c’est un peu trop grisouille pour moi
Belle image sinon, bien au dessus du lot pour aujourd’hui
;-)
A bientôt
Zepi

jhm (83786) 2006-12-15 6:34

Hi Rafal,

I find this one of the bitter BW picture of your gallery, excellent composition with as subject this young boys, also the double V formation give a splendid view, very well done!

Have a nice weekend,
John.

Floydian (30970) 2006-12-15 6:35

Hi Rafal,
Nice to see how you created a triangle line with all those kids. It brings a perfect composition in the whole scene which i really like.
You say an older picture? Man it is from August..!!!
Should i upload some pictures from 1980? ;-)))
Have a nice weekend, Henk

lucero (964) 2006-12-15 6:37

Hola Rafal:
Curiosa composición con los participantes perfectamente ordenados frente al tribunal.
Recuerdo que hace unos años mi hermana practicaba taekwondo y que es un deporte muy estético y técnico.
Un saludo: javi

entrelec (8342) 2006-12-15 7:25

Perfect compo, geometry is everywhere here, the way the students are located, the judges, gates...blacks hairs , kimonos, postures , all is geometry...
Good we

Joel

greg64g (11193) 2006-12-15 7:53

hi Rafal

Great shot, superb the graphism of the sportsman, i like hoy you include the background to give a deeper pov
cheers
greg

jlynx (11380) 2006-12-15 8:57

Witaj Rafale,
Podobna serie prezentowales juz na TE i to z duzym powodzenie. Jak zawsze, takze i tym razem nic nie dzieje sie przypadkowo. Nie jest tez przypadkiem wybor momentu na nacisniecie spustu migawki. Dobre B&W, ładna reporterka.
Pozdrawiam,
Jurek

sothy81 (8540) 2006-12-15 12:44

This is a great one Rafal. strong distinguish between b and w. You framed those children in lines very well here. Looks like a great graphic here. Well done. Sothy

designsoul (21394) 2006-12-15 14:00

No matter whether there's one, two, or over 30 people in your shot, Rafal, you breathtakingly manage to pull them into such a graphic configuration that leaves me numbfounded. Amazing graphism again, the white outfits of the taekwondo kids against the silver ground, with the judges in the upper 1/3, makes this a great shot again.
tc,
sasa

vapours (7945) 2006-12-16 4:02

Ok it's not full of the artistic flare which most of your shots have, but as a journalistic shot its spot on and I like the clean white outfits against the darker background.

battousai (827) 2006-12-16 5:11

Normalnie kraina geometrii :) Podoba mi sie ich ustawienie i to, ze sposrod tych wszystkich dzieciakow jeden wyroznia sie, majac rozlozone rece. Fakt - zmiesciles na tym zdjeciu mnostwo ludzi. Ich rozplanowanie jest bardzo dobre.

Czasami probuje nasladowac Twoj styl, ale jeszcze niezbyt dobrze mi to wychodzi. Chyba nie dopracowalem sie jeszcze swojego wlasnego.

Trzymaj sie cieplo!

Pozdrawiam

Pawel

Furachan (0) 2006-12-16 5:16

There's a nice geometry to this one, Rafal, and it looks extremely inviting as a thumbnail, perhaps less so fully open... It might be POV issue, you shot from above - maybe a tad lower might have yielded something more, also I would definitely have opened up more to try and blur the crowd more - they compete a bit visually with the main course - the military kids...
Just my 2 cents - the potential is all there.
Cheers,
Francis

PixelTerror (87195) 2006-12-16 7:17

Hi Rafal,
That's what I'd call a punchy B&W, a bit tight for my taste as often but I like this formation with the spreading of the boys. It should not be long I guess before you stand by such a scene as a proud father !
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

jasmis (51313) 2006-12-16 15:11

Ciekawy kadr, fajni mali bohaterowie. Zdjęcie w dobrym stylu. zresztą jak zawsze. Pozdrawiam.

Vato_Law (11768) 2006-12-16 18:06

Hello Rafal,
Very interesting their different attitudes and different positioning towards the jury in front of them, some looking aside, other seem to be frozen, others looking down but at the end all of them seem to have great respect and will to go thru to next level or belt.
The view over the public on background completes well the scenery.
Cheers.
Paulo

Graal (59126) 2006-12-17 2:34

Fajny obrazek, jestes "szalejacym reporterem", tyle juz obrazow z zycia w Korei nam pokazales. Dobry punkt do strzalu i moment, sporo tu symetrii, fajny kontrast. Podoba mi sie.
Pozdr. Al.

vagabondtravels (6115) 2006-12-17 19:31

Hey Ralaf

Nice documentary style shot. Good pov and sharp. Anyhow Great work.
Ben

*Four more days till vacation! Any plans? Let's get out.

sebcz (2345) 2006-12-18 5:16

Witaj Rafal!
Super ujęcie, kiedysnapisales coś takiego:
"symetryczne, ale symetria jest złamana przez[..], podoba mi się.
I mi się tez, z tego samoego powodu :)
Seb

hdl (6737) 2006-12-19 7:38

Hi Rafal. You know, I did Taekwondo too (when I was a little younger) and I kinda remember this kind of scene. Though, in Belgium there were not so many spectators.