Market Cinnamon Sticks Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Cinnamon plant is grown for two years and then the young tree stems are cut down to near ground level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge. These shoots are then stripped of their bark, which is left to dry. Only the thin inner bark is used; the outer woody portion is removed, leaving metre-long cinnamon strips that curl into rolls ("quills") on drying; each dried quill comprises strips from numerous shoots packed together. These quills are then cut into 5–10 cm lengths for sale.
Photographed here are such Cinnamon shoots for sale at the colorful Marigot Market in Saint Martin.

marion44, Dpbours has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

marion44 (4284) 2008-07-21 8:06

Hi Rob,
An excellent POV ! I love the focus on the cinnamon sticks, the way you composed your photo with a large part dedicated to the sticks and the context we can guess from the background. The natural sunny colors on the sticks are nice and we can almost smell them from my place ! ;) Well done !
Marion

eversmile (6439) 2008-07-21 8:15

HI Rob,

I like your close frame. You could almost have done an abstract shot with all these cinnamon sticks. Funnily, some of them look like precious papyrus rolls. Of course, with the pomelos behind it is a bit less mystical, but who cares?
Regards,
Marine

Dpbours (220) 2008-07-21 9:13

Hello Rob,

Nice close-up of the cinnamon on the market place and a good note! To me, it could have been with a shallower depth of focus, to get the background blurred a bit more and the plastic container to the right no so obviously there. But nice detail in the foreground!

Greetings,
Dennis

petrecretzu (168) 2008-07-21 11:14

Hi Rob,
what I like the most about your picture is the colors, the framing and the very well chosen DOF: it effectively draws our attention to the cinnamon in the foreground, without completely blurring the (also interesting) background - fruits, bottles, ginger...
If I were you, I would've tried a lower POV, trying to hide the plastic cover on the right behind the cinnamon sticks. Anyway, great pic!

Greetings from Brazil,

Pedro