Smokers on the beach - Aden Photo

Photographer’s Note

one of the beaches in Aden, southern Yemen

Yesterday I came back from Yemen. What a great country, great people. Yemeni people are the frendliest nation I have ever encountered.

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Critiques | Translate

greg (2835) 2008-01-11 2:10

Ha, that's good. You got so much into one frame.

nicoz (1963) 2008-01-11 2:21

Hi Maciej,
HAHA, brilliant! it looks like this chap with the white t-shirt is beheaded and that his head is smoking a fag on the sand. Very flshy colors, reminds me of Parr somehow.
Nicolas

faubry (32197) 2008-01-11 2:23

wow, very funny shot from Yemen, people must to be under ground for smoke... haha, i like a lot this image and i am very happy see your picture again.. too long time..
soon
francine

Xen (584) 2008-01-11 2:36

i hope the guy doesn't choke on his smoke!

great colours and the composition is also great!

Very well done - Deb x

Leilani (1371) 2008-01-11 2:43

such a dynamic shot. So much going on. Including the little one smoking! He looks like a miniature adult there lighting his cigarette in an adult fashion. It almost feels unreal, like a show when you add the bodiless head smoking. Very effective having the heads on the right cut out. Rgds.

zig (2450) 2008-01-11 2:53

a 10 year old kid smokes in Yemen? Woa.. or he just looks young to my eyes? Anyways very commical, unique scenery. Maybe a part of the normal life in Yemen. You framed the smoking guy quite uniquely, with the kid and two adults' bodies and a guy who watches them. Innovative compositions, at least to my eyes.

holmertz (9328) 2008-01-11 3:24

Hello Maciej,
Very well composed and cropped picture. Maybe it doesn't really tell us that much about Yemen, but in any case I agree with your judgement of that fantastic country.
Regards,
Gert

flory (4802) 2008-01-11 3:29

hi Maciej,
hehhe,what a charming photo in your unique style!hope the young boy make this just for your photo..;)
take care,
Flori;)

grantlp (2104) 2008-01-11 4:02

Hi Maciej,
Although I don't like smoking....I like the feel and mood of your image.....it has a refreshing feel to it. Maybe it's beacause it does not follow the rules of a good composition, with no clear focal point, and heads are cut off....yes it even looks so by the head in the sand. Whatever the reason, I enjoy the happiness that the photo reflects. Well done.
Cheers grant

Brian (1) 2008-01-11 5:02

Hi Maciej,
I noticed this interesting shot on your flickr account yesterday. The kid lighting up is classic, and of course very strange to Western society. I like how the guy in white shirt reaches across the frame to get the lighter from the kid maybe to give burried man a light. Love it.

Brian

SamB (1948) 2008-01-11 10:22

Hello, Maciej--
Great shot... such a bizarre composition, nothing seems quite natural here. Cropped heads, the boy that seems larger than life, and a disembodied smoking head all squeezed into one frame. What brings everything together, though, is the timing--the outstretched arm of the man in the white shirt filly out the space in the left half of the frame, tying the boy to the men.
Thanks!
sam

AmiBe (6042) 2008-01-11 11:24

Excellent scene, well composed... The man with a white t-shirt loses his head :)
I admire how you can be invisible for your subjects.
rgs

Mistral (13636) 2008-01-11 12:59

Welcome back Maciej,
great funny shot of Yemenite people.
Yes they're funny and lovely and I'm thinking to come back again in the future.
Will look forward too your next images...
A smile
Luca

michiels (4170) 2008-01-12 7:45

hello Maciej,

Great photo, the compo, you really got it !!!!!
it is always a pleasure and discovery to see your work !
greetings, inn

Luko (13880) 2008-01-12 9:17

Timing couldn't be better, although I would more see this type of scene on a touristy tunisian resort or so, let the night fall and you'll have one of your weird Cardiff pics... strange to find Parr type scenes for Yemen.

I'm with you all the way for the photo, but as for the message coming out... I dunno, a little surprising.

Going to the Fijis next month... I tell ya for sure : you don't know how to spell friendly until you've met the Fijian people.

bombilla (3402) 2008-01-12 13:48

So this is what the Yemeni anti-tobacco campaign looks like. Well, the boy's cupped hand versus the hand reaching for the lighter definitely make it. But so does the outstretched arm with the elbow pointing right to the guy's head, and that guy, it turns out, is standing right on the buried smoking head. And the clouds look smoke. Great one, Maciej. You definitely dug into that culture. -Hugh

eleparc (24059) 2008-01-13 5:38

Glad to see that smokers will soon be beheaded or burried in the sand...LOL just joking! this photo has a real style of its own... well done maciek!

manub (920) 2008-01-17 21:39

absolutely great wide angle shot and decisive moment indeed. the expression of the smoking boy on the left is stunning. you were also lucky or cleaver with the framing, just tight enough to get the full head and the fingers of the guy with the white t-shirt.
so, terribly professionnal shot. i envy you ;-)
e

marknunnerley (2768) 2008-02-07 8:35

Brilliant Maciej. The framing looks like his head has dropped off ;) Very surreal and amongst your best.
br
mark

rbcy1974 (20742) 2008-02-13 3:46

Hello Maciej
Very funny scene,
Seems like something out of a Kosturnika movie, as all the characters seem to take part of some kind of surrealistic scheme.
How did the rest of your trip go?
Cheers
Daniel

tamatree (241) 2008-04-18 9:25