Raw Cricket Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

Dad and son playing beach cricket at Coral Bay. The game of cricket is massive in Australia, especially at the moment with the Australia vs England series, but almost as big is the raw version of the game of beach and backyard cricket. Christmas Day, a family bbq, or an outing to the beach almost always goes hand in hand with a game of cricket for most families.

ribeiroantonio, miuky, peter1892, sabyasachi1212 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Luko (13894) 2006-12-15 20:45

Absolutely great. The quintessential image of one of the most mysterious sports for anybody who hasn't been touched at his birth by the blessing of being a Commonwealth subject.

I remember as a kid when I stayed for some time in Perth : cricket afternoons on TV attracted me like a bug on a shining lamp. Hypnotizing... then I got mesmerized with senior citizens lawn bowls championship, another piece of torrid exotism and a fascinatingly slow game, something like curling in 100°F. and no ice please... this was reaching its climax at serving time for toasts with vegemite or Milo...

One of the best part with cricket are the scores.. with football, rugby or anything it's quite easy, but cricket, no. It goes like 127 to 4 and a half, you think "well, someone has been ridiculous and the other one outrageously stepped on his opponent", but again, no. the sport journalist then announces that in the next days (yes days!!! you start grinning) the team having 127 points has almost NO CHANCE of winning. It's generally the moment where my attention fails, so I cannot say why...

If cricket has ever been qualified for olympic games in the 1930's, the pitcher on the left hand side would have made the perfect model for the kind of reward given to the finalist teams.

joke apart, your BW tones are great.

jphalip (15) 2006-12-15 22:34

Beautiful! You caught the moment!

ribeiroantonio (21935) 2006-12-15 22:45

How is Australia doing on the 3rd test? Of course, this is spot on now. And I also can make a parallel between Australia and England instead of son and father!!! Your B&W is very good and I really like the high contrast shown. Well done.
Antonio

miuky (3335) 2006-12-16 2:38

I like it!
Hy Brendan
a dinamic pic in bw, or a kind of
Exellent!
Regards, M.

jinju (14265) 2006-12-16 3:31

I agree with Luko about the tones and this high contrast b/w. I wont agree with him about the merits of this crazy game, which for me simply must be one of the most tedious sports ever invented. But hey, Im here about your photo not the sport, and this photo is, unlike the sport, very exciting.

partha (13657) 2006-12-16 4:23

Hi Bredan,
Great composiotion. The body language of the biys are really good.Clicked at the perfect moment.
Well done.
Regards.
partha

Furachan (0) 2006-12-16 5:44

WOW! Killer shot, Brendan. Sorry to arrive a bit late. People should be all over this one. Agree with every word Luko says - the timing, the suspended time, and yur bold toning all produce an image that strikes me as essentially...lyrical.
Cool.
Francis

michiels (4170) 2006-12-16 9:18

hi Brendan,

very good photo ! congrats
inn

russte (0) 2006-12-16 11:33

Hi Brendan, absolutely superb. I think this is the best image of cricket I've seen on TE. The high-contrast works beautifully and yet you've managed to retain enough detail in the image to stop it becoming two-dimensional. The grain also complements the contrast perfectly. It has to be a favourite. Stephen PS I don't think England have played badly in the last two tests, it's just that Australia have been on another level.

nels (2455) 2006-12-16 13:01

hi brendan,, great b&w tones and nice composition so pleased you posted this one and not one of the currant series

adrian

peter1892 (3201) 2006-12-17 8:25

Hi Brendan, a topical subject with the Ashes series ongoing at the moment. And another fine B&W shot, lots of contrast, dark tones & a nice grain to the shot too.

arindam_thokder (3946) 2006-12-17 14:58

This one is great stuff Brendan. Just the rime time to capture it. Bad time for India now a days, I stopped watching Cricket for almost two months now, surprisingly they are playing really well in Test in SA after Ganguly back in Team.

ndb1958 (9248) 2006-12-18 0:17

Hi Brendan,
a very nice action shot with a great contrast. I don't know anything about cricket, but that a beautiful scene. The boy on the left reminds me to a dancer. I think the way you caught his movement makes the shot! Very beautiful,
Nino

brevbrev14 (372) 2006-12-18 3:35

Brendan, wonderful image full of life and atmosphere!
great the lights and this silhouette!
i like a lot!
ciao!
Valeria

yanseiler (20) 2006-12-18 6:36

Hi Brendan, a lovely compo, the frame is well filled in and there is a lot of things going on, I like the posture of the guys and the grain, a nice one...
Kindly
Yan

vanmidd (144) 2006-12-18 7:37

We just won the ashes to keep the thread updated, and I think one of the main reasons is because of scenes like this getting played out all over the country every day. This could quite easily have been me and my dad 10 years ago ( or even last year judging by the fact that the bowler is not that young)...anyway, great photo, perfectly exposed to make sure the attention is on the figures and the game.

cherryripe (19031) 2006-12-18 8:20

Hi Brendan
Very appropriate image. Especially as the Aussies have just won the ashes.
I find the image very dynamic thanks to the positions of the bowler and batsman. Funny that they don't have stumps. Our cricket set did.
The choice of B&W and your interesting treatment totally contrast with my memory of Coral Bay with the white sand and turquoise water.
Regards
Nikki

tobourge (925) 2006-12-18 10:37

Hi Brendan,

Though I'm not an expert in Cricket I must say that you've made here quite a stuning sport picture!

The way you captured the movements of these 2 players is amazing and gives me the feeling your picture is going to move.

B&W is great, POV is great.... GREAT picture!

Thanks

Tony

Galeota (10334) 2006-12-19 0:38

Hello brendan, let me add another praise to all those you have collected to date. Your image is well worth it. The scene reminds me somehow an olympic training in the first half of the XXth century (even though Cricket is not an Olympic sport....thank God!). I think there is a good dynamic in your composition; it can be read easily, and the black & white conversion is very successful. The harsh contrast alwos us to focus on their shadows, hence the main subject is clearly "on stage". Among your very best, imo.

ALSOM (6616) 2006-12-21 9:57

I must admit, i've never understood neither the cricket game rules. But it seems there a lot specific words and expressions behind this sport that are commonly used in everyday life ... well by people you love cricket.

For photo, it is another story, it's very interesting .. I recalled some of my photo taken in India ...

You b/w is fantastic with grain that give the oldish style to this compo. Captured moment is perfect, where is the ball, just guess (if you don't like cricket, gonna be tough ;o) !). Lovey 2 typical gestures ..... Well just great !

Alain -

nibspics (350) 2006-12-27 3:15

Awesome capture. You have frozen the most telling moment of this "father/son" match. You can feel the batsmans tension building as he prepares for the ball. Awesome.

sabyasachi1212 (19546) 2007-01-03 5:00

Hi Brendan,
What a beautiful moment that you have captured here. Perfect in B&W, the silhoutted batter and bowler, dad testing out his son's progress. It is perhaps from this supply line, new Husseys and Clarks are born to step into more illustrious shoes.
With Greetings from India
Sabyasachi

PS : As someone keenly following the Ashes, it came as a disappointment to see the much hyped contest coming to nought thanks to the brilliance of your boys:)

entrelec (8342) 2007-01-17 12:37

a nice shopt, Brendan..personnal one.
regards

joel

nicoz (1963) 2007-01-30 13:23

Hi,
It's dynamic, aesthetic, well done! The B&W + noise looks great. Now that you are in London, don't forget to mention the Ashes every so often, they (still) like it ;-)
Nicolas

dumaresq_ca (1880) 2007-05-04 7:52

Bonjour Brendan,
J'aime beaucoup le traitement de cette image, laquelle est très réussie.
Le grain, la saturation et la composition sont des aspects non négligeables dans une image en noir et blanc et tu ne les a pas négligés. Bravo, c'est une photo de sport très réussie.
Amitiés,
Yves