Pencils Photo | TrekEarth

Photographer’s Note

These delighted and delightful children live in Naoro village on the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea. When I offered them a mixture of coloured and regular HB pencils they were mostly only interested in the HB pencils because they had erasers on the end - not so the boy on the left who was obviously hoping for something more exciting!

For 7 months in 1942 the Kokoda Track was the battlefield of one of the bloodiest campaigns in the 2nd World War. Young and inexperienced Australian Diggers repelled a larger and better equipped Japanese Army. For both sides it was difficult to maintain a supply line over the steep jungle terrain of the Kokoda Track. 3000 Japanese and 600 Australians lost their lives here.

Each year thousands of Australians undertake the 96km challenging trek - they remember the brave Australian Diggers and the Papua New Guinean Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels who supported them.

This is a repost. In order to improve my gallery I am acting on the critiques of fellow trekkers - in this case 'paguru' who did a workshop for me. I have removed the blue tint as suggested. I have also cloned out the corner of the blue tent which was in the top left hand corner, sharpened and added a better frame.

litiancai, holmertz, fanni, ang25, trekks, Kielia has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

litiancai (1046) 2008-10-29 22:24

Marlene,
I think this is a lovely photo, they loom like a happy bunch and there are some really great smiles amongst them, and the fact they're all carrying pencils gives the photo a hint of humour too, clearly very happy with their gifts!
If this is a re-post, I can see what you could have done better. The colours, sharpness and exposure are all perfect to me. Good job!
regards, and thanks for sharing with the interesting notes. I'll have to read about this trail!
Lee

holmertz (10003) 2008-10-30 2:03

Hello Marlene,
This is certainly a great improvement on the original posting. It encourages me to do the same with some of my oldest scans which i find a bit embarrassing. This is a charming picture with a lot of smiling faces to enjoy. This time the colours are very good.
Regards,
Gert

fanni (8889) 2008-10-30 2:18

Hello Marlene,
I compared both variants... well, qualitywise, this shot definitely looks better :) It has more warmth and looks brighter. In the whole, it's a lovely group portrait of the children - so many different emotions and characters! Photography is a great thing! It captures what our eyes can't see.
best regards,
Elena

trekks (14334) 2008-10-31 7:44

hello Marlene

Difficult to shoot a large of people but you did well for this portrait when everyone is paying attention to you, or trying to. I do see one is hidden behind.

As this is a re-post, I would just comment that it is very much improved although I see a crop of the foot at bottom left, just that little bit?

tfs, bill

Kielia (8739) 2008-10-31 10:35

Hi Marlene,
great note and a fascinating capture of these delighted children. But most of all I like the boy on the left side who really is very disappointed and not able to hide his feelings. A wonderful impression of daily life and a great improvement! TFS!

Atousa (3466) 2008-11-04 6:26

Salam Marlene,

This one is really better..congratulations..I like their expressions , they seem happy ..a friendly shot..thank you.
Regards, A

jimkilgallon (0) 2008-11-12 16:24

Hello Marlene
Lovely shot showing the village children with smiles of happiness. A slight cyan cast in the highlights (you can see in the girl Bart Simpson t-shirt) but that is hardly interfering as the skin tones look very natural indeed. TFS Marlene
Cheers
Jim

jmdias (19935) 2008-12-03 6:31

marlene

strong contrast between the joy of the other children and the sadness of that boy. Very nice the portrait of the group, good color, sharpness and light. perfect work, congratulations

hugs

jorge

stevesaba (3974) 2009-05-06 11:04

Hi Marlene!
This one is so sweet! And it is kind of touching....the one boys attitude....it happens. Really good work in pp. It is amazing how one can improve things sometimes. Nice work! cheers,
Steve