Swapping contacts Photo

Photographer’s Note

A young girl on vacation from college and young boy out on a shoestring budget meet on the mount of Acropolis. They smile at each other, fall into a conversation, admire the views. Together they walk down the hill and buy a wrap at the cart near the subway. The girl must fly out tomorrow to her home...classes start next week. The boy is on his way to other countries. They say good by, exchange their emails and the time to part comes. What do they do next?

[Of course I am imagining all of this. Maybe she wants her leakey tap fixed and the guy is a plumber getting her address!]

bfly, RandomCameraGuy, karina, MKING, nerve, Isabelle, hampshiregirl has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

bfly (5737) 2005-04-29 18:40

hi Animesh..
I like watching people and imagining their stories :)..I started doing this when I was very little, going to school with a long bus ride..
very nice composition and the tones of bw I like a lot..and I guess he is not a plumber :)

RandomCameraGuy (3063) 2005-04-30 0:53

Ahh you romantic you! A nice little slice of everyday life. It's easy to see how you though what you though esp with the way the guy is kneeling in front of her.

I kind of miss a third subject on the far right (like a leg just about to leave the frame), but at the same time that might ruin the focus on the two... In anycase, it's a very nice shot Animesh---and it makes me think that there must be some nice girls on vacation here somewhere... maybe it's time for me to get off the internet!

;)

* * *

Added:

I much prefer the angle of the original to the WS. The WS version doesn't focus on the couple enough and the composition feels confused (as the couple and the ladies in the distance don't seem to be related symbolically). But if you had a shot from the same angle as the orig with that foot I was talking about above I'd be interested to see that!

Cheers man!

af

MKING (3050) 2005-04-30 2:40

It's a good result but doesn't really strike out at me though I can't think of another way to shoot it that would be more effective. Fundamentally, I don't like the vacant space to the left-- feels unbalanced. But the 'balanced' version in your WS doesn't quite appeal to me either for the same reasons as Alex pointed out.

Maybe shot from a higher perspective (doesn't look like you were standing) with more pavent and less building? That way the patterns on the footpath would sort of balance it out without becoming overly distracting. Downside there is that you lose the context of environment. Alternatively, a vertical composition?

Finally, tonality is very very good in the highlights and midtones; back off a bit on the dark parts to help the girl become separate from the items in the window behind her I think.

coco (28130) 2005-04-30 5:58

Is a good story, but it's a pity that perhaps is not real.
The important: a nice exemple of what means "daily life". Well done.

karina (1084) 2005-04-30 6:40

I'd like to think it is a picture of a beginning rather than an ending. Perhaps an arrangement to meet again soon.
I think I've remarked once before how I like the way you manage to capture the essence of people, of their interactions and the sense of story your pictures portray. This is another fine example of that Animesh.

nerve (10212) 2005-04-30 9:50

Such a great note Mr. Ray!
Creativity needs imagination (which is something you have!) at the end of the day..
I agree with Alex, i prefer this original one too.. but needs something on the right side (something like a hand, a leg, or a black dog, or a cat! lol) Still, i really love the shot, very well cought and composed..
bw

Homerhomer (4005) 2005-04-30 10:06

Animesh....my dear friend.... I like the picture....BUUUUUUUUUT... except for it being a nice picture it doesn't really do much for me, not the photo, unlike many of your other shots, that I will come back to in the future.

I prefer the original over workshop because the pavement draws my eyese nicely to the background, and ws has her behing cut off (don't see a particular reason for it), foreground plant is distracting, and the line in the side walk doesn't work as well as in the original.

Other than that I really don't see much connection, decisive moment, the image doesn't have a movement or any particular feeling for me. Lately I have been looking at images of Erwitt and another magnum photographer (the greek one that has a name including every letter of the alphabet, at least so it seems), and while some of the their shots are composed in a similar fashion, they do have some special moment or connections that IMO this shot is missing.

Anyway I hope you don't mind me being honest.
Cheers
Peter

Isabelle (9014) 2005-05-01 20:43

romantic you!
these b&w shots of yours are just soooo absolutely charming :)
the fact her hand mixes with the white wall bothers me a little, perhaps because it´s the crucial point in the image...
ohhh those clean sidewalks...

hampshiregirl (493) 2005-06-25 4:29 [Comment]