a few hard years old Photo

Photographer’s Note

This is one of kids living on high altitudes , above 3000 m, in Simen mountains. They spend their day tending animal herds on the mountain slopes in the hot sun and strong wind, and in the night, below zero degrees, they sleep in shelter built out of sticks ,full of hundreds of flies, without the fire , because this is national park and wood is very expensive.
They do not wear any shoes usually and sometimes no pants, just a thin blanket you see here. That is why they look like old dwarves, not children, and a man lucky to reach 30 years looks like he was 50. This is poverty at its extreme, even in Ethiopian reality, cos it is a lot harder to have nothing when its cold than when the sun shines and you can just sleep under a tree.

He is a holding a piece of bread. I paid with this bread for a picture, even if I try to avoid giving things to kids. He took it with enormous gratitude seen in his eyes, and then followed us on the mountain for an hour in hope of getting empty plastic bottle when someone from our group finishes his mineral water.

Tayon, markoci, tjanze, bnallama, sengir, moxon, SamB, designsoul, hamster, hajle, Mistral, joni, Buin, MLINES, rhizomes, KevRyan, maciekda, Miks, benkrut, Facsi, pasternak, Anita16 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

iant (63) 2005-12-16 6:46

A great viewpoint and use of a wide angle lens concerning the difficult subject of poverty. The flash is maybe a little harsh on the hand, distracting slightly from the boys's face, but a good picture nonetheless.

sheilaz413 (275) 2005-12-16 6:47

This is an awesome picture! I love the light and the vivid colors are amazing as well! Good stuff, cheers for posting! Interesting note as well.

Tayon (1840) 2005-12-16 6:52

Hi Swiatek
What a strong picture !
You got a fantastic POV to took this photo.
The hand of the (boy?) is a must.
I wonder if you used a flash cause the ilumination of the boy´s face is very good.
Good colours too.
Well done.
Tayon

tjanze (5674) 2005-12-16 7:45

Hi Swiatek!
Fantastic portrait and very sad story.Hand is a little out of focus,but like I said,fantastic.

sarhanp (122) 2005-12-16 7:50

Hi Swiatek,

What a portrait !!! Perfect POV and framing. You are pointing the idea powerful here. Suberp photo !

Many thanks,

Sarhan.

markoci (3917) 2005-12-16 7:50

a very strong picture swiatek. beautiful composition from a god pov. and that hand is just incredible. no shoes and just a blanket... what is the temperature there? at above 3000m at night it must be below freezing even at that lattitude. the fill in flash was a not a bad idea, i guess there was too much backlight but i think it's too strong (do you have flash compensation on the d70?) the double shadow (the flash and the sun) is somewhat disturbing. perhaps a bit too contrasty and oversharpened too.

bnallama (3755) 2005-12-16 7:52

Swiatek!! What a great one this is!!! Do you have more hidden gems like this in your HDD?? Reminds me so much of your shot of the Berber (or nomad) woman...
Fanstactic POV and extremly strong subject... the hand's makes this one a real winner...

One thing though I think the flash is a bit harsh here especially on the hand...

A great one IMHO... and no reason why it shouldn't go to my favourite... TFS

Bala

grzegorz (955) 2005-12-16 8:16

swietny portret!! ta zniszczona reka, spracowana twarz, glebokie spojrzenie... rusza... i to mocno...
Gratulacje!! gr

sengir (4946) 2005-12-16 8:16

kurde, niesamowite. Ta reka po prostu rozwala... doskonale.

moxon (457) 2005-12-16 9:39

Wow, what a dramatic picture. Great POV, really emphasizes how haggard he looks. The strong flash is strange but adds to the mood of the photo.

SamB (1948) 2005-12-16 14:00

Great shot, dramatic enough in its own right, but the note makes it even more dramatic. Great composition, great emotional and visual impact.

sam

designsoul (21394) 2005-12-16 18:08

very powerful shot--the skin on this child's hand is incredible... so dry... holding a piece of bread, following you endlessly for an empty plastic bottle... my heart is overflown with sadness
Your shot is really gripping
The fill flash was an obvious choice from this angle, surely
it also brings out so many details and colours
the big sad eyes and chapped lips of the boy
Bravo
Sarolta

Dionysos (1234) 2005-12-17 3:33

Hi Swiatek,

It is really a very creative, powerful composition. Great photo, congratulations.

hamster (1045) 2005-12-17 4:59

Mocne zdjecie, szczegolnie po przeczytaniu opisu. Dobrze, ze umiesciles takie zdjecie i napisales, co napisales. Swoja droga, to niezly ladnie wykadrowany portret. Domyslam sie, ze to jego dlon u dolu? Nie mam pytan... przykre.. Rzeczywiscie widac emocje w jego oczach.

hajle (1087) 2005-12-17 8:15

bardzo dobre, przejmujace, swietny opis, idealnie oddane realia

coco (28122) 2005-12-17 16:20

Hi Swiatek.
Touching and great portrait.
Just great. And this one is that kind of photos where you mustn't say why you like. Even more, this one can speack by itself. And we can learn a lot of.

Regards.

Mistral (13780) 2005-12-18 17:30

Impressive photo and touching note.
Swiatek, each of your photo tells a story.
DoF is great here and also PoV is great (as usual for you).
Great shot!
Luca

dumaresq_ca (1880) 2005-12-27 11:26

Salut Swiatek,

image très bien composée avec de belles qualités photographiques: couleurs, netteté, cadrage. Bien sûr qu'un tel sujet se traîte avec toute la sobriété requise, ce que tu as fait. Bouleversante image.

Amitiés,

Yves

hackman (151) 2006-01-02 15:42

very virtuous photo, story, maybe for a book, really strong ...mik

MLINES (10966) 2006-01-15 5:38

What a moving photo. Your note is to the point. How fortunate are we who have home comforts, and how much we take for granted. This pic shows a result of tough living. TFS.

KevRyan (22418) 2006-01-15 6:08

Such a strong and telling portrait Swiatek - his eyes of course but also the textures of his skin and the blanket - the flash is maybe a little too much on his hand but probably a good choice in a situation of limited choice - the rest of the picture more than makes up for it from the strength of the image - a powerful point of view .....even to the extent of the detail revealing the contents of his nose - it all tells his story. A good note.

I've just been discovering your more recent stuff with Jerzy in Warsaw - some really great work! Man you've got an interesting path in the world!

best wishes Kev

TomekWalkiewicz (233) 2006-03-01 10:30

fantastic!!
grat work

Miks (1707) 2006-04-13 19:28

Disturbing image. An important portrait as well as a photographically excellent one. Fantastic angle. The underexposure and flash combination contributes a lot to making this image so strong. In part because the colours of hte carpet is brought out. The inclusion of the hand in the forground is a fine compositional contribution.

Thanks in particular for the informative, if disturbing, photographers note. I share you reluctance to "buy" photos from kids in particular. But, on the other hand, an image like this can be very forceful in raising awareness of third world poverty.

I'll make it a fav. Damn, I'll make you a fav...

pasternak (13646) 2006-10-13 4:50

One of the strongest pictures I have seen here. Awesome. The skin on his hand looks as if he was wearing a rubber glove.

Cheers
Alexander

robertstencel (17) 2007-05-26 11:54

Hej! Portret jest super - naprawde zazdroszcze wyczucia kompozycji.Flash jeszcze bardziej wyostrzy³ postaæ tworz±c ciekawy efekt. Pozdrawiam.

hanoded (86) 2007-08-13 4:04