mother and son Photo

Photographer’s Note

My (essential - unarmed, but sturdy) "body guard" around Port au Prince was Herode, who is sitting on the right ; I went far above my lodging in "Gros Jean" to pay a visit to his mother, who happens to be my « tokay », an affectionate word for a person who shares the same first name : she has to go down quite far to a spring to make her laundry each Wednesday, and her son carries the wet clothes back to home, high in the hills. They are poor, but not miserable ; their house looked very well kept.

Gros Jean ("Gwo Jan"), blessedly isolated, is perched above Pernier ; it is not exactly a village, rather a "commune" of houses and buildings scattered among the hills and in the bushes above Port au Prince ; administratively, the area is depending from Petionville which seems very far away and which has many other problems, so the place is suffering from lack of funds, and forgotten.

The community is very much spread out ; erosion has badly damaged the track, so that no vehicle could reach Herode’s place.

markbrunner, danos, eleparc, manatee, flory, loufah has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

timtheturk (14) 2007-02-27 19:25

Excellent preservation of emotion. Their eyes and jaws spell out simple perseverance. Good coloration.

efi (4361) 2007-03-08 7:30

merhaba catherine;
bu fotoğraftaki tipler ve bakışlar tablo gibi olmuş..bir fotoğraf bin şey anlatır..mesela ikisi arasındaki huzuru,sevgiyi ve saygıyı ve hatta düzenli bir yaşamı hissedebiliyorum..ellerine sağlık..

markbrunner (342) 2007-03-19 7:31

Fantastic,wonderful work!! The composition,color,expressions all are what they should be. I can tell that you get to know your subjects. What kind of digital equipment did you use for this shot? I'd love to hear more about Haiti.

danos (33330) 2007-04-06 4:16 [Comment]

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eleparc (24059) 2007-06-01 6:09

je suis surpris que cette photo n'ai reçu que 6 smileys...les couleurs sont belles, la compo aussi.. manque peut etre un peu de contrastes mais rien que Photoshop ne puisse réoudre facilement...
Votée!
Eric

PS: je viens de faire un ws pour te montrer ce dont je parlais; j'espère que tu aimeras...

[workshop] [compare] +

manatee (4297) 2007-08-22 18:47

Very nice:

Yopu know the mayority to the pictures when you ask to some people to pose for a pictures does not looks well, because they are posing and you dont capture the scence of this peole in a normal day. But in this case, you made it, and this is asome, I like your pictures and the complement of your notes and this is amazing, for me will be so difficult try to do it, I have just a few pictures like this, and I think so you made a wonderful work

Have a nice day

Elias, your friend du Mexique

MiguelP (14336) 2007-08-30 3:21

Hi Catherine... Watching some TE members photos I noticed your nick "no borders" and If you read my intro, I´ve felt somehow connected with you... Visiting your portfolia I´ve stopped in Haiti, probably the only land I have visited so far without doing photos at all.
I love this composition, the two generation, their quite faces. I´m more doubful about the headroom, maybe too much, but it´s just my opinion... Take care.
Miguel

miscaro (148) 2008-03-18 9:02

excelente foto.

Polonaise (5638) 2008-03-26 20:23

A small timeless treasure from your very beginning on TE, Cathy...

Priceless look of her eyes...
The face of a matriarch.
And now, just by sheer comparison - compare that miserable, shrunk silhouette of a man behind...
One glimpse at the scene and you know right away who is calling the shots in here... In this homestead !!!

Love the photo tremendously...

Stay brilliant, gal

g.

..............

flory (4804) 2008-03-26 23:23

my dear Cath,
this photo is full with emotions.possible if could write in my native language,will do it much better..but so..;( believe that a photo is a testimony of a moment.but here looks like a testimony of their life...
amities,
Flori

loufah (68) 2009-02-19 13:07