Shadows in Chiapas Photo

Photographer’s Note

Light in tropical countries has that wonderful quality, especially in winter, that I have seen nowhere else. It is different from the slanted light in more northern or southern climes, harsher, yet strangely evocative of time and place that is typical of such places as Mexico. Perhaps it is because of the Mexican series by HCB and his followers, including by Alex Webb in color. Perhaps that is simply because light is unique in Mexico. One feels a magic in the air in the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas. You can see some of this magic in the latest uploads from Prantik.

designsoul, gabrielpat, bombilla, prantik, sowhat has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

gabrielpat (6553) 2007-03-25 16:37

hi Prantik;
nice perspective of this tipical street of mexico.the woman is at the right place on the image.well done.

bombilla (3402) 2007-03-25 16:43

True. . . and yet, nothing is softer and more serene than the afternoon light over the mountains around Las Casas. When the sun dips behind the pine-covered peaks and sets the blue sky alight with a glow like simmering gold and the whispy clouds that cross the sky like convection trails are tinted amber and, later, charcoal . . . when the light is like that, sublime and narcotic, over the silent stone city, no place is more soothing and peaceful. Indeed, during those hours, on those days, when a visitor is fortunate enough to be up high on a hill to soak in the long fade of light, there is no place else in the world at all.

That's not the light of this photo, though. This is the sharp light that shuts out the visitor, that unopens the door, the sends him moving laboriously up the narrow sidewalk, his feet aching, past the silent white walls, and the silences they hold within.

-Hugh

prantik (1134) 2007-03-25 19:17

Animesh

That's very kind of you to mention me in the link, appreciate it.
This picture has your signature written all over the frame. You have this exceptional ability to get the perfect exposure and bring out all the essential details both in the shadow and in the highlight. Both the light and the shadow are uniquely Mexican , or should I say Cristobalian, in this picture. Like a curved dagger the shadow invades the frame and our eyes follow the contour and halt unsatiated at the end of the road. What's beyond?

Regards
Prantik

scalerman (25787) 2007-03-26 2:35

Animesh: I've also been following Prantik's artistic stuff from Chiapas. Both of your uploads are great buffeting of the chiapas section. Great balanced light and great shadowed compo - super sharp too. take care, c

hgupta (1321) 2007-03-26 2:39 [Comment]

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bantonbuju (48796) 2007-03-26 3:11

hi animesh,
how did you do this? how did you manage to properly expose all the ares of the image?
indeed the quality of the light is enormous - details of the sidewalk are exceptional...
love this endless and empty street, you were really patient to wait for that lonely by-passer...
bw, j.

jonathan_hart (22623) 2007-03-26 4:11

very good composition in B&W, nice play with great light and shadows, excellent framing with a good perspective, well seen
regards
jo

Furachan (0) 2007-03-26 5:42

Boy, you kept this gem hidden long enough, eh? There is a special clarity, I should say "precision" about your work with the F3 and the 28 F2, don't ou thik. It brings out the geometer in you ;o) Beautful perspective with that loooong shadow snaking across the frame.
A gem, as I say.
Best,
Francis

designsoul (21394) 2007-03-26 8:36

Yes, I love Prantik's Mexican uploads, and yours as well. Haven't uploaded them for a while, am glad you are coming back to more. You are right, the light looks so definitive and harsh compared to the more ponderous and coy one up here in the North. It does offer an incredible abstract quality that clearly contributed to the power of this shot drenched in a sense of solitude that Marquez would be much more apt to dwell on...
Great one, Animesh, will be back...
sasa

sowhat (981) 2007-03-26 12:11

beautiphul, very graphical image with an excellent control of the perspective and a good choice of primary subject : light.
TFS,
Ioana

kensimage (8543) 2007-03-26 22:52

I like how the shadow line in the foreground just lets the road flow off into the distance in a very graceful way, really nicely done! The light indeed has a harshness, perhaps due to the high angle, but you did a great job of getting detail everywhere. The only small flaw, I think, is the way a patch of brightness seems to wash out the upper third of the woman. But the shot has a great small-Mexican-town atmosphere that I really like. Regards, Ken.

nerve (10212) 2007-04-03 3:26

i can sense the 'quietness' in this place, you drew that perfectly. contrast is just right too imo, love the charcoal sharpness as well..
yes, very Marquez feeling too as sasha says.

Ps. Prantik's and your pictures about this town really impressed me Animesh, but my all-time favourite is that "This is San Cristobal" for sure..