Detroit sunset, a photo from Michigan, Midwest

Photographer's Note

I have two hours at the guest house before I am picked up. So I sling the camera over my shoulder and head to the fringes of Wayne State campus, where the ornate buildings with huge and heavy brass doors harking from an era of lost memories give way to battered buildings with worn out paint and falling shingles, to vacant lots of abandoned tires and rotting newspapers. I'll call him Joe. He is amused that I, a professor, is walking around here. Do I have a car? Not here, but a friend would pick me up in a while, I say. Do you have work to do? Yes, I say. Good to work. This is hard time. Joe served in Vietnam. Saw war in Cambodia. "If Kennedy were alive, we wouldn't have gone into Vietnam war," ... "we'd never have gone into Cambodia. No, never. Why did we go there? Why did we go to Iraq?" He points to a squat building right across where he and I sat at the edge of the sidewalk, "That was a jail until last year. They closed it down." [This and previous few posts, as well as the next few, were all done without any metering because I ran out of batteries. I seemed to have guessed the exposures somewhat under, being used to 400 ISO films of late]

macondo, papera has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

macondo (20449) 2011-01-09 18:52

Hello Animesh.
I think this shot deserves some recognition. Especially as the note is excellent, and makes us think again about the man in the picture. You did a good job with your un-metered film camera, and it's a strong and striking scan plus whatever processing you did. I do like the tight crop around the two men, and the well timed shot which captures them leaning in opposing directions. The contrast is strong but not too much, and allows us to see the details in the light and shadow on his face. His eyes have a resigned but knowing look in them. You must have used quite a wide aperture which has blurred the background nicely. You must have been tempted to convert this to b/w, but I think it looks good like this, with the yellow t-shirt making a noticeable highlight. Well done, and thanks for the story in your note.
Regards,
Andrew

Salil_B (737) 2011-01-09 18:59

Fine work, Animesh. And excellent note.

Juzo (2151) 2011-01-09 23:58

Hi Aminesh,
This is a fine story and a fine image to accompany it. These people are the everyday, the stories I see and hear here too through my work, and the character...to me, I learn more from this than a postcard image here.
You have a fine instinct for exposure, this sits, just right.
Regards
Justin

papera (14372) 2011-01-11 14:35

hi animesh,
yes, since this is the end of Kodachrome the shots really should stay in colour... :)
the man looks like someone from another decade - if it weren't for the cars in the background I might have thought it's a scan of an old shot.
the interaction between them and you is visible in their eyes - I can hear the conversation :)
great stuff.
c.