Photo

[angus_ngtg]

Hello lusers,

 

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This is a photo of a young bride to be the day before her wedding. She is having henna applied to her feet in preparation for the upcoming ceremony. It was taken with a Leica M6 and 24mm 2.8 ASPH. It's one of my favorites from a series on the Sikh community. Hope you like it.

 

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Best,

Tom

 

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<img src="http://www.photo.net/photo/574200">

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[angus_ngtg]

Sorry, don't know why but I can't seem to post photos. Here is the

link. http://www.photo.net/photo/574200

 

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Regards,

Tom

[albert_smith]

Tom,

 

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The photo's caption on the photo.net site says that it was made with

a 21mm lens, while the narrative in your post says it was made with a

24mm lens. I'm not being picky, but I am thinking hard about a 24mm

lens for my M6, and just want to make sure I am seeing a correct

example.

 

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Thanks!

[angus_ngtg]

It is indeed the 24mm. Sorry for the confusion but everytime you add

a photo on photo net they ask for all the info. I no longer own the

24mm so I just plugged in something to get the photo uploaded.

 

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Best,

TG

[kristian dowling]

It's nice Tom. it's sharp, well composed, but i think it is a little

"National Geographically" framed. Most National geographic

photographers with their 17-35mm lenses are doing this in your

face close up photography of people in their surroundings. While

it relates the person to the environment, while getting close to

the subject, it also looks a little unrealistic, and distortion takes

effect, which is a little unflatering to people at times. not so much

in this case, but on the verge.

 

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I personally prefer the 35mm or widest 28mm for this kind of

work, though Rob Appleby might disagree as he's been longing

for such a 24mm lens. Anyway, that's just my opinion and I

actually liked the image. My advice is to take these pictures, but

don't try too hard to mimic the new styles of journalistic

photography. These types of shots are never usually

remembered.

 

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good work though. i enjoyed loking at your image. PS. obviously i

am biased against this new age photogrtaphy- call me old

fashioned, but not old...I am 23.

 

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kristian

[nesrani]

I haven't been longing, the 24 is one half of my 2 lens set up!

 

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Excellent picture Tom. Very good.

[stephen_jones4]

Very involving. I really liked this. The composition maybe isn't

perfect - a couple of distracting hightlights - but there's a great

sense of emotional involvement - I feel I might know her, if you

know what I mean. I think it's probably quite National Geo in a

way but that's not necessarily a bad thing - it's a picture that

quickly and compellingly gives a lot of information about a story.

I'll shut up now. Obviously I thought it was very good.

BTW, I don't think there's sufficient distortion to uglify things.

[msitaraman]

Tom,

 

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Great picture! Wonderful!

 

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I'd be interested to hear your thoughts about color vs. black and

white for your Sikhs project.

 

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Also, where can we see more pictures?

[pcg]

Lovely shot. The only part I dislike is the small black pocketbook

in the bottom left corner. It's vaguely distracting, but I say that only

in the context of "trying" to be critical. My sweeping first reaction

is, Cool!

[richardvanle]

I'll have to respectfully disagree with Kristian about it being too

"national geographically"-framed. Perhaps a way to alleviate that

would have been to move the left just a bit so that the bride

wouldn't be so close to the edge of the frame (though as far as

distortian goes, it's not much). I think it's a very nice shot. It really

feels like part of a larger story and makes me want to see more

of the series.

[iván]

Hi, Tom:

 

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Good photo, indeed.

 

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That said, I would suscribe most of Khristian's opinions. And I

wouldn't call myself old fashioned though I'm 54.

 

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But one easily sees why this could be a favorite image: because it

certainly deserves it.

 

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Regards, Tom

 

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-Iván

[kristian dowling]

Hey i wasn't trying to be rude....I guess i can't type in the same

way i'd would have preferrred to say it in person. Anyway I agree

with Richard's advice. Keep it going though......I am sure you can

do better than NG.

[angus_ngtg]

Thank you all for your comments, much appreciated. I chose black &

white for this project because I was shooting color for all my other

assignments and I missed black & white. I was doing it for myself so

I didn't have to worry about restrictions.

 

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I am hoping to post more photos from this project soon on photonet.

 

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Thanks again for your posts,

 

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Tom

[Spearhead]

I like it, it has a great feel. The wide angle look fits well with

the framing.<p>

 

Here is a <a href="http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?

photo_id=574200 ">link</a> that can be clicked to see the photograph.

[vic_.]

Tom,

 

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As a Sikh, your photograph was more than just a well-composed image

to me. The black and white picture conveyed more than its intrinsic

composition and MTF quality, yada yada. That a Westerner could do

this with another culture is a testament to your understanding of the

emotions that a bride to be is going through.

 

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This gets me thinking about another thing. I have the Leica M Brian

Bower book, and I find the compositions in there to be very

insightful, and having actual examples of pictures is good to see.

However, the two books that are my favorites at the moment are the

out of print "Cartier-Bresson in India" which I just happened upon

recently in a Borders bookstore while out of town, and "Rivers of

Colour" by Raghubir Singh. I mention these two books because I am an

Indian and the images have a deeper meaning to me than their

compositional value, which is terrific. I really appreciated the set

of pictures (in the website) by Robert Appleby, all the more so

because he succeeded in crossing that line, from being an observer to

actually being part of the scenes. That is a great skill. To go

beyond just being a technically good shooter, and capturing the

emotion, *and* being able to tansmit that emotion to a viewer. Ok,

so not every viewer will react with the same emotion, but you get

what I mean.

 

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I saw the book by Allard, on the American West. I think it would

resonate more with someone from the American West, than even someone

from New York. So that intangible, the circumstances from which one

originates, have a lot to do with the attraction of a picture. Some

pictures generate a lot of emotions.

 

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Some emotions are the same no matter what culture one comes from, but

some are more appreciated by those from that culture.

 

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My favorite Mapplethorpe picture is the USS Coral Sea. I don't know

if anyone has seen it, but it is a powerful picture for me; and most

of it (almost ninety percent of the frame) is just gray. Who can

tell what it is about a picture that will strike a chord with

someone? Is that a random thing?

 

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Thanks again,

[angus_ngtg]

Hello Vikram,

 

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Thank you for your kind words about my picture, I appreciate it. As

for photos that strike a chord. Recently I found a first edition copy

of the book 'A Greek Portfolio' by Constantine Manos. The book

represents an

impromptu pictorial account of Manos's travels through rural Greece

and the Greek Islands. For me it is books like this that make

photography so magical.

 

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If your a fan of Raghubir Singh and Bresson's India book you might

want to check out Steve McCurry's book 'south southeast', another

great monograph with incredible photos from India & South East Asia.

 

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Best,

Tom