...walking along...

Nice job. This reminds of a work day morning when we are about to lose our solitude and do battle with the crazy world. Congrats on your POTW.

"Darken the midtones which have a digital grey feel to them", suggested Seven Stuartson... Well, I ahree with him, definately.

 

To "sky-crop" or not to "sky-crop", that seems to be the other question... Well, I find J. Henry's "claustrophobic" crop interesting, and I'm also fine with the composition as it was - provided this area would be burned, MODERATELY burned.

 

Overall, it works well for me and is well taken. It's an interesting image/ Perhaps not one that I'd want to look at for many years, and it doesn't have a very profound meaning attached to it, but certainly a fine photo.

 

PS: J. De Beer, thanks for the good laugh. I think you actually hit the nail on the head for me, since you just showed how this image could in fact serve as an explanation for my own divorce...:-)

the paradox lies within the title-photograph relationship.

 

Walking along... towards a crowd seemingly coming straight at you.

 

Concept's not bad at all. i like it. And your wife has some nice legs :)

I'd go for more contrast, definitely, but that's just my humble opinion.

 

Congrats on the POW VAD!

 

Alber Z.

I'll confess that the mid-tones look about right to me as they are - I'd worry about losing the contrast with the tiny bits of true black here and there if they were darkened. I would have to see it done to see if it worked. I'll confess that bit of sky bothers me a bit, but I'm not sure what to do with it. My eye does try to fly up there, taking attention away from the woman, the crowd and the architecture.

I agree with previous comments. I think the sky is too bright and thus too distracting and feels uncomfortable to the viewer (like it actually does when one looks up at a bright sky). I think cropping out the sky "tones" down the overall feel and is more in keeping with the feel of the scene i.e. gentle curve of the road, the isolation of the girl, the calm way in which the girl is walk etc.)

Did you know about this crowd or you had the goog luck to see it ? This shot was very good at the right time and place ! congractulations

SOVIET GREY

This is a 2005 photo shot with 1955 color.

Why not show the buildings and the woman's clothes in glorious 21st century color?

The shapes are good, but the life is missing.

Because good photo is a creative approach, not an information. Good photo is an energetic composition, not a pathetic record of reality. Color is a very strong information and usually offers an easy and impressive effect, an easy "wow". The value of a good photo is in the poetry of it's containment and not in the exact infrmation. It's very difficult for color to be transmuted from a simple impressive information to an affecting containment.

I would say more about this subject but my poor english don't help, I apologize for this.

This photo has all the elements to be a very good photo, sumject, creative composition, high aesthetics. It' s non a simple documentary photo, it's an artistic b&w photo.

A breath of real life. A remarkable image. I agree with the others that the tonal range lacks zip. Congratulations on your well-earned POW, Vlad.

A creative presentation of a dichotomy with subdued grey tones helping to set an overall mood. I agree with the sky and storm drain croppers and I think a standing still foreground person would create even more of an isolated feeling than having her walking toward the crowd. A successful illustration, but to me it has very little aesthetic appeal.

You really believe that something essential is missing when you look at b/w photo? Sometimes color behaves distracting. And what was that "soviet grey" parallel all about? You made me laugh, indeed )

This photo is well done in that it leaves you asking yourself a mutitude of questions. The main being, why is she all by herself? The lines of the road act nicely to bring you from the lone girl in the foregroud to the crowd.

It feels awkwardly framed to me. I would prefer to see the photographer's perspective from dead center in the road, as opposed to slightly right from the middle as shown above. I imagine it being a stronger image with the downtown corridor dead center, with more symmetry, and the road line coming from bottom corner - curving, and then leading directly/straight upwards. A very nice 'grab' nonetheless though. Congrats.

By 'dead center' I mean perfectly 'in-line' with the downtown background.

I think the blank or 'dead' (there's that word again) space between the lady and the crowd far in the background helps to seperate her from the background. I think the curve in the line of the road adds to this seperation. This division is an integral part of the composition and is what makes it really work for me.

VAD, I travelled in the Soviet Union over thirty years ago. The skies were grey, the buildings were grey, the food was grey, the clothing was grey, and life was grey and grim for most people. Ugly, ugly, ugly. Thank God the Soviets have gone. So why use their favorite "color"?

So-called Black and White photos are many different shades of grey; they contain very little black and very little white.

I would ask you to Google 'Prokudin-Gorski', who was taking magnificent color photos of the Russian Empire almost one hundred years ago. They would be quite dull in grey tones.

Your photo of Kiev is a very good capture of a brief moment in time. Do you have a color copy, or did you shoot in B/W mode?

Sent with my best wishes.

The composition works well and the telephoto perspective is very good. It appears that the sunlight is from a difficult direction but that would be entirely beyond control.

In my eyes this photo works perfectly in black and white. Playing on the grey tones of the far end of the street and the darker tones of the woman. I also like the composition with the double white lines leading to the background from the left side of the frame. This photo is an eye catcher. Very well done. Congratulation with the POW.

lovely shot. the story it could portray..so many interesting interpretations you could give it..why is the woman so distant from the crowd? i think she is very seductive but then i believe she is not happy and is pensive and it draws me away from the way she looks to where she is..the location..what could she be think? initially she drew my attention into the image and then i looked at were she was located in relation to the crowd and the emptiness around her..as the photographer of the image i imagine you are a quite conscienscious..there is alot of emotion here that you have captured but most comes from you..it is fantastic.

Hej Vlad, I like this photograph a lot. Specially the way you used the empty space. Thank you. Great shot 7/7

Fantastic street capture, like the isolation of the woman in the foreground amid the crowd in the distance. Wish the inscription on the lower right were on the border instead but that's just my opinion & a little more contrast for punch otherwise a superb capture.

I think she looks very lonely, like she wants to get involved in the life of the city, but she isn't. I like it, and I like the b/w.

 

Debbie

Photo of the Week since I had joined Photo.net. Well produced and executed.

Am I the only one that feels the composition is off balance? Think that sky should be cropped also, it doesnt do anything for it.

Steven, I think others have indicated that they did not like the top of the picture, although not because of coompositional problems, but rather that it was washed out. I personally do like the compostion very much. the tall, tall lady looks good against a taller than broader photograph. At least I do in this particular photograph.

 

I think the sky is washed out because of the fog or haze in the distance. This might have been taken in a seaside town and the morning fog is just receeding. Although the sky is washed out looking, without showing the upper edges of the photograph, one would not quite get the feeling of distance that the haze makes. You will note that there is haze halfway into the photograph obscuring less and less as it approaches the viewer and is totally gone midway up the street.

 

Willie the Cropper