Untitled

She looks very scared.

I like this picture. It stood out, and has an interesting dynamic. The girl's expression is terrific.

 

Coincindentally, I think you are the same person who asked about E6 processing in Rochester, who I gave some recommendations to. Nice to see someone doing such good work here. Let me know if you need any other local sources or info.

 

Dave Brennan

A little unnerving - looks like an abduction.

The girl is in no danger. She was playing with her brother when she accidentally hurt him. In this photo, her concern is for her brother; the young man in the left half of the frame is only trying to comfort her.

Nice shot. I would like you to have given it a title (or explaination) so that we can get an idea of context.

 

 

If it was planned, I'd like to see a very different background which I find too distracting with the "third" subject.

 

 

Great expression on the girls face and well captured.

 

 

 

 

Mike Sea

Looks like the girl would be terrifyed... you captured the moment very well.

The child's face is priceless. Her expression is captured so wonderfully that I am going to try to say why the picture as a whole does not quite "work" for me -- just in case that has any interest for you.

 

A photograph may be valued for: (1) the use of its content (eg, advertising, publishing); (2) the content itself -- as itself; ie, as an aesthetic whole (eg, art); or (3) the content as a record of a significant external event or experience (eg, photojournalism, family photos)

 

All are valid but different criteria apply in each case, though the three tend to converge in some of the best photographs. (The relevance of these boring observations will be apparent.)

 

The "young man on the left" is crucial to the composition, creating the diagonal axis that locks the viewer in the silent exchange between the two faces, in a dynamic tension that charges the whole photograph with the sense of an intensely meaningful moment. But his expression is unreadable, and that makes the girl's expression enigmatic. She does not really look frightened to me, but it is an understandable interpretation, viewing the image with no other context (that he is wearing black does not help).

 

Because of the unfathomable neutrality of the young man's expression, the picture as a whole cannot be "resolved" -- it is impossible to understand the girl's expression fully -- and her face is clearly the heart of the image -- so one feels a dissonance, and the young man's presence becomes a kind of visual "noise" -- an integral part of the picture but impossible to fully reconcile.

 

So the "whole" doesn't quite work to me. But: the child's face is a marvel -- such a poignant and complex expression, captured so precisely (and everything -- the movement of her hair as she turns to the young man, the precise angle of the face, the highlighted whites of her eyes, the slump of her small shoulder, etc -- contributes to the power of that expression). Even the blurred figure and background serve the effect, by isolating her in this moment, in a moving world that is utterly forgotten in the intensity of her emotion.

 

And since I don't expect that you made this photograph for any reason except to capture, as well as possible, a passing moment in the life of people you care about (or who intrigued you for one reason or another) the photograph seems a little gem to treasure, just for that child's face -- more so than many photographs that "work." The child's face is a little miracle.

Thanks for the thoughtful and wonderfully thoughtful critique. I see what you mean; the young man's face does seem devoid of emotion. Unfortunately, it was the only shot I got that captured the girl's expression well. It was a dynamic scene in a fairly crowded place and I did not have a long enough lens with me to get a well composed shot that isolated her. I took two other frames, but neither of them captured that look. You're right that this is just a "capture the moment" sort of shot. So here is a later shot that , while admittedly less spectacular, better represents the nature of this interaction.