traditional umbrella, membuat payung fantasi

This is a very well done environmenal portrait. The composition of where she is placed in the frame. The expression as she goes about her meticulous work. The DOF is deep & should be. The spashes of color add a vivid quality which just pops this photo to life. Deserving of POW

This is a wonderful portrait, apparently of a craftswoman at work creating umbrellas. The light is wonderful, the colors are striking, and the composition is nicely done. I'm not sure that this is truly an environmental portrait but rather a studio portrait. It appears there is a cloth draped behind the woman, her hand is creating a shadow on the area being painted, much of the working space is dark, and the umbrellas in the foreground are arranged in a manner that I might not expect if this were a shop for creating umbrellas (unless, perhaps, it's necessary for the paint to dry). I just get the feeling this was an arranged photo; as Rashed said, the composition is so well engineered. This is not a complaint, and all of the positives I've described are still relevant. It's just that a feeling of a more spontaneous photograph of a craftswoman in her natural surroundings would have added even more to the entire photograph for me personally (keeping in mind that I may be incorrect and this may be her true working environment).

Dear Stephen, the large cloth behind the model sound like some sort of tent or cover to protect the workers and the place from direct sun light, the photographer is well known here among my all friends in Qatar for his on locations activities, some of my friends visited his country and he accompanied them to many photographic locations, the man is so kind and very friendly and my friends enjoyed being working under his umbrella.
I added this statement for the photographer great well to assist and help others, I thought he deserve the complement.

I forgot to add, after my return from Sri Lanka, I will plan to visit this photographer country and if possible to meet him and enjoy his company as I did by meeting Gamini Wettewe, a great gentleman from Sri Lanka and a member of photo.net, his hospitality was beyond what I could explain and I am very thankful for him.
This is a good experience for photographers from different part of the world to meet and exchange experiences and ideas with each to further promote the Art Of Photography.

There is not a lot to add here that hasn't already been said. I think this image is well done and the arrangement of everything, as Stephen has suggested, hints at more of a studio approach than one that is completely environmental--or maybe one might say it doesn't look "as is". I take this hint not only from the spotless floor and surroundings and the purposeful arrangement, but also from some of the others in this grouping. There seems to be a similar "canvas" backdrop in at least a couple of others and the working areas all seem a bit too sterile to be "working" environments. Then, of course, the lighting is very purposeful and appears artificial, indicating a fair amount of set up rather than being just spontaneous images.

As Stephen suggested, these observations and comments are meant in anyway to diminish the images but more to characterize them as something much more set up than just spontaneous. They are all well done and have a bit more of a commercial feel to them than one might expect if the photographer just happened on the scene. The entire series makes a nice set for showing the various occupations of this locale.

Nicely done work.

I love this image! The colors are fantastic and the arrangement leads you right to the artist.
Having said that, isn't there something more recent that could have been chosen as POW? This was apparently originally shared on photo.net in 2009.

Impressive processing. Great colors, like in all of Rarindra's images. I agree with the foregoing observation about the unusal sterility of the working area. It does seem an idealized, unreal world, but not an impossible one. The hijab seems so impeccably draped around her head and shoulders. I like that she is immersed in her work and seems unconscious of the camera. The kind of work she is occupied in would require very good lighting but it is unidirectional - I wonder: wouldn't shadows impede her work. It's a beautiful photograph that serves the umbrellas very well. I have no idea whether it would have been possible but I personally would have liked a closer view, revealing a little more of the little stool on which she seems to be perched. It's impossible here to know whether she was sitting on a cushion or just a hard wooden base. The image serves to give me an over-all view of the umbrellas with their gay and vibrant colors but does not enable me to appreciate the finesse of the work done on them. Nor does it enable me to deduce much about the craft in the making of them. Still, a beautiful image...

this is just amazing.  Love the colors, the light, the beautiful girl hand painting  these amazing umbrellas.  I was first drawn to the yellow red combo and then to the detail of the actual image and that's when I followed the light and it brought me right to the girl painting, very intent on her work.

peace n abundance,

CheyAnne

Another beautiful image in Rarindra's unique style! The POW was long overdue but it is strange that an image without children was chosen.

It is a nice tourist shot. But that is about all. Given the saturated colors of the umbrellas it would be hard to go wrong color-wise. Yet, I feel this composition is about half a stop too dark. The artist, who ought to be the subject of the composition is pushed to the background and her or his face is half blacked out by heavy shadows. The composition would have been better with more of the artist and less of the umbrellas.

This is the sort of photograph that is best shown to impress Aunt Dixie, who has never been out of Iowa and thinks Iowa City is exotic. I think this photograph is boring.

The biggest problem is the near non-emphasis of the artist and the over-emphasis of the umbrellas.

Well arranged scene, nice colours, would make a great shot for say, a tourist magazine. Referring more to me than the photo, I miss dramatic tension, something which takes an effort to understand and makes me want to come back to it.

Tourist magazines are pretty demanding. The dead dark space in the upper right would turn an editor off, never mind the static nature of the composition as a whole.

I think that if the photog has developed some sort of rapport with the artist, he might have produced a better photo.

Many of subjects of photos don't have to be front and center and can occupy a smaller percentage of the frame and be more demur in their appearance and relationship to what else is in the picture. Often, artists and/or craftspeople consider themselves and are considered by others to be overshadowed by their work itself. Showing an artist somewhat dwarfed by but nevertheless with a strong presence among their work doesn't seem like a bad approach, especially as done in this case. The lighting seems to lead my eye to the person and I am happy to discover that person in the frame rather than be met by that person immediately. There's a sterility about this photo which I don't particularly like and which loses my grip rather quickly, though it makes sense that a photographer would want to handle this photo in that way. What I get from looking at Rarindra's work is a very idealized and somewhat formal view of the world, neat and orderly. This photo seems consistent with that view.

Yes, the subjects do not need to be front and center. This one is practically off-stage. The rule about not being close enough applies here. See if the below is any better. I've lightened the POW and given it a slight crop. The dark and dead space in the upper right is still a problem.

This is certainly a stunning use of colour. I don't care whether it is a set up scene - it is a beautiful image. The darkness of the unlit side of the artist's face adds mystery and a sense of melancholy, the struggle to make a living. However, I think a closer approach, slightly emphasising the face of the artist, would add strength. The brightly-lit point of the red umbrella on the left distracts attention. Just cropping 12% off the left side, and 15% off the bottom, lifts the image significantly. That makes a strong diagonal line from the green umbrella at top left to the dark blue umbrella at bottom right, passing through the artist's eyes. There is probably another photo that could have been made here - a vertical image, just including the artist and the umbrella she is working on.
Bob Bevan Smith
Wellington, New Zealand

Alex, if this were shot for a tourist magazine the chances are largely it would be in a vertical instead of horizontal format. The space being left for text. Editors prefer untouched photos. They prefer doing the editing

Beautiful...congrats on your POW honors...well deserved. 

This is a wonderful image full of colors & beautifully composed. I could feel that there is not much of light in the scene & your usage of the light is good here. I feel the cut out umbrellas on the right bottom, left bottom & top are a bit distracting my viewpoint. Also the extra light coming through the left side which exposes the wrinkles on the BG cloth is a distraction too. Still this is an excellent capture.

I think Fred G. said it very well. If I'm wanting to depict some aspect of the culture rather than a person, this is the type of composition I would probably choose. Rarindra's photos are often readily identified by his control of or manipulation of light. From that point of view, I don't see the dark corner as a "problem:" it helps to set off the artist and especially the umbrellas. His methods are striking, and I can often identify one of his photos just from the thumbnail. They often are stylized, "happy" views of an idealized world (or at least Indonesia). I think Rarindra is exceptionally skilled at his type of photography.

We just see this differently. I think the subject has presence and, more significantly, a kind of presence whose strength is in its subtlety. I also think the "subject" here is something other than but including the person. A lot of great portraits are.

I'm not aware of any such rule that you cite.

I am feeling somewhat of a disconnect with the comments regarding the placement of the person and the "dark" shadow on her face. Just looking at what appears on my screen as about a 3x5 inch image, the person is prominent and I can fully make out the darker side of her face (which I don't even consider important necessarily).

Fred's comment about the art dominating or defining someone is correct, but including context even in other situations can make for a much more rich image than always focusing on the person. In fact, that can tell a more complete story than any up close and personal image. or this...

Wah, pak Prakarsa, saya sangat kagum dengan foto ini dan juga dengan portfolio anda! Apakah bapak seorang komersial fotografer di Indonesia? Salam.

I was also interested to know where such rule came from, although I am not a great believer in rules but basic essentials when put together to form one good image.
I understand the photographer of this POW well work with creative lighting and un usual tones, thats to me is of creative nature where the photographer is aiming for, the person or the figure in the image small or large do not bother me at all, because it is just a part of the place contents and environment, this is not a modeling work where the viewers might be interested to see all of the figure erotic parts.

Love the photo, don't care if it was staged, just wish it were larger.
Cheers ~
Alberta