Everyday life of Highlanders (Podhalan) in the early twenty-first century

I've been a fan of your work for several years now so I'm not surprised to see your name under the photo. Congratulations on yet another fine image. Did you use any panning technique for this image, or did you choose a place on the course that might lead to a shot like this?

What sport is this? The is a great shot. If it was shot in color, I would love to see the color version. I have viewed many of your other photos. I love them. I love your subject matter (horses). I am completelyl jealous that you have the opportunity to photograph these beautiful creatures. You do them justice! Thank you for your work.

adding on to my initial comments above, the moment and the lighting are great, I do find however the line of people in the background, and what appears as a darkening of the upper left takes something away from the overall impact of the image. I wonder if it would be better to darken more, just leaving the horse and carriage in light, or perhaps go the opposite was and leave the image as exposed.

some things don't easily translate into greatness, some of the elements are great, but how to recompose after capturing the moment, to bring out said greatness...

nice capture

incredible shot...you can almost feel the horse's power....really beautiful!

I think the basics have already been said, I do think that this is a great shot and capture of a moment. The diagonal of the horse to the sled and then the completion of a triangle as one draws back to the spectators really sets up some nice dynamics. One of the things I noticed about the work here and in the rest of Wojtek's photostream is that fact that he understands the crop and how to use it. Now I am not one who thinks cropping is an answer to save images and do think one should learn to frame in the camera, but if you are going to do it, he knows how! Here, like his other shots, we know it was a 35mm format and yet presented otherwise. What was done was to use the tightness (but not too tight) to emphasize the movement and to also accentuate the frenetic nature and immediacy of this moment. A looser crop would have left us with a less urgency and energy in the image. Otherwise, I do like that fact that this image is pretty much as it was without a lot of frills.

Almost any image has something we might look at to improve, some not always in our control when we make a shot while some are. Marc G commented on the lack of our ability to see the intense expressions on the faces of those in the sled and I do think that is unfortunate (like in this one http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=8574640.) I think if we could see such expressions here it would really make the shot take a step forward. The other thing I felt a bit about this was that possibly a few areas might be opened up a bit. Except for the highlight on the one pole between the horse and the sled, there really isn't a white that is even close to being blown out. Possibly, the whole image could move up a step or so, but certainly, there could be some lightening of the horses face and maybe a bit more detail in the yoke, and darker areas of the legs. Then also, but keeping a balance to let the horse really shine, in the sled and where the person is backed into it. It isn't necessarily a killer, but I believe that when we open these sorts of areas up, we allow the viewer to get all that more engaged in the image. I think the tonality of the upper left is fine and with some lightening as I mentioned, would set off the action even more.

Definetely a first class action shot. I'm glad to see this image as picture of the week.
Congrats on such outstanding image
Alex

Congratulations Wojtek. This is truly a great action shot which proves the skill of the photographer. The composition is so dynamic that it involves the viewer irresistibly. The expression of the eye of the horse is so powerful that it catches the eyes of the viewer instantly. When the viewer’s attention shifts to the sledge, the snowy background and the curious onlookers are perceived altogether to complete the momentary drama.

Thanks to Elves for selecting this photograph as POW.

You stopped that horse in it's tracks. I was wondering what the shutter speed used was and noticed the metadata was removed from the picture. It would be nice if you kept that information intact. I think the weaknesses of this photo lies in the exposure. The horse is highlighted well but the snow looks a little too grey. It needs to be exposed more to look like snow in the sun. There is also loss of detail in the blacks in the UL corner. This photo may look better with a little HDR work in something like photomatrix or even just the recovery slider in lightroom . Those people in the background and advertisements are very distracting. Maybe a shallower depth of field to blur them out more or a different angle to just eliminate them entirely. But I do like this photo and your portfolio.

A good documentary photo but a difficult photo to enjoy given that it looks very much like the sled has slid out and the horses hind leg is entangled in one of the staves. I hope that the horse survived this event. As an image I think it is let down by the processing as others have mentioned. I also think that monochrome is a curious choice. I wonder whether it wouldn't have been a more powerful image in colour, where we could engage the subject matter directly instead of through the abstraction of monochrome. I certainly find the colour images in Wojtek's portfolio really communicate the energy of this event in a way that this image doesn't.

Great explosion of energy, 5 star Drama :-)

Great depth in this scene with the snow being kicked up behind the sled, and the light wall behind the dark horse. Great diagonal composition. Lucky? Maybe, but luck favors the prepared mind.

There is a bit of tension with the sled to the bottom left corner, which would be balanced out by the cropping of the top and right a dash. Otherwise, I like the contrast as is in the printing, and don't mind the lack of detail in the shadows in the back upper left tree, that's not where you want your eye going.

Yes, it would be nice to have the faces of these folks, not that you could have controlled that aspect anyways, but ducking for cover to save their heads from being chopped off from the looming disaster is to be expected, and it makes it all the more dramatic too.

PS I hope the PEOPLE survived this event!!!

just great.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Very nice pic indeed, i just love the high contrast of it and teh perfect action captured.

This is not a documentary photograph, it is an overwrought Photoshop experiment. Not surprised to see it chosen as Photo of the week though, as the elves do love their digital art.

true that the horse was beautifully captured, flying. The black and white-ness fits well to a nice image. However, I believe there is something missing to the rest of the picture.. shame for example that we cannot see the people in the coach..

excellent shot !!

znakomite
świetne
great

I think I can imagine the expression on the faces of the people, what happened to the horse? It seems that the left rear leg got swept up by the cart.

Great timing!

This is where luck joins talent

Wow...that is cool~

I'm really excited that I found this shot.

a. I'm soon to be shooting with the D700 (that will accompany the same lens used for this shot)

b. Stunning moment to catch! love the contrast and the movement of the horse...almost out of control but it makes you wonder the outcome.

 

Great shot.

 

cheers.

The action was frozen nicely. I would have photoshopped the spectator furthest to the right out of the photo since that spectator somewhat distracts from the main subject. Burning and dodging the other spectators may also draw the focus more to the subject. Still a phenomenal image.