Mujeres Sevillianas

I like the character in front. The polka-dot helmet, the big sunglasses nicely reflecting the street, the more subtle reflections in the acrylic mask of the helmet, even what looks like a colorful and nicely textured jacket and the string of big (probably fake) pearls. The doorway in the background is suggestive.

 

I'm not as thrilled with the woman in the background. She'd be much more interesting to me if she weren't on a cell phone. They are just so common and somewhat mundane in street shots these days that, to be honest, I just find them not usually a very interesting subject matter unless there is some photographic reason why the cell phone would be included. Also, if she were in a more dynamic position relative to the main subject, I think that would help the overall energy of the shot. Being so directly behind the foreground person, even though she appears to be on move, gives the shot a more static composition. Were she given more room in the frame, perhaps had you shot horizontally rather than vertically and waited a moment until she got just a little past the main person, I think the feel of the photo might be more energetic and on the move. I also think, even without the woman on cell phone, this would have made an excellent street portrait because of the intensity of the gave and the fascinating design and character of the main subject.

Thanks for the very astute comments, Fred. I'm very much a novice when it come to street photography and so was pretty pleased with this--especially the the pearls, polka dots & rivets. I agree with you about cell phones: they are to street photography as power lines are to landscapes.

 

I discovered, btw, that I could feature one woman or the other by adjusting the lighting: darker made it about the woman on the phone, lighter made the woman in the foreground the main character. I chose the latter.

You should be pleased with this. Good street work is not at all easy and there's not that much of it that rises above the mundane. I think this photo has a lot going for it and, for me, a few minor differences at the time of shooting would have put it even higher in terms of accomplishment and process. A lot about street shooting is timing and gut instinct and honing those only comes with time and experience. I do a fair amount of street shooting, to gain experience and because I have fun doing it, but I don't show or even work on terribly much of it beyond downloading it to my computer in case I find a gem later.