Sunday afternoon In The City

Great catch. The lines of the steps and the white T-shirt lead the eye right to your subject. The skater's concentration and explosive motion all seem captured in the twists of his hands.

Good capture of the explosive moment.

However, from the compositional point of view -and to the risk of incurring, once again, in your displeasure- IMHO, it would have been stronger with that bottom diagonal starting exactly in the right bottom corner. I think, as well, that a square format, with a bit less of the office building, would be better

I am always thinking (hoping) that the explosive moment is when the skateboarder's head impacts the pavement.

 

This looks pretty much like a quick grab shot rather than a carefully planned composition. You could however organize a shot like this due to the fact that there are usually numerous failed attempts to perform these tricks before they are finally executed to the satisfaction (or relief) of the participants. Here in the Midwest there is usually another skateboarding dweeb videotaping the event and still another skateboarding dweeb trying (unsuccessfully) to pick up chicks that happen to be walking by and stop to avoid being impaled by the now unpiloted skateboard. The title suggests that this was practice so I wonder if you took a series of shots.

 

As you may have gathered, I like architecture more than the skateboarders who go around gouging and chipping hard to replace stone and metal off of buildings and other improvements.

 

At first glance there is a lot of visual confusion here, caused by the tree in the background along with the key-stoned buildings (maybe tilted buildings are arty). I might have thought about limiting the depth of field to emphasize the primary subject but then there is the clever inclusion of a leprechaun in the background so I guess that approach is out.

 

I do like the way the steps connect the viewer to the action and draw the eye to the figure in the background. I guess there is another figure on the bench but that is hard to see. Judging from the lens and the 35mm equivalent, you must have been pretty close to the action and did well to capture the decisive (if not explosive) moment. Im sure that normally photos of this type are culled from tens or hundreds of attempts to get something half as good as this.

 

On second consideration, perhaps the tree mimics the gesture and body language of the skateboarder and is a more important element than I thought. While the square windows suggest conformity the tree represents the more organic and enthusiastic feelings of the rider. The trouble with many photos these days is that we only really glance at them and if we do not perceive their message or meaning instantly it is lost on us forever.

 

If I wanted to expand on the organic connection, I might point out the correlation between his camouflaged hat and the bare limbs of the tree.

 

I am interested in hearing your thoughts because they are consistently more interesting than mine. This is a complex composition and it is fascinating to see the many choices you made along the creative path.

 

I also want to mention how much I enjoyed reading the tribute to your parents but it seemed almost sacrilege to post any of my trite comments there. Thanks again for sharing your work and thoughts.

 

Thanks for your comments on this very minor piece of photography.

I was down to the second last image on the chip. So I had to take a picture, inspect it and erase it if it wasn't any good. This is not quite as nerve-wracking an experience as being down to the last frame of film and having only one chance to shoot a keeper. It is somewhere in between that and possessing a gigabyte chip on JPEG with unlimited exposure possibilities. My main challenge was to shoot the picture and, if it was no good, erase it before the next skateboarder came along.

We only walked this way, down Sunday Sydney's "skateboard alley" because the Fearless T-Rex Hunters wanted to see "skaybores" (or "skybers", depending upon whether you were listening to FT-RH The Elder or FT-RH The Younger). These are kids that can't yet catch a beach ball lobbed right into their arms, so skateboarders - even when NOT quite performing their tricks fit to please the crowd - are indistinguishable from magic.

I have to confess that I had the D100's focus on "Continuous" as an experiment in follow-focus. It worked quite well, although I doubt whether manually twirling the focus ring wouldn't have been any less successful.

Shots like this are basically pot-luck. You either get a good one or you try again. I don't regard it as anything really good, but we only had a few minutes until the subway train was due to leave, so I had to make do with what I managed to capture. I mean, isn't there a whole genre out there? of skateboard photographers? They'd do a much better job than I would, although in defense of myself, this was the first image I took, in a series of about 10 (of which 8 were erased). Just goes to show: original decisions are often the best.

I still don't see the allure of skateboarding, though...

Dennis... one day we must meet up and have a beer.

The more I look at it the more interesting the photograph. The person in the background is just in the right place. The steps in the foreground...just a great composition and a great catch of the moment. Should be a POW.

I quite like this shot, though it would have been better with the step lines coming into the frame rather than out, and of course there's the tree stabbed through his shoulder blades which judging by the point of exit, looks acutely uncomfortable. But seriously, I have tried many mid-air skateboard shots of my son, and this looks way better than any of my hopeless efforts. The D100 is obviously better at tracking and latching on than a D60. Having said that, wider lenses do fix much quicker (especially in areas of contrast). Hey, it's great to see a recent addition to this folder Tony!

This is a nice snapshot as far as it goes.

 

One thing: the phony 'hand-printed', but obviously digital font, and the photoshopped matting w/ drop-shadow add absolutely nothing to the image. If this were part of a brochure or ad or anything else legitimately involving graphic design, maybe. As a stand-alone, not.

 

P.S. I appreciate the ironic and self-deprecating title of the folder, 'poor imitations of [HCB]', but this doesn't do justice to ~25-30% of the images in it, which are pure TD. And I think you know which ones they are.

The phoney handwriting has become a habit, and is much neater than my own. I like the frame and the drop-shadow effect, as otherwise the photograph just disappears into a white snowfield, courtesy Photo.Net. Am I convincing you?

 

As to the "HCB" portfolio name comment, you're talking hokum, Mr. Codswallop. Or is that codswallop, Mr. Hokum? Either sounds about right. The first forty or so images were taken with the Old Man's work in the back of my mind. Not a bad bench mark to set myself, I thought.

 

P.S. When you were thinking up your "clever" pen name, you should have made it a three-worder: adding "Balderdash" at the end would have made you (yet) another "HCB" imitator.

*gasp* you sussed me!

tony, your usual standard... but dump the aweful typeface!

 

steve