Winter Warrior

....and winter left in a hurry---wishful thinking!

oh nooo ! I told you we should have bought him a snow blower!

:-)

With the winter we are having,we need a full regiment of warriors like this.Good idea and excellent image!

Meilleures salutations-Laurent

Very good idea and way you worked this photo.I like his expression and attitude,title fit really for this.

His attitude is superb and amazing. Idea is very good and the photo well realize, perhaps a little bit to "perfect". It's give an unrealistic side.

I appreciate.

Benoit. 

So funny! Love it.

A charming and endearing portrait, well conceived, expressive, atmospheric, and genuine. You've captured and created a character here, and the sense of the photo itself seems to support the personality of its subject. The lighting is excellent and helps bring out the character in this man's face, even though his expression itself is so engaging. It's just posed enough to be striking and to seem quite intentional and yet gives off the vibe of such authenticity. You've achieved that balance that a good posed portrait can do so well. The black and white is so well done, not overdone, just harmonious and easygoing, allowing the textures to work together. The background provides us with the sense of the weather, his clothing and shovel tell the story and even though he seems posed and aware of the camera, there is a spontaneity to both his expression and to your framing and the movement of the background that really gives a complete picture. This is just a pleasure. Well done.

Scott's subject must have been to Wisconsin, this winter! A fabulous image for all reasons Fred G has included.

I like this picture. This appears to be a photo illustration/advertising type of approach which works pretty well. The subject certainly is a "character" with a great expression and the overall studio key and fill lighting is crisp and well measured. I can almost visualize the comp with text space left in the lower left corner. The optical distortion of the lower hand enhances the comic element. A nice concept shot with a humorous flair.

That said I have a few issues that are small but worth noting. Even, perhaps especially, on a studio illustration, the details expended in dressing the set will show. The subject seems a bit "dry" for a winter feel. Some judiciously placed wax snow flakes would add to the winter motif. Wind perhaps?

I'm not particularly fond of the background. Good idea, less good execution. The area around the shovel head, under the right elbow, and here and there around the figure are not clean and the shovel head, somehow, merges with it for no obvious reason. This could be easily cleaned up in post. The devil is in the details in illustration work.

Overall, however, nicely done, Scott!

I think the portrait itself is very well executed. As a studio shot, I'm not sure I'd portray it in the same way. I'd rather see him tossing a shovel-full of snow over his shoulder, with a more realistic, yet amusing, facial expression. There are a lot of funny facial expressions that result naturally from various activities, but this one seems too exaggerated. As Louis noted, the shovel head does merge into the background somewhat, though I didn't find that to be distracting. I think this is very nicely done from a technical standpoint.

Technically I think it is well done, and it illustrates a point excellently so it should have buyers in the stock photo market, assuming they can take his comic expression. On a personal level, it's obvious "messaging" and studio location make it a shot that is not very interesting to me, but this is obviously completely unimportant in commercial photography.

Wow, where is William Mortensen these days?
I was transported back to the 'salon' photography of the pre-WWII era by this one.

People who like this sort of thing will like this.

Mortensen called it variously "directed posing" or "directed photography". There are some new books attempting to revive historical interest in this approach and Mortensen.

Marx said that "history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce" - Mortensen was already the second-time for this aspect of 19th c. pictorialism (see Julia Margaret Cameron), so what can we say about additional repetitions? :|

The painted veil immitates snow and the man immitates anger. What is the purpose of this illusion?

I also see, first and foremost, a nostalgic photographical project. Could have competed for being accepted by popular magazines in the 40s, because of its old fashion good humored entertainment. Not much meaning in repeating it.
Technically it is well made, however, apart from the question concerning the upper left corner of the spade, where the sky suddenly emerges in the forefront !

It is a funny expression,but looks theatrical, asked for by the photographer,and aestheticaly, for me, not very significant .

I too like this photograph, even though it appears to be contrived. The look on the subject's face is both bizarre and hilariously funny.

Winter Warrior, experiencing the total and intense cold of our Winter and so much snow, I first saw this image last week but did not have the opportunity to comment. Right away the title hinted at Humour and of course the image is all of that. I am sure I recognize the 'face' and I appreciate the 'chuckle' I had upon viewing. Every image cannot be serious. I do not know that it was meant to be a Studio Shot and commercially available, so I cannot comment on that part of the discussion. I just appreciate the 'comic relief' I experienced during the frigid temps and overwhelming snow that so many of us are experiencing at this time. Well done and many thanks for introducing this 'humour' into a night that has blustery 70-100km hr winds howling at my office window!! Our Wind chill is in the -20c and I read that we are fortunate!
Sincere regards, Gail

"It is a funny expression,but looks theatrical, asked for by the photographer"

Pnina, an interesting observation with which I happen to agree. To put this in perspective, actors are by definition theatrical, often told what to do by directors, just as dancers are asked to do certain things and look certain ways by choreographers. Many people, for some reason, seem to accept directing, posing, exaggerated stances and gestures in many other arts, particularly performance arts, while finding the same thing objectionable in photos.

Many seem to want photos that capture more candidness and less planning and intentional articulation or theatrics than other forms of art, expression, or communication. Some of that might be due to the possibilities the medium of photography offers in capturing unpracticed and unrehearsed slices of life. The thing is, for me, photography offers many possibilities, including the more directed, more posed, and more theatrical aspects it can explore.

I don't find anything at all objectionable in theatricality per se. Some theater, some dance, and some photos look self conscious or cliché or simply don't work for any number of reasons. I can understand critiques on that basis. But theatricality itself, in my opinion, is not the culprit. That being said, I can certainly understand someone's not liking this photo or having problems with the man's particular expression.

Fred, thanks for so nicly expressing your point of view.

As I work for years with the performing arts(dance, theater,and music).I have accumulated the nuances of each of them.

And some examples: Dance: there is the choreographer that has the main idea and is directing the dancers, but each dancer has his own style of movements and many times the choreographer is "adopting"a dancer's way of expression. The same go's in the theater. Music is more the way the conductor is leading.

Photography, when it has started, was immitating reality,(Edgar Degas, the horses galop,and using it later on in his paintings). It means that he wanted the accuracy and"truth"of the horses steps, while galloping.

From that time, photography has developed, and has taken many form of expressivness, but (for me at least) the truth of expression,not neccesarily without artistic twists, on the contrary !but it needs a significance, and even a sense of humor...

This one, even though funny, lakes for me the natural truth.
Fred ,I hope I have well explained my way of thinking , and understanding photography,as well as answering your explanation.

Pnina,
I believe the shot below is what you might be referring to, and why I also noted I did not find the facial expression in the POW particularly appealing. The looks on these boys faces is absolutely real, and to me, hilarious. It's a shot I took with a P&S years ago, but one that continues to amuse me. You often see similar in the sports coverage of the local newspaper.

We may be comparing apples to oranges, however.

Bill, I see your photo as a candid snapshot, and I don't use "snapshot" derogatorily. Anything but, since I think snapshots like this are some of our most treasured and significant photos. I understand why you love it.

The POTW isn't trying and can't compete with such a shot. It's intentionally forced. That's its essence and I can't help but view it with that in mind and with that as its context. In the sense you're using true (which is to equate it with non-posed), of course the POTW expression isn't as true. But I don't think truth has much to do with candidness or posing, since I think much truth can be seen in acting, posing, and intended artifice. Again, one may dislike the POTW, but I hesitate to call that a matter of truth, which I think is much deeper and more important than whether something is posed or not.

The truth I find in the POTW is in the obvious setting of the subject into the created background and the way it all relates to his very forced expression. I may or may not like the expression or the photo overall, but I actually find quite a bit of internal consistency and truth in it and the relationship of expression to style and manipulation.

Fred,
It IS a snapshot, so no offense taken. In fact, I think most photos are merely 'snapshots,' though the more experienced 'snapshooters' generally have a better sense of composition. Hmm, a conversation about what constitutes a photo vs snapshot might be an interesting subject for the 'philosophy' or 'casual conversations' forum, though it's probably been done already.

I don't dislike the POW, but felt that the exaggeration of the facial expression did detract from it somewhat. My snap was merely a demonstration of the idea that you can get natural facial expressions that are both realistic and humorous, which I think might have improved the POW. I can only imagine what my face looks like when preparing to tackle a heavy snow. Thinking about it, I might have tried bundling up to the point where you could see little more than his eyes. But not knowing what the photographer was going for, perhaps it was just what he wanted.

Bill:

It's not only the facial expression that's exaggerated. It's also the context in which the image was shot. What's most exaggerated is the image's reality.

Looking at the photo a bit more closely, I think if the scarf had been around the lower part of his face, it would have been more effective. The expression in the eyes really captures the emotion of someone heading out to shovel snow, so I guess it's really just the mouth I don't like.

Michael, with it being a balmy 22 degrees outside today (in PA) with snow on the ground and more expected, the image couldn't be more real :).