Berlin 2

Really well done; you've certainly created an air of claustrophobia in an otherwise beautifully balanced composition.

Like this a lot, great idea and presentation................Holger

Very good street with excellent focus.

Great capture, Arthur! Right moment on the right place! PDE

Simply superb! Very well caught if spontaneous, ore excellently executed if staged. Either way it is an excellent photograph, and BW makes it look like the good, classical school. DG

It's a staged scene where I wanted to create a paranoid feeling i.e. you didn't knew i you where under surveillance from Stasi in the old East-Berlin. Today we are being kept under surveillance by our own authorities using CCTV technique instead. Jack, Holger, Saad, Pierre, and Daniel your comments will definitely push me ahead as a Photographer. BR, Arthur

interesting composition

I think a bloody handprint or smearing would have been an awesome addition! Well done.

I wouldn't have thought Arthur shot this in Berlin, if not for the title. As such, the image makes a powerful statement about the city's political situation. Also, initially I was going to comment on the feeling of paranoia the image conveys due to the close quarters, but Jack beat me to the punch. So, I'll conclude by noting that the image is quite quite well crafted; Arthur, congratulations.

The composition is great. The scale of the hand works well. Perhaps just a tad more view of the head would add a bit to the overall feel, though the way the head is now may put me on edge enough to be successful. They say to leave them wanting more and maybe this does it!

 

I don't feel claustrophobia as my main response, though it's in there, because my eye is being drawn to the outside, so I feel the escape route more than the confinement. I wish what was going on in the distance outside were a bit more engaging. As I said, that's where my eye is led but I don't get much of a payoff from it. It looks like maybe kids playing, but if I could get just a little more involved in what that action is, if it felt more like a decisive moment, I think I'd appreciate the photo a bit more.

 

I'm not getting the paranoid feeling of surveillance, though I understand that was your intention. To accomplish that, I think you'd have to adopt a different perspective that suggested surveillance, perhaps more from above and a bit more distant to the main subject than from the side and so close. This perspective doesn't feel like it's coming from something clandestine or hidden but rather from something more a part of things and intimate. I think paranoia would be something on top of the surveillance which might be accomplished, among other possible ways, through some different lighting, darker, more threatening shadows, etc.

 

That said, I applaud your efforts at communicating something relatively specific and doing it through thoughtful staging. That's not always so easy and so many photographers don't ever try to actually communicate something they're thinking about or feeling in the moment. It looks and feels like a photo meant to do that and that, in my eye and mind, puts it heads and shoulders above a lot of other, much less considered and conceived photos. [i intended my comment to be in several paragraphs for clarity. It baffles me beyond belief that PN, after a year and half of the dopey redesign, hasn't been able to allow us to put paragraph breaks in our POTW comments. I guess this simple fix is just too much to ask. What a joke!]

My intention where to create a scene including form, content and sending a message about surveillance. My ambition about the topic paranoia where not to strengthen the scene using effects as often are showed in horror movies. I see your comment as I've developed my skills. I fully agree with you about the missing possibility to structure the text (are they not aware of the common use of word processing). Fred, I'm honored that you took your time to comment my image in-depth.

Bernardo, Sam and Michael , thanks for your comments I'm honored.

Arthur, thanks for your response. I agree that giving this a “horror movie” treatment would likely destroy it for being over-the-top. I think darkness and shadows can be handled in more subtle ways to suggest more psychological paranoia instead of overly dramatic paranoia. As I said, shadows would just be one way to suggest it. I didn’t feel paranoia from the content alone. I wasn’t necessarily suggesting that you can now add it in post processing. It might have had to be accomplished in your original shooting. I don’t necessarily even think the photo needs to exude paranoia, or even surveillance for me. I think the composition and the different geometrical textures playing off each other along with the way my eye is led to the outside is enough of a mixture to create visual interest.

A good version of a classic. When in Berlin one must make at least one bw photo standing in the 19,000 m ² holocaust memorial. People do the weirdest things in there, seek and hide, other children's games etc.

I had some thoughts about this staged scene i.e. should I or should I not. Philip Carlo, your comment is much appreciated.

unusual work...well done...regards....David

David thanks for your comment which is much appreciated.

great capture with B&W color .

Congrats!

Bobby, thanks for your comment which is much appreciated. Best regards, Arthur

looks posed but still fresh.

Jamie, it's staged an idea I got from the DDR time (Stasi). Thanks for your comment which is very much appreciated. Kind regards, Arthur.