Children in Wales

You've captured the spirit of life in this neighborhood. Thanks.

Nice photo of life in this neighborhood. Who knows what these kids are running from. Very cool.

you've caught a great feeling, good job.

A masterpiece. The composition is astonishing. The action is perfect.

you are a great photographer. can you teach me.

How is it possible that there are ratings with just 4 ??? This is realy great! I would love to have one of yours in my "pocket"... Also I'm teached by this images!

The only thing missing is a dog, with a ball in its mouth, running ahead of the boys. . . All of your images are captivating. They tell a story. Your timeless photojournalism inspires me.

Hey Dennis,

 

I'll bet you one of those collector edition $7K Leicas this wasn't altered in any way.

 

Vuk.

I like the picture ... I wish I could have been running with them :)

 

To Dennis: There is lots of research in psychology that leads (cognitive psychologists) to believe that when you look "for" something, you are much more likely to find "clues" that suggest something exists. To give you an example, if you look for photoshop's effects, you are more likely to find them than if you did not specifically look for them.

Dennis, I have seen an original print of this and assure you that there is no photoshopping involved. The only coincidence with the position of the arms is Ian knowing exactly when to press the shutter release. BTW - this photo is also not cropped. It was all done pre PhotoShop and in camera.

POW? Great! I always loved your pictures and I think the elves actually made a great choice for the second week in a row. You have a great eye for simple, yet attractive subjects with a high human interest. And the fact you captured this scene with a pretty simple camera also speaks for your talent. Good job. This is my favorite POW for a very long time.

The reason Dennis finds himself wondering if its real or altered is that when one sees a shot done well, done right, with the exposure perfect, the composition perfect, the scanning perfect and the "printing" perfect it all looks so good as to be unreal. Funny how the more "real" it looks and the more it jumps off the page, the more people wonder if its a fake. It's called good solid technique people! And more people should be focusing in on that than whether they should trade in their 2 year old AF, auto-everything camera for Nikon or Canon's newest and greatest. Look at this one! Taken with a P&S (albeit a very good one) on old B&W emulsion. Great job.

This is terrific Ian, I really love the composition.

Your Rollei was a TLR yes? Do you think you would have shot it the same way with a zoom lens in your hand?

This is a worthy POW. Looks real to me. Fresh perspective. A moment well caught.

Ah, a fellow Rollei 35s user! Beautiful picture Ian! Your shot goes to show its not the camera doing the work but the photog thinking about his shot. The camera merely records it.

Finally, a truly worthy POW! What an eye. What timing! For me, the only thing that kept if from being a perfect 10 was the distraction of that tripod-like structure in the lower left. As a full-frame, uncropped shot, this is a real achievement, but for presentation, I think I would crop out just enough from the left edge to remove that distraction. Still, this is a great photograph, one that I will remember for a long time.

Another benchmark.

I really like your picture, Ian. It also reminds me of Doisneau. Excellent work.

I like this image, but there are a couple of things about it that I don't care for. The first is the top of the image- too much emphasis on the buildings in the background for my liking-they simply occupy too much of the frame, IMO. It competes with the children for my attention. A crop slightly above the telephone pole, and a bit more cropping on the left side to remove the fence (or PS the fence out) would clean up the composition a bit, IMHO. Otherwise, a very fine image.

The complexity of all the different angles and shadows makes this shot very interesting. I like seeing the corner where to the two streets meet, wondering what different things might be happening down each street. The simplicity, for me, is reflected in the children...simply running and playing!! As always, I love black and white. This is the way every day should be!! Wonderful...thanks for sharing.

Yes I think this is POW. The last times somebody gave us some snapshoots not art as a POW. Thnx for this picture.

This is great photography, inspirational to say the least. Composition is deliberately spontaneous, perfect to my eye. The light is an influential aspect of the whole, dont you think, which isnt so very often true in this type of photography.

The photo did strike me as being a bit flat. On closer inspection, it proved to be a pretty good compromise, but I feel I could make a richer print if I had the negative. Perhaps even some sacrificing of the extreme tonal scale was in order here.

The movement of the kids is almost miraculous, I agree, but I think we sometimes attribute too little of a great photographs merit to luck. Obviously you dont get lucky if you havent pressed the shutter-release, but if you do take enough photos, eventually you will have a selection of pictures where luck has added the final stroke to the masterwork. Perhaps luck contributed here? (This doesnt undermine the photographers expertise, just reinforces the need for constant practice.)

It is interesting to me that Ben Torres Jr. supposed the children were running from something, while they immediately struck me as running to something. Maybe I know enough about the Welsh to think there are few things indeed that make them run away.

A tribute to the hardiness of working-class life in Britain in the seventies. And to the indomitable human spirit, capable of rousing beauty and joy amidst any circumstances.

Yes! A photo from one of my two favorite folders here on photo.net! The other one is "asylum" by the same guy. If you just looked at this one, I strongly urge you to look at the folder it came out of. Probably the best B&W photography here.

A lovely picture, reminds me of Roger Mayne's work in Glasgow.

Housing in Wales hasn't changed so much since the 1970's, so this could represent today as much as then, especially in the valley's.

 

I think the Rollie camera is a small rangefinder, am I right?

Because rangefinders benefit from the persistant viewfinder, allowing you to click away without 'blackout' that you get with a mirror based SLR. This can help to catch the moment.

I love the childrens little legs, were they running or skipping?

Lovely stuff.

THIS one is REALLY G R E A T ! :-) At least for me