Adopted

I can see your point Frank. Honestly that possibility never really occurred to me and I am having a hard time thinking of another title that would describe my initial idea as well.

 

Words are important and have different meanings based on the way they are used and who is using them. I wasn't really thinking about individual parents but rather the whole society and culture. If I had wanted to indict parents on a more personal level I might have chosen a title like "Custody," which would imply a battle for the physical control of the child. This image was and is about the desire to control the heart and mind; and to influence every future decision that the person will make beginning in childhood and ending in death.

This is a great shot. Absolutely agree with Todd, this photo speaks volumes and is a great

social commentary, then add the title and WOW. At first I thought it would be good to

remove the "transmitter" from the window, but after reading Dennis' comments I would

leave it. I don't care for the opening up of the shadows, the picture becomes too flat.

Great capture, Dennis, just the way it is.

This , IMO is nowhere near a great shot. It is a thoughtful snap though. The lighting is horrible. The composition is basic, at best. The story is obvious, the emotion ....bored.

On the other hand it could have been better, if the photographer had something he wanted to extract from the moment. The moment gave him a better shot. He just didn't see it. I suppose the image is successful if I measure my own boredom viewing it against the boredom of the child viewing the TV. Boredom is a viable subject matter which ,in this case,has infected the personal vision of the photographer.

Photographically speaking, I like it. (I wish I'd shot it) The composition strikes like a Modrian painting even if it is b&w. The short person's face is showing just enough to recognize but not enough to stop the questions in your mind. It can be political or a Hallmark card. Great shot.

I think the idea behind this photo is interesting, the execution is lacking. The composition is

too tight and claustrophobic, I'd rather see a wider perspective, enhancing the concept of an

empty room with TV only. Technically, the contrast is insufficient, the child's face blends into

the window frame and therefore is not clearly visible. Additionally, the electrical conduit

cutting through the child's face and neck is distracting, as well as the communications tower

visible through the window.

 

Curtains on the windows would have solved many of those problems.

Sometimes it's instructive to see if the comments that are highly critical come from people who have provided us with a point of reference in the images that they have rated highly. Sure enough, both Elin and Haim prefer posed shots which allow the photographer to control everything. To offer suggestions that would alter the scene is to completely miss the point of the style that uses your camera to go out into the real world and capture a slice of life.

I think Adoption is more of a negative, (slightly!), and implies some lacking of responsibility.

For me, the title would be Anticipation, because I'm optimistic, and I really feel that the child, although seemingly left to their own devices, is coping well, by managing their time. The child is awaiting some stimulation, which could be imminent, ot not.

 

There is the social comment about whether this is wise, but on the one level, the story behind the picture is clear.

 

I think its a good concept, but there are some small concerns about the detail. My preference is to reduce the height of the picture, to level of the horizontal window line.

 

I'm not well schooled in photographic technique, but these are just my feelings, and many thanks for the opportunity to express them in such exalted company.

 

Thanks

 

Shaun

I'd move the cropping so the child looks as though they are leaning against the edge of the picture. The images are great. The plug. The microwave tower outside. The window on the real world being ignored for the artifical window of the telly. Just great ideas.

7/7 and I really love the idea of the big antenna outside.

 

thank you for this work

a fabulous photograph.

Ok... April-may 2007, it seems... No wonder I completely missed this POW: I was more busy from march to may 2007 than I was ever since, partly because I moved 800 km south and because I was working like a Dog. Anyway... Firstly, I'm glad you had a POW with this picture. You deserved it, and IT deserved it. And it made for a very interesting discussion, which I just read.

 

And then I saw this wonderful quote "In short photography lies and if we are clever we can make it lie to suit our own purpose" - by a guy called Dennis Dixson. :-) How to disagree, and indeed, this picture shows exactly that : a clever lie. That's at the same time good, and also a little bad...:-) Good because indeed, this child wasn't watching TV (it was off), and because you turned that into a message about the power of the media on children. But a bit bad too, because there's a completely different way to look at this picture - which I think nobody mentionned so far: one could easily be over-critical, and, noticing that the TV was off, assume that you actually posed this shot, but didn't even bother to switch on the TV before shooting. How negligent of you ! :-))

 

So, of course, once one sees the 2 possible readings of this image - either as a badly posed shot, either as a great catch on the fly -, I guess one will realize that this picture, no matter what, has power AS IT IS. And for me, it's when I looked at the larger version posted in the thread, that I could really see the expression, and became sure this wasn't posed.

 

So, my first suggestion will be: think of the size of the expression when choosing a print size. I'd say that a 30x45cm is the smallest size that will be easy to read.

 

Secondly, I can't completely disgree with those who commented the picture was a little dark on the foreground. But at the same time, you have to keep SOME of that contre-jour effect, in order to keep the overall lighting natural. so. A LITTLE BIT brighter will do the job - the danger being of going too bright.

 

Finally, for all matters pertaining to the strength of the concept, I kept quiet, simply because I agree with evry word Carl root wrote. Nice one, Dennis !