Muldovan Violinist

And another variation...

Mike if you touch a thing you'll never work here again!

OK, one thing. There is a link for a larger copy so it would be nice to start with a smaller copy so I don't have to put it into a viewer to see the whole thing.

You have a Beauty, a story, and a beautiful shot. Technically confident (enough to put that out of focus hand in front), nice contrast and fine 'grain'. The light moves through telling one story, the depth of field another.

No 'real' violinist would ever let her hair blow over the strings? She sure would if it were just you and her and her violin in the meadow...

Her eyes fixed on you. No challenge, no surrender, just open awareness. she could play that violin with her eyes closed and your hands in her hair. She could play it in your dreams.

This image needs the light it has. Silver light, not stained light.

Wonderful.

And Eileen Ivers can control your soul.

I disagree with Scott Eaton's suggestion of changing the tone in this photo. I think this shot is perfect the way it is. Obviously if you wanted the tone different you would have changed it yourself.

 

With all due respect to the other poster who suggested a pose similar to his photos of Eileen Ivers in harsh noon-day light...those shots are bunk.

 

I like the sense of perspective that he has captured with the pose he chose, the fact that it is different. I don't understand why people feel the need to say, "I love your photo but I think the tone is all wrong and the pose is artificial..."

 

It is what it is...and I for one think that IT IS great!!! Good job.

Mr. Bill Jordan, I apologize for my last comment. I just read it and I sounded rather harsh in my decription of your shots of Eileen. I just think that it is better not to post examples of alternative poses etc. unless they are somewhat similar in quality.

 

Honestly, this POW is in a completely different ballpark from your example, or any portrait that I have created for that matter.

Simply great photo. =)

As for pictures of female violinists, here are some other approaches as well. (Of course not mentioned as an alternative to the POW, which has another violinist and another photographer.)

The photo is just great as a portrait. B&W really adds to the beauty of the subject.

But the emotions of playing the violin are absent.

To my eyes, it can work as a beautiful ad for a violin maker, but it falls short of showing a beautiful violinist playing it.

 

Overall a nice work, I would say.

Clint,

 

I'm fully aware that, if one is going to post alternatives to a POW, he/she should be prepared for some criticism. Frankly, my alternatives are "bunk" in terms of quality as compared to the POW. The shots I posted are crops of a very small area of the original photo, taken from the back row (or thereabouts) in a small ampitheatre, though I couldn't produce a photo with the quality of Mike's no matter where I was. My intent was to illustrate my point (and perhaps that of others) in my original comment with regards to associating the subject with the music - a notion that Mike himself wanted addressed. So, my contention that the Ivers shots do a better job of associating the two stands, but I can certainly respect alternate opinions.

 

Bill

This has been an interesting discussion . . or should I say series of comments because a lot of people don't seem to be listening to the experts.

 

I'm not the only one who initially doubted that this posed portrait reflected in any way how she might look when actually playing . . . the direct gaze and the hair in her face in particular. But since we have been assured by two people who actually know what they're talking about that both these assumptions are wrong, both generally and specifically, it's interesting to note how hard it is to let go of the stereo-typed image we have of a performing violinist. We still want them to be neatly coiffed, eyes closed, lost in their music. At least those were my general impressions until now. It's OK to hold on to them, but I think that photographers, especially, greatly benefit by recognizing when it's time to let go of old "images" and see things as they really are, rather than how you think you remember them.

From Mike's original request for critique:

 

What do you think of her as a musician? What feeling does it evoke (if any).

 

Whether she actually looks like this while performing is irrelevant really. Many of us (rank amateurs and experts alike) apparently feel the photo simply isn't as effective at showing her as a "musician" as it is at showing her as a model holding a violin as a prop. That's certainly not taking anything away from it as a portrait.

How many great photos must there be in history that convey the emotion of a moment without being literal renderings? And does that reduce a great shot to a 'model and props'?

I defy the Experts on Violin Etiquette to convince us that at some moment in a budding (how old is this girl? I feel a little shame at being so attracted) musicians life she might not play, her hair loose in the wind, and catch your eye? At the moment of the exposure you have the best seat in the house.

Mike, I wouldn't bother asking what we think of her as a musician. The beauty of the moment transcends the subject matter. She could be handing you a flower.

Just reading the end of this thread, I found something really remarquable in a

post by Brian Carter. Here it is:

 

"No 'real' violinist would ever let her hair blow over the strings? She sure

would if it were just you and her and her violin in the meadow... Her eyes fixed

on you. No challenge, no surrender, just open awareness. she could play that

violin with her eyes closed and your hands in her hair. She could play it in

your dreams."

 

Here is imo the true essence of this image: "She sure would if it were just you

and her and her violin in the meadow... Her eyes fixed on you."

 

There is indeed a very powerful eye contact between her & the viewer, and

there is indeed love in her eyes... We can't really tell whether this love is for

the viewer, the photographer, and/or for the music, or some sort of universal

love that I often find in the musics that I like best...

 

All we know is that she's is just sparkling, in a way which is certainly very

different from the usual violonists "at work". Carefree and intense, her

expression expresses love. LOVE wih a capital L. And that's rare enough to

have some real value - imo...

It takes a long time to get that look, she has it because as I said earlier, she is good. If she were bad she would look bad. That compliment goes to her and her years of practice on the violin. She is not holding out flowers for you guys, she is not Carmen. Mike has simply shown how bright the spark of music can be, and he has done it extremely well.

 

That is why it is a great photo, in my opinion.

 

Cheers.

I like the fact that here expression is not simply happy and carefree as a first impression

might suggest. Her right eye partially hidden by her hair has an intense and mysterious

quality (perhaps it's just because she is dividing her attention between the camera and the

violin) different from her left eye.

 

I do agree with some of the others that I'd like to see some more music and passion in the

photo. Instead what we have is a portrait of a young woman who appears confident and in

control of herself and her instrument. I think it's tough to pull off the posed, but real

portrait that you're going for. Trying to have your cake and eat it too.

 

One other thing: the cropping. I think it might be either too tight (around the top of her

head, for instance) or not tight enough. Also, the large disembodied hand bothers me a

bit. Might be nice if it were blurred a bit more or something. I just find it a bit distracting.

 

Nitpicking aside, it is a magnetic and striking photograph.

The one-quarter-second exposure caught perfectly the bow's transition from the E and A strings (played together) to the D and G strings (likewise played together). Why it did not catch any movement in the hair is not clear, unless the hair was already mussed from playing a previous passage--or unless it was staged that way. Either way, the slightly unkempt but very sharply-focused hair does provide an interesting but puzzling contrast with the moving bow. I am still wondering how the girl's hair avoided getting tangled in the horsehair of the moving bow.

 

Ultimately, of course, the eyes have it.

 

Congratulations again, Mike, on a job well done.

 

--Lannie

After assesing the bowing I think hse went from D to G string. Of course it makes no difference really, and I wonder how long the exposure was, perhaps Mike can inform us.

 

Cheers.

Simply beautiful... everything in the picture.

I like the eyes, but I like her hair better because I can hear (or see) music in her hair.

Great job Mike!

Ok.

 

Forget for a minute that she is young and somewhat cute.

 

Take another look--this has to be one of the silliest pictures

posted here. The flying hair, the bow, the smirk: I start to

giggle just thinking about it.

I love the eye contact and blowing hair. Looks like a classic ...

It's been a while since I posted on a POW, but then again, it's been a while since a POW has

immediately captured my attention.

 

This one post, quoted below, really, IMO brings the whole point of this photo into focus....

 

<

Nice gal... As to her music - have to listen to it. Also, musicians normally do not look into

camera.>>

 

Everybody is talking about it, but nobody is saying it, so I thought I would (although,

maybe that's bad form?).

 

First off, I'm really surprised that nobody else has mentioned another _very_ well known

work of art, the Mona Lisa! Comparable in this respect, the eyes, and especially the mouth,

not a smirk, but an enigmatic smile.

 

It is the eye contact--the expression on the face--the directness of this photo that is the

source of it all, and what makes this photo work. You may disagree with its effect, but the

effect is there, nonetheless, and it is this that makes this photo more than merely another

portrait of just another musician playing on the violin. It reaches out, grabs you, and won't

let you go as long as you cannot tear your eyes from it. It's a great photo! I can find little

to complain about it compositionally or technically, which puts this photo at the top of its

class. I love it! Others will hate it. I wonder how many would say they are blase about it? :-)

 

-Jon

She's playing, not posing in any way, by the way...

http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=165480

The concentration of a musician in action is missing, what rest is a beautiful girl with the instrument, nicely lighted, as such well done. Pnina

What does the concentration of a musician look like ?

 

Perhaps you are familiar with that feeling, I think not.

 

Cheers.